1. Charlotte’s Web

THIS book really changed my life when I was about eight or nine. I hated reading, although I always wanted my mum and dad to tell me stories. But reading was a chore. My mum and dad never had their heads out of books and they would read these big, thick books and I would wonder how they could get into them and how that could be a pleasure.

My two sons are dyslexic and, looking back, probably I am dyslexic, but not badly enough to put up the red flag.

My mum’s friend was a teacher and told my mum to begin to read Charlotte’s Web to me and then give me the book. She said I would start to read it as I would be desperate to see what happened. She was right. I just loved it and I pushed myself because I wanted to read the story.

It was the key to opening up a whole world of pleasure that has been with me ever since. For me it was a huge thing, as I went on to reading plays – and maybe that wouldn’t have happened if I hadn’t learned to read well.

My boys love to read about facts and figures and information about cars, and I don’t care as long as they’re reading. Whatever floats their boat. If you find the key, find the right thing, it opens the door and everything else falls into place.

2. My Uncle Harry dying

WHEN I was about 10 or 11 my Uncle Harry had bowel cancer, but nobody told me he was very ill. I adored him. He was in the house all the time, playing piano and having fun, and I was very close to my dad and him. One day I was told he was dead. Everybody else knew he had been dying and had the opportunity to speak to him.

They thought they were doing the right thing by not telling me, but they removed me from it and it was so confusing.

I was so angry. I did really struggle with not being able to say goodbye and it is a rotten age to lose someone you are very close to.

Later, when I was 18 and about to go to drama school, my dad had a massive heart attack and, because I never trusted people to tell me if something bad was happening, I suffered a great deal of anxiety.

Looking back I can see it was connected to Uncle Harry. My dad lived for another 26 years but I had anxiety for all of that time.

It’s only now that I don’t feel that tightness in my chest when the phone rings late at night.

They did it out of love, but I think losing that trust in people definitely changed me.

I had no anxiety before that so it had a massive effect on my whole life. I knew it was stupid but I didn’t know how to stop it.

3. The Road Not Taken

ROBERT Frost (above) wrote this poem as a joke and because, like me, he was such a dither and not good at making decisions. He also liked to say he was never more serious than when he was joking, and that always felt relevant to me as well.

I read it at school when I was 14, and my very dear friend Aileen, who lived across the road, also loved the poem, and all through life we have quoted it to each other as a joke and at serious times.

We would be saying it at the rental video shop about which film to get, or whether to go for pizza, or jobs we have taken or partners we have been with. If we had any huge decisions in life we always brought it back to that.

Aileen is very good at making decisions. I am terrible as I weigh up every side.

But, as in the poem, once I do make up my mind there is never any way back, which can be a character fault as well.

Half way down the road I might think “here now” ... but once I have started I will see it through, no matter what.

4. Glasgow Arts Centre

I STARTED going here when I was about 14. Countless actors – such as Robert Carlyle – went here and went on to do lots of good work. It was cheap as chips so we weren’t spending a fortune on fees like you have to at many places today.

Any age could go so there were adults as well as kids and a huge diversity of people from all different backgrounds. It was a wonderful place run by Robin Wilson who was good fun, extremely fair and a wise man.

I looked ordinary, I came from an ordinary family, nobody was in show business and I thought it was not possible for me to be an actor, but he encouraged me and helped me with my pieces when I was applying for drama school.

He told me it was about being truthful and not about being theatrical. He made me believe it was possible and I could do it.

It is such a pity there is not a place like that any more – it’s criminal actually. Now they are money-making courses, and that centre was not like that at all. It was a breeding ground for actors or people that just enjoyed drama.

It really was a wonderful place where you could go and escape and learn to grow up. It gave me a love of being with people of all ages and backgrounds. I remember playing a pensioner in Politics In The Park when I was 16, so I have been a pensioner all my life!

5. My audition for The Comedy Unit

I AUDITIONED for this after leaving drama school in 1992. At drama school we were told all the things we shouldn’t do at auditions – such as never take props because it makes you look amateur. I thought that if everybody was told all these things then nobody is going to be doing them, so I decided to do everything we had been told not to do.

