Ireland my Ireland: I was wanted by the Gardai for hide and seek

My favourite location in Ireland to spend spare time:

My family has a long tradition of going to Arklow, which is about 50 miles from Dublin. I share a mobile home by the sea with my brother. Our parents have one too, as do several aunts, uncles and cousins. It's the perfect home from home for all the family. I spent most of my childhood there and nip down any time I have a spare moment. I'm the only one of us who doesn't windsurf so I spend my time playing tennis, writing, and going down to the beach.

My favourite Irish pub:

The International bar, Wicklow Street, Dublin. It's a small bar which has retained its charm and character and not been renovated like so many Dublin pubs. Because it is small you get to meet everyone at some point during the evening.

My happiest childhood memory:

I can't remember a time as a child when I wasn't happy. It's the small things that stand out, like driving around Arklow harbour late on a summer evening eating ice-cream cones with my mother, father and brother. At acting school we did workshops where we had to come up with painful memories and I always had difficulty with this. Some people seemed to really have suffered. I can't compare myself to them.

Funniest family story:

At my parents' wedding my father forgot to take the price tag off the soles of his shiny new shoes. He had obviously bought them at the last moment. This caused much amusement to those seated in the first few rows of the church when he knelt down at the altar. People in our family have been slagging him for this for the last 40 years.

My first kiss:

It was at a birthday party and we were all about eight or nine years old playing 'spin the bottle' I was very shy but as luck would have it I was picked first. This girl grabbed me and did the deed which received tremendous applause. I was mortified but it was wonderful too. I wasn't the same for days.

First love:

After my first kiss I had a crush on the poor girl. I think her name was Maggie and she was the cousin of the girl who was having the party. I saw her again a week later but it never came to anything. It was my first one-night stand.

Childhood confession:

I was out walking with my father in Arklow and we decided to race back to the caravan. Being young and fit I won easily but I decided to play a trick on him and hide in the bushes not far from the caravan. After a while he had the family all out calling me. The game had turned into hide and seek. Hide and seek turned into a search party with everyone in the caravan site, and the Gardai, looking for me. The longer I stayed out the harder it became to come back. At that time in the 1970s there was a lot of terrorist activity going on. So everyone thought I'd been kidnapped. When I finally gave myself up everyone was so relieved but I always felt guilty for putting my poor mother through it all.

My favourite story about Ireland:

The story of the faithful wife as told by Jim Synge in his account of life on the Aran islands. It's a great story of revenge and people getting their just desserts.

Favourite music:

I love Ennio Morricone's film score for westerns such as 'The Good the Bad and the Ugly' and 'The Mission'. It's so inventive and fits with the film so well. At a crucial moment such as when they are about to draw, he hypes the music perfectly to match the tension.

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