This much I know: Aoibhinn McGinnity, actor

Ego gets in the way of being a good actor. I have always been interested in performing.

I started doing dance classes when I was eleven and then took up acting classes.

There was no real history of performing in our family — a couple of cousins did a bit and dad was always singing at sessions, but there were no professional actors. My parents were very good about my choice of career, although I’m sure there were a few mild panics in secret. They always encouraged me to do what I wanted.

I go through phases of being very health conscious. But when, like this week, it’s all ‘work work work’ those bad habits can creep up on you.

I’ve always been active and enjoy working out. I love yoga and horse-riding and walk as much as I can. I’m also interested in pure meditation and Reiki healing.

I’d advise anyone who wants to become an actor to stay focussed on why you want to do it and to never give up. And always try and better yourself, either by going to classes or simply by learning from other people.

I’m from Monaghan and my earliest memory is of being there, outdoors. I loved growing up there and being in walking distance to everything and having all my friends live close by.

After school, I went to the College of Dance in Dublin and then on to study musical theatre in London which was really tough. I had a great drama teacher and sort of fell into doing more acting than anything else. I didn’t plan it, it just worked out that way. Anyway, I’m not a big believer in over planning things. I totally believe in fate.

The best advice I ever got was from my dance teacher, Lynn Jackson, in Monaghan — she told me ‘there’s no such thing as can’t’. I try to remember that.

My first jobs were working in my dad’s surgery and then in the local filling station.

It’s hard enough to have a work life balance in this game. Sometimes you have no work at all and other times there are a hundred things going on at the same time. I try to just go along with whatever is happening and not to take myself too seriously.When there is a dry spell, I simply try to trust that more work will come. Having faith in yourself is really important. And, between jobs you need to keep yourself happy and positive. I find that you rarely get great jobs unless you are happy within yourself.

X Factor is one of my guilty pleasures. But I’d worry about people wanting instant fame and money. At the end of the day, singing, or acting, or dancing, is a job and you’ve got to really work at it to be a success.

If I could change one thing in our society, it would have to be greed. Simple things, like helping other people out and being good to each other, have become underrated.

I’m not sure exactly if there is one single thing that makes me want to act — maybe it’s a way of expressing myself, or maybe it’s just a way of releasing energy.

I love being around people who don’t take themselves too seriously and who don’t cover up who they really are.

You’d be in the wrong job if you didn’t get nervous at times. Every role is different. You just need to learn to channel the nerves into good energy by learning to breathe properly and so on.

My worst habit is probably that I’m always, always rushing.

Aoibhinn McGinnity is appearing in Alice In Funderland which runs until May 12 at The Abbey Theatre, Dublin. Her previous roles included TV show Love/Hate, as Nidge’s wife Trish.