Joanna Page
My dad, Nigel, was a mechanic, and Mum, Susan, worked in a bank.Collection: Dad
I certainly don't think a Welsh accent would be suited to Shakespeare.
There honestly is nothing like fresh cockles from Swansea market. They just taste of the sea. Add some vinegar, salt and pepper and you have the perfect sea and eating experience.
I've been told that I'm too ugly.
I love Poirot and Miss Marple.
Even now I struggle to use my laptop for anything other than ordering toys for the kids.
It really irritates me how I get sent a script and it's set in London and if I say, 'Can I do it in my own accent?' it's as if somebody has just said 'Bomb.' They say, 'It's fine for you to have any regional accent apart from Welsh.' And I think, 'Oh my God, that's like racism!'
It's mad because you think cancer happens to someone else - not your family. But of course it does, and when it does it hits so hard and all your family and friends have to deal with it.
I eat lots of fruit and veg, and I have toyed with being a vegetarian many times, but I like meat and I think I need the iron.
Since 'Gavin & Stacey,' it's cool to be Welsh.
I'd like to have thicker hair. I was in 'What The Butler Saw' and at the beginning the character has got long, blonde hair which she cuts off. They got me a long, thick, blonde wig and I remember thinking, I am sure my life would be so much better if I had hair like this.
I am a jeans and T-shirt girl - I like 70s flares. I don't make a fuss of my hair or make-up. I buy a lot of make-up because I'm always having ideas about what I am going to do, but I never know how to apply it. Normally, I put on mascara, concealer under my eyes, a bit of peach lipstick and blusher, and that does me.
I loved being an only child. I loved being in my own world, playing with my toys and being in my made-up magical world.
My relationship with my parents hasn't changed much as I've grown older. I'm more independent, but still very close to them.
I wanted to be an instinctive parent, rather than one driven by 'shoulds.' When I was pregnant, I read all the books, including Gina Ford's, which just seemed so regimented and structured. It sounded ridiculous and I knew there was no way I could do that.
I love it that the Welsh moment was with 'Gavin & Stacey!' Now when I go up for jobs, they want me to be Welsh. It's really nice.
I don't go out a lot.
I can't bear doing karaoke.
I don't sit down and think, now I want to have my family and then I want to write my own series.
For so long I looked so young for my age that it's been quite frustrating because in my thirties I was still playing 17-year-olds.
I never panic about typecasting. Even if it asks for 'a bubbly blonde Welsh girl,' if I like the script I'll go and meet for it.
Some people assume that I'm a stand-up comedian - I couldn't think of anything worse - and then they ask 'would you like to do something like a costume drama?'
I actually got around to applying to the Open University. And then the script came in for 'Gavin & Stacey,' and it was the only thing I'd read in absolutely ages that I loved and I thought if I don't get the part that's it - I'll finish it.
Ed Miliband looks like a character from Sesame Street. I just think he's terrible. When he says something, I just switch off.
It's a good idea to carry your toothbrush in your hand luggage just in case your suitcase goes missing. You don't want to have smelly breath throughout your holiday.
Since watching Kate Winslet in 'Hideous Kinky' I've had a profound love affair with Morocco, specifically Marrakesh. I've wanted to go for as long as I can remember because it looks a very romantic city and I'm a sucker for romance.
I'm quite impulsive when it comes to planning holidays, so I never bother to check weather reports or anything like that.
I need privacy when I'm on holiday.
I think the reason that some actresses go to the other side of the camera as they get older is because after 40 it's hard to get the parts. But I have been an ingenue for so long - I was never allowed to go for roles where you are a policewoman and have to shoot a gun because I was this kind of child-woman.
I used to get nervous about my acting being good enough. But now I am very much like, 'Stop panicking and just do it,' and I think that's what children have done for me.
My God, I used to go shopping - Selfridges, Net-a-Porter, lovely handbags, beautiful dresses, all my heels... They are all boxed up now.
Swansea, where I grew up, was a great place to spend weekends. I'd open the curtains on Saturday morning and look out at the sea. We'd go for walks on the beach and swim with the dogs in the freezing cold waves.
I love Monopoly, Connect 4 and Cluedo.
When I was doing my A-levels, I'd spend Friday nights in Mumbles, a village by the beach that's popular with surfers.
When I was 18 and went to RADA in London, my weekends calmed down a lot. I lived in halls in Gower Street and spent three hours on the phone to my parents every night, crying because I missed home so much.
My character in 'Gavin & Stacey' wouldn't work out, so luckily I don't have to either.
I always stuff my face at mealtimes.
I am just a jobbing actress, I don't win awards.
I don't want to try to be a film star and move to L.A. I'd be quite happy just to keep on working.
I've been incredibly lucky in that I've been brought up by fab parents. They always said, 'Hold your head up, have confidence and believe in yourself.' As long as I can make them proud, and my husband proud, I really couldn't care less about anything else.
When I was in my first year at Rada, we went on a tour of the National. I remember bending down and touching the stage of the Lyttelton and saying to myself, 'I'll be here one day.'
I remember being in a play called 'The Bumbles of Mumbles.' I wore a gold costume and I had a gold cone on my head. I came on stage and the lights were on, and I just thought, 'This is what I want to do with my life.'
Careers, when they take off, can take your mind off babies temporarily, but I think it always comes back to when the time is right.
I was going to do a psychology degree with the Open University. I had all my forms and everything was set up.
I don't really want to go on and play Lady Macbeth.
I enjoy playing my part in 'Gavin and Stacey' so much.
Mumbles and the Gower have the most beautiful beaches.
I'd love to play Juliet, that would be my dream role.
Before I played Stacey, no one even knew I was Welsh because I had previously always acted with an English voice, so I would have no trouble dropping it.
I do believe we go through what we do for a reason.