What got you started?
Playing Irina in a student production of Three Sisters at the Oxford Playhouse while I was at university. For some reason that play, with that director and that combination of people, really hit home with the audience. It was the first time I got swept up in the dream of what acting can really be.
What was your big breakthrough?
Getting cast as Sally Bowles in a production of Cabaret at the Wolsey Theatre in Ipswich while I was at Rada. I'd never done a musical before, but director Dick Tuckey took a chance on me, and got me a coveted Equity card.
Stage or screen?
Stage. Partly because I don't like having a camera pointed at me, and partly because of the way I look. I'm no screen beauty, so I've often had to play slightly simpering, ingenue types on screen. I'd love to have been in a film like Breaking the Waves or An Education, or to have had a career like Kate Winslet's – but the chance never came my way.
What one song would work as the soundtrack to your life?
Fill Your Heart by David Bowie. The first time I heard it was when I was in Closer at the National – it was played as everyone left the theatre.
Are there too few good parts for women?
There are too few good parts for all actors on TV, because reality television has meant they're mainly being played by somebody off the street. In theatre, you don't find producers putting money into shows with a middle-aged woman as the lead; they either want actresses who are sexy and young, or old and established, like Judi Dench. Theatre-goers are mainly middle-aged women, so there's surely an audience for it.
What's your favourite film?
The Lacemaker, with Isabelle Huppert as a woman who has a mental breakdown after a love affair. She plays it very simply and beautifully, and it's incredibly moving.
Is there an art form you don't relate to?
Twelve-tone music. I just don't understand how people who can write melody choose not to.
Complete this sentence: At heart I'm just a frustrated . . .
Mother. Writer. Human being. Saxophone player. Swing dancer. I dabble my toe in everything, and do nothing well.
What work of art would you most like to own?
I'd love to own a statue by [French sculptor] Camille Claudel – though most were destroyed by the Seine in a flood. She had a tragic, fascinating life.
Is there anything about your career you regret?
Oh yes. But I think it would be indiscreet to share it with Guardian readers.
Born: Northumberland, 1961.
Career: Films include Jack and Sarah and Twelfth Night. Plays include Othello at the RSC, and The Glass Menagerie for Shared Experience, at the Salisbury Playhouse (01722 320333) until 20 March. Then touring.
High point: "Doing Betrayal at the National."
Low point: "Filming True Colours in 1991. The director, Herbert Ross, was cruel and manipulative."