ADDAM FINE ACTRESS
We chat to star Samantha Womack.
FIRST PET
Tara, our German shepherd, was part of the family before I was born and became my guardian angel.
She never left my side and is in all of my early pictures – whether I’m in a baby bouncer, going to dance lessons or on my first day at school.
Tara died when I was five and it was a life-altering event.
It was my first experience of grief and mourning, and was a real growing-up moment for me.
MOVING TO SCOTLAND
I had grown up in Brighton but my mum started a new relationship with a GP and his work took him to Edinburgh, so we had to move. I was seven.
It was a huge moment and felt like my world was turned upside down as I dealt with new people, a new school and new experiences.
I went from a small school to a big Catholic school and it took some adjusting.
As I attempted to fit in I tried really hard to be Scottish and within a couple of weeks I had the accent.
I always hung around with people older than me and I remember riding on the back of a scooter with a group of Mods and hanging out at John Menzies on Princes Street.
I lived in Edinburgh for three years and still have a close affinity with the city, so I’m excited about coming back and have butterflies.
I love the Festival Theatre and my daughter and dog are coming with me on the trip.
FIRST KISS
I was eight or nine and a boy in an older class told me to ask to go out to the toilet at 2.30pm. I didn’t know why, but I did it.
He was waiting for me and gave me a kiss on the cheek.
I blushed furiously and as I went back to class I felt I had done something wrong.
He then asked me to excuse myself from class every day for the next two or three months!
It doesn’t sound like much now, but it was a big deal at the time.
EXPULSION
I was a creative person and I didn’t like sitting still or being lectured, so I was written off as being naughty in school when I just didn’t learn in that way.
I lost interest and started misbehaving and was politely asked to leave the school in north London.
My parents were panicking, because I was 13 and GCSEs were fast approaching.
Around the same time, I attended a theatre school one Saturday morning and it was a revelation, totally different from my other school experiences.
It was a really creative environment and people would be shouting and singing. It was my first love of the arts and changed the course of my life.
I discovered I was good at something and finally I had an outlet for all of that pent-up energy.
FIRST JOB
I left theatre school because I was impatient.
I just wanted to get out there and do my own thing, so didn’t sit exams.
I got a job in a cocktail bar after lying about my age. I was only 16. Some of the cocktails I made were awful.
I remember the excitement of my first paycheck – and it was really well paid – and not being dependent on anyone.
I moved out of home and got my own swanky flat and felt really empowered.
But I lost the job when I cut my finger and had to be taken to hospital.
When I gave my date of birth they realised I was underage.
Sylvia Young, who ran the theatre school, realised I was losing my way.
She got me an agency and quickly the acting jobs started to come in.
She and her husband,
Norman, were always there when I needed them and would even let me sleep on their couch. They were my guardian angels.
CAREER
I had done Grease before, but it was while I was rehearsing for Guys And Dolls that it all seemed to click into place. A lot of success had come my way early and it felt like it had been handed to me, but as I rehearsed with Patrick Swayze, who was playing Nathan, I suddenly had a realisation that this was where I wanted to be and I appreciated that this was my career.
The Addams Family is really quite physical. I have a long tango to do each night and it’s a really difficult dance.
I can’t wait to play Morticia. The show is great fun.
GRAN’S PASSING
She was a choreographer and when my parents split, I lived with her on the cruise ships she worked on, including the QE2.
Watching her decline, from being this fearless, strong woman to seeing her being in hospital, frail and weak, was tough.
It made me realise it will happen to us all. Her death was a huge loss and the first time I experienced a close human passing.
TRAVEL
The first time I travelled was when I was three or four.
I had never left Brighton until that point and here I was on a world cruise.
When we docked at the Panama Canal, I persuaded a couple of the passengers to take me ashore.
I remember walking down the gangplank and immediately seeing kids who were really struggling and had no money. Even at that young age, I noticed the extreme poverty taking place in the shadow of this luxurious boat.
It was my introduction to realising not everyone lives the same way. When I went back on to the ship, I felt really bad.
GIVING BIRTH
I always wanted a family of my own and have a strong nesting gene, but with all the work it didn’t happen until later in my 20s.
That moment of realising I was pregnant with my son was incredible, mind-blowing, because I had wanted it for such a long time. It was a miraculous feeling, knowing I was responsible for someone.
The second time, with Lili, was a different experience but was another jaw-dropping moment when it came around.
EASTENDERS
Walking on to Albert Square for the first time, a place I had watched on telly as I grew up, was awesome.
On my first day of filming, I had to walk into the Queen Vic and it so happened all of the big characters were there that day.
It was really intimidating and I was terrified. It felt like I didn’t belong and I kept telling myself not to muck it up. What an experience.
The Addams Family, Festival Theatre, Edinburgh, April 20-29.