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.

14. How do you learn your lines? Is their a special technique or do you need to have a good memory?

I learn them a bit at a time each day. I break up the paragraphs. It's not hard really. Sometimes I do housework at the same time. Then I sit and do it in front of the mirror. When I rehearsed my one person play with my director Gemma Fairlie, we did blocking, and that helped me remember my lines.

15. What advice would you give to people starting out?

Make your own breaks and follow your obsessions. Be nice to people. I used to go out a lot, to galleries, shows and concerts – I was very social, I don’t know if this helped my career but it was a lot of fun.

If you can do this whilst maintaining a fitness programme and a healthy diet you’ll be made. I just went out a lot.

16. What are the 3 most important things you must do?

One: Work with talented, professional people who believe in you and want to help you, not themselves. It’s important to get help, I struggled along on my own for too many years with not enough support

Two: Be professional

Three: Watch other actors

17. What are the 3 things you must never do?

One: Work for nothing (everyone does the odd job gratis but you need to set boundaries and manage your time effectively so that you aren’t using up valuable time working on stuff that brings you little return career-wise

Two: Be late

Three: Be famous in your own head

18. What do you believe are the signs of a budding actor?

Crying whilst watching plays

19. How early do you normally wake up in the morning during a working week?

6am

20. How do you normally feel?

Doomed

21. What’s the most important thing to take into consideration before deciding to become an actor?

Are you any good

22. How do you prepare for a role?

I do research for my characters when writing, I often do what they do or read around it, then to prepare for the acting bit I think about their emotional journeys, I focus a lot on how their voice sounds and the rhythm of their speech.

23. Have you ever come across obstacles?

Haha. Yeah don’t ask.

24. How flexible are most directors?

I’ve only worked with two theatre directors, Gemma Fairlie and Bronwen Carr, both are fantastic and flexible. Avoid direction from inexperienced people, it can damage your confidence.

25. How do you feel in front of the camera?

Nude

26. What’s the best way to conquer nerves, apart from having a few?

Don’t drink! Do breathing, yoga, warm up, voice exercises.

Get into a routine and stick to that. Visualise the audience and the performance, run through it in your head, right through to the thunderous applause at the end

29. If one morning you felt unwell and couldn’t work that day, what would be the repercussions?

I usually do work where I still get paid even if I cancel due to illness. Make sure that is written in to contracts. I rarely get ill though so I don’t know much about this.

If you perform whilst sick you might be rubbish and this could be more damaging than cancelling.

30. At the end of the day, when you head home, how easy is it to leave the character behind?

As an actor it’s easy, but as a writer I am haunted.

31. What do you like to do in your spare time, when you’re not acting?

I write when I’m not acting.

I don’t really understand holidays but sometimes I’m forced into them but I take my notebook with me.

I go to the theatre, films, DVDs.

I go running and read scripts and books.