Harry McNaughton stars in Homos, or Everyone in America, playing in Auckland Pride Festival. Photo / supplied
My first job was ...
Working for my mother, licking envelopes for mail-outs her company was doing.
It taught me …
That I have more saliva in my mouth than the average person. And that offices are strange and fascinating places. They're crying out for a voiceover by David Attenborough.
My big break came …
When I was 16 and devised a theatre show called Black Ice, filled with magic and gymnastics and comedy and romance. I never looked back.
The last job I quit was ...
I try to listen to my gut and say no before I start - or grit my teeth and stick it out. It's the professional equivalent of eating everything on your plate.
The most famous person I've ever met was …
Ian McKellen. I gate-crashed his closing-night party for Waiting For Godot with my friend Hannah, then spent half an hour sweating in the corner, trying to work up the courage to talk to him. When I finally did, he was stoned out of his tree and couldn't manage more than single syllable words. I still hung off every word.
The best time I've had on stage/set was …
There are so many. Playing an acrobatic monkey in The Twits was a definite highlight - despite sweating 1.2 litres per show, thanks to our full-body fur suits (we weighed ourselves before and after a show to figure that out).
But the worst was …
Also the best? One year at a Basement Christmas show, they'd stuffed up the schedule of guest performers and I got called at 10 to eight saying I was on stage at 8pm. I opened the show and it was a monologue. I raced to the theatre, stripped completely naked, got the other performers (including a very gracious Jennifer Ward-Lealand) to slap red body paint all over me (I was playing a red toy ball), and then ran on stage at eight minutes past eight. I remember it being a great show.
My dream role would be …
Edmund in Lear?
Lear In Lear?
Anything in Tennessee Williams?
Anything at all (please hire me)?
• Harry McNaughton is performing in Homos, or Everyone in America at Q Theatre (Loft) during Auckland Pride Festival until February 16.
Robyn Malcolm's acclaimed TV drama is to air in the UK.