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What is your earliest memory?
Being in a baby walker on a summer’s day at a caravan that my family used to own in Cushendall on the north-east coast of Ireland. -
Who was or still is your mentor?
My first dance teacher, Patricia Mulholland, created a storytelling form of Irish dance that she called Irish ballet. My first experience of the theatre was playing children’s parts in her ballets. She said to my mum that she thought I was destined to be on the stage. I took that and ran with it. -
How fit are you?
Pretty fit. I have a background in dance and gymnastics, so there’s a certain level that’s easy for me to maintain. But I also have extreme bouts of laziness that I enjoy. I go through peaks and troughs, and I no longer give myself a hard time over the troughs. -
Tell me about an animal you have loved.
The family dog when I was growing up was Sorsha, a brilliant collie/lab from a shelter. In a house of four siblings, she was definitely the fifth. She was named after the warrior princess in Willow, played by Joanne Whalley. I got to tell that to Joanne Whalley. I’m not sure she was impressed. We all adored Sorsha. Losing a pet is a unique and particular kind of grief. -
Risk or caution, which has defined your life more?
Risk. Acting is not the business for caution. But I’m not reckless. I weigh things up. -
What trait do you find most irritating in others?
Defensiveness. In any relationship, particularly when conflict is involved, it’s helpful for people to be able look to themselves and see what part they might be playing. People who automatically want to lay the blame outside of themselves, who take everything personally, I find that very difficult to get along with. -
What trait do you find most irritating in yourself?
I can be hugely self-critical. It’s not helpful. I’m learning to give myself more grace. And fairly extreme introversion gets in the way quite a lot. Many actors are introverted, and I don’t find that contradictory. There’s safety in being someone else, scripted, in the safe space of a set or on a stage, where the parameters of who you are and what you’re doing are laid out. -
What drives you on?
Life is very short, and we only get one go. Even as a kid, I was never content with the idea of only getting one life. Acting was the only way I could think of where I might get the chance to live several. -
Do you believe in an afterlife?
Not in any conventional sense where we’d have a sense of self or resemble who we are now. -
Which is more puzzling, the existence of suffering or its frequent absence?
I don’t find anything in human nature puzzling. Often awe-inspiring, sometimes depressing, but never puzzling. -
Name your favourite river.
The first time I was by Big Sur in California, I was on a truly magical road trip with my now husband. It was very hot, and we were in this lovely bar-restaurant where we could sit on chairs in the river. -
What would you have done differently?
Not a thing. It all led to here, and I’m very, very content with here and now.
Laura Donnelly stars in ‘The Hills of California’ by Jez Butterworth, directed by Sam Mendes, at the Harold Pinter Theatre until June 15 and in “Say Nothing” out this spring on FX. hillsofcaliforniaplay.com
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