20 Questions: Sheila Reid – 'I needed to be an actor'

1. Where did you grow up?
Glasgow, Scotland

2. What made you want to become an actor?
I didn't want to become an actor, I needed to be an actor, as Rob Schneider the famous method American actor once said.

3. If you hadn't become an actor, what might you have done professionally?
Travelling the world and writing about it.

4. First big break?
Half a Sixpence with Tommy Steele; a musical in the West End

5. Career highlights to date?
Seven years with Laurence Olivier's National Theatre company and film The Touch, directed by Ingmar Bergman.

6. Any regrets?
No time for regrets!

7. What was the first thing you saw on stage that had a big impact on you?
Age seven, Will Fyffe the great Scottish comedian playing the Dame in Dick Wittington. It prepared me for appearing in the same panto last Christmas as Fairy BowBells.

8. And the last?
Chimerica – amazing!

9. Who are your acting idols?
How many pages have you got? At present the entire cast of Ghost From a Perfect Place.

10. What's the best advice you've ever been given?
Cancel – continue.

11. Why did you want to get involved in Ghost from a Perfect Place?
Great play, great part, great cast – what more could you want?

12. It was famously described by one critic as 'pornographic' – how do you feel about that?
I once did a play called Pornography by Simon Stephens. It was about the 7/7 bombings. Maybe this reviewer was saying Ghost From A Perfect Place deals with a similarly serious subject?

13. Favourite line/moment in the play?
If I quote any particular line, the actor will never be able to say it again!

14. Any rehearsal room mishaps?
Mishaps, none – so far. But lots of laughs

15. What do you hope people take away from the show?
They can't fail to take away a head full of questions and arguments.

16. What's your favourite post-show hang out?
It varies. I once played the Nurse in Romeo and Juliet in Calcutta – there it was the Tollygunge Club.

17. How do you unwind?
Bad habit; need to eat. Preferably with friends.

18. If you could swap places with anyone for a day, who would it be?
God. To end the war, bloodshed, cruelty and pain in the world

19. Favourite theatre joke?
"That's enough about me. What did you think of my performance?"

20. What's next?
A holiday with my husband, our first for two years, and possibly more filming in Spain…

Ghost From a Perfect Place runs at the Arcola Theatre from 11 September to 11 October 2014