Sophie Woolley - Actor, writer and former Journalist

1. What inspired you to become an actor?

The audience

2. How old were you at the time?

It was a gradual process. I didn't think I'd end up doing this.

3. When did you first act on stage?

I was about 9. Dorothy in wizard of oz.

4. Where did you train and for how long for?

I didn't train as an actor, I wrote short stories and discovered by I was a good performer when I read one at a cabaret and people said I had stage presence.

I was bitten by the showbiz bug. So I started writing character monologues. I was a writer before I was a performer. Mae West wrote her own lines and so did Joyce Grenfell, Julia Davis writes her own stuff - there must be a good few writer-actresses around.

Best way to get a good part is to write it yourself.

10. Did you get an agent?

No, I haven’t tried getting an agent. An organization called renaissance one used to handle my bookings but that was more in the field of literature.

9. How did you feel on a general basis? Were you fairly anxious after you finished your training on the circuit looking for work?

It all took a lot longer than I expected. I didn't take the traditional route to becoming an actress and like I said, I write my own parts. But there were plenty of times when I worried I would never get anywhere but there was no question of giving up.

Although I did work as a receptionist for a short while to make ends meet. So the anxiety happens mainly when I am about to write a new piece.

I sometimes worry I've forgotten how to be funny. I've toured my comedy When to Run for a year and had a run at Soho Theatre and done really well, now I have to do something bigger and better - have to keep stretching myself and not get stuck in a rut of doing what I know people will like.

12. What did you do before you got a break?

I performed skits and monologues in nightclubs and galleries and literature festivals and I worked as a journalist. I think though that I got a break early on, I talked my way into performing at a big book launch at a nightclub in 1996 and got good exposure from doing that and that gig led to another and a column in a magazine and so on.

Little jobs here and there. Every show or job I do is a break. I try to do my best at every job so people will remember me as being excellent - you never know who is watching.