When I think back it was so arrogant, but my idea was to stand out and be different to everyone else. I might fall flat on my face but they would remember me.

I decided to play an old person – because we were always told to play our own age. My friend’s mum made me a huge pair of pants down to my knees and I took along all these bizarre props and costumes, and did this ridiculous piece.

They phoned me up the next day and offered me Para Handy (above), then Rab C, then the Baldy Man and then The Season To Be Jolly with Rikki Fulton and Jimmy Logan, which was so exciting.

That led to Pulp Video where I met Ford and Greg and went on to do Still Game.

So from taking a chance which could have gone so wrong, it led to a job that really did change the course of my life.

6. Teacher training at Jordanhill

I STARTED this in 2000, and the reason was because I wanted to have kids and many theatre jobs involve travelling and being away from home. I thought it would be good to have something up my sleeve so I could earn money at home. I went with my friend in her ancient, wee car, which had a sun roof that didn’t close, so every time it rained I had to put an umbrella up to keep the rain off.

The course was a bit like a pregnancy – it lasted nine months and for the first three months we felt sick every day.

We hated it. We had all these textbooks to read and thought we would never pass our exams.

The second trimester was very pleasurable as we made some friends and enjoyed the work. The last three months we couldn’t wait to be finished.

I have taught a lot since then – first of all in mainstream, then at a Gaelic school and then complex needs.

It has changed the direction of my life and I’ve learned a lot from doing it.

I really enjoy it, and again it is finding the key. You try all kinds of things, then suddenly something works and all the lights go on and it is really exciting.

I have had so much pleasure seeing a young person coming out of their shell and starting to grow and change and blossom.

7. Still Game at the Hydro for the second time

THIS time I wasn’t so scared because we had already done it once, and some of the stuff in the show was just genius. We were on a cruise ship, the sets were fab and me and Navid had a lovely storyline where we ended up like the famous Titanic film scene.

At that point everybody was screaming and we could not speak for 10 minutes because of the noise. The energy that gives you is like nothing I’ve ever experienced before in my entire life. I was as high as a kite. I could not sleep and used to go out running when the show finished as I was so high.

I remember looking out at all the people and thinking I would start to live my life properly. I decided I was going to do all the things I had always said I was going to do, and I have. I started saying “no” to things I never said “no” to before, and that has given me space to say “yes” to the things I want to do.

Looking out at that audience of 12,000 people changed my life. I don’t really know why – I think it was all the energy I got back. I looked out and thought, “what am I waiting on?” None of us knows how long we have got, so no more apologising and no more waiting about to start living properly.

Take a chance, and if you fall on your face, who cares?

8. My Dad dying

MY DAD was the person I went to for advice on everything, always. He was so grounded and sensible. My mum and dad were a bit older and I was the only one – dad was nearly 50 when I was born and always had time for me. I stayed really close to him and mum. When he did die nearly four years ago it was time to go. He was in his 90s and had no quality of life. It was not a tragedy and it is part of the circle of life, but it is still a difficult and challenging thing to come to terms with.

I have been caring for my dad and mum for the last five or six years and that changes your life too. You are not a child but start being the carer and it changes the dynamic.

However, I could not have done my job without them as they were so supportive, but things turn around and it is time to give back.

9. My friends and family

I HAVE friends from primary school, secondary school and drama school. I even have friends from the mothers and toddlers group I went to with the boys – though I was the worst mother there as I was always learning my lines and letting them do what they wanted. My friends and family have supported me throughout and given me joy, love, fun and laughter. I wouldn’t do Botox because I have the wrinkles round my eyes from laughing, and I’m proud of my laughter lines.

10. Having the boys

I KNOW it is a cliché but it has changed my life. If I am being honest having young children can be boring and I absolutely hated breastfeeding. I had mastitis three times and ended up in hospital. So I’m not saying it’s all happy and easy, but the joy and fun I’ve had with these boys – the laughs and the good times and the amazing memories... They are so supportive and loving. I am not bumming because that is nothing to do with me. It has been a pleasure and a privilege.