From Walsall to the RSC

"I am one of seven children. My mum is a school cleaner, my dad works in a factory. I've still got the Walsall accent but it only comes out in moments of stress. My old home in Goscote, Walsall has been demolished years ago and so has my school, Forest Comprehensive. Everything I touch seems to turn to dust!

"When I got the part of Ferdinand in the 1989 production of The Tempest at Stratford it was daunting at first but I learned a lot. Miranda was played by Penny Layden and we had worked together on a show in London. It was amazing meeting her at rehearsals, finding we were in the same play and I was Ferdinand and she was Miranda.

"I never studied drama at school. It was ust a sideline. I thought I wanted a job that was a bit safer . . . the army or the police, or something like that.

"Jane Ward, at Wolverhampton Central Youth Theatre suggested drama school. She was brilliant. She talked me through audition pieces and I was lucky. It was 1989, the last year when they were pushing out full grants, otherwise we couldn't have afforded it.

"I remember coming out of drama school and having this year waiting around and wondering how people were going to pigeonhole me. I'd like to work with the RSC again. I'd like to play Othello but there are other roles. Being black can make things easier, although being black is no substitute for being good.

"These days, companies want to cross-cast and so Othello is no longer the ultimate. It could be Richard III, or Henry V or Macbeth. Who knows?