MY EARLIEST MEMORY IS OF sitting on a three-wheel bike being pulled along by my cousin John. My mother said I always had delusions of grandeur because I was too regal to pedal.

CONSTANCE IS MY MIDDLE name. In her teens, my mother knew a girl called Elaine Constance Blake. She thought that was the most beautiful name and decided: "If I ever have a daughter, I'll call her that." Unfortunately, she married someone called Smith.

MY FIRST JOB WAS AT CURTIS'S shoe shop in Motherwell. I also earned 50p on Saturdays for singing in the town's Trades And Labour Club. I think I was over-paid.

THANK GOD FOR SKY PLUS. IT helps me catch up with all the shows I've missed through the week. Sunday mornings typically involve the Sunday papers - I have to say that I read the Sunday Mail because I write for them, so buy it to see what they've used in my column. I'm a bit of a politics-junkie so I sometimes tune in to Andrew Marr too, if I'm up early enough.

JUST AFTER MY MOTHER DIED when I was in a bit of a state, I stayed in Cape Cod, in the house of a close friend. It was so beautiful, it seemed to have restoring, healing powers of the ocean. That was my best ever holiday.

"FORGIVE YOURSELF AND GET on with it." That's probably the best advice I've ever had. If you bugger up a speech or something in the first half of a play, you can end up ruining the second part. I use it in life as well, because we all make arses of ourselves.

I TALK TOO MUCH. IT'S ONE OF the good things about me - I can put people at ease - but I sometimes say too much too.

M&S WALNUT WHIPS ARE MY guilty pleasure. I enjoy other things like massages, but I can't help myself with the Walnut Whips. I only have one a day, though.

I DON'T BELIEVE IN GOD, BUT I do believe in the strength of connection and of the human spirit.

MADELINE KAHN IS MY FAVOURITE actress. She was one of the funniest and most under-rated actresses. She died in her 50s of ovarian cancer, beloved by everyone she had worked with.

I'M QUITE GOOD AT TENNIS. I really enjoy it, but haven't played much recently though, and that's a real pisser.

I'M A CELTIC SEASON TICKET holder and a patron of the club's women's academy. I haven't been to many games this year because I've been on tour, but I have been spotted out in the car during intervals listening to the games.

MEETING ILIE NASTASE was the most surprising thing that ever happened to me. He was my idol when I was young: I kept a scrap book of him. Then on my 40th birthday, two friends took me to the Scottish tennis championships. As we were having coffee, Nastase walked in and said: "Who's the birthday girl?" For once in my life I was speechless.

IN MY OLD AGE, I LIKE to think I'll be much the same as now, except maybe with less energy. I don't think I'll be acting, but I'll hopefully be active: giving something back.

Elaine C Smith stars in The Rise And Fall Of Little Voice, which opens at The King's Theatre, Glasgow, tomorrow

Interview by Jamie Lafferty