The 5-Minute Interview: Holly Atkins, actress

Holly Atkins, 34, is currently starring in the play "Scarborough", which has won a Fringe First at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Best known for television roles in programmes such as "EastEnders", "Casualty" and "Where The Heart Is", she will guest-star in the new "Doctor Who" spin-off, "The Sarah Jane Adventures", this autumn. "Scarborough" is running at the Assembly Rooms until 27 August.

If I wasn't talking to you right now I'd be...

Desperately warming up my voice for the three shows later today. I'm now at the age where I can't just walk into a theatre and do it. And I'd be making sure I was fit, limber, and ready to act opposite a 17-year-old!

I wish people would take more notice of ...

Talent and endeavour as opposed to looks and celebrity for its own sake.

A phrase I use far too often is ...

"Let's just have a laugh."

The most surprising thing that happened to me was ...

Marrying my husband, who is the human equivalent of my childhood ginger cat. If my children aren't ginger, I'll take them back to the shop.

A common misperception of me is...

That I have balls of steel.

I am not a politician but if I were...

Applying to the Arts Council would be form-free, and the money put aside for it would be at least tripled. Getting funding often depends on how good you are at filling in forms. It's arbitrary and meaningless, and that's a shame.

I'm good at...

Being optimistic in ridiculously adverse circumstances.

I'm very bad at...

Being patient. When I'm waiting to hear about a job I'm so twitchy I can't sit down.

The ideal night out is...

Being surrounded by people that make me laugh. The best thing about my job is that I get to cry with laughter every day.

You know me as an actress but in another life I'd have been...

A social anthropologist. I read social anthropology at university (in fact, I studied here, at Edinburgh University) and I love learning about human cultures. But if my body had been a different shape, I would have been a ballet dancer.

In moments of weakness I...

Smoke a fag.

The best age to be is...

Hopefully one I haven't reached yet. I'd hate to think that all that's left of my life is going to be an anticlimax.

In a nutshell, my philosophy is this:

Never give up. And be nice to people until it's impossible to be nice.