I grew up in Swaziland in east Africa and went to school locally, first to St Mark's Primary School and then to Waterford/Kamthlaba School. Waterford was multi-racial and co-ed. I was there at the same time as Nelson Mandela's daughters.
Swaziland was a non-apartheid country and many South African dissidents sent their children to school there. The school had been founded in the Fifties by people who had come from Beadales, the English public school.
It was the first multi-racial school in Africa and white students were in the minority. The teaching staff was also racially mixed, the school was very liberal and there were no uniforms.
It was very small school and I had a great time there. They were incredibly encouraging academically and you weren't penalised for being studious. I was academic. I loved English history and geography but I was crap at the sciences and hopeless at maths.
They were very encouraging in the arts - particularly in music, theatre and painting. I had wanted to be an actor for as long as I can remember - except for a short time in 1969 when I wanted to an astronaut (they had just landed men on the moon).
There was no tradition of theatre in my family - my father was Minister for Education. But, as a youngster, I had a marionette theatre in my parents' garage and in the holidays I used to do shows for the other kids and make a bit of money. I was also involved in amateur theatre and performed in school plays. Becoming an actor was a logical progression.
After school I went to Capetown University 1,200 miles south of where I lived. I did a four-year combined BA in English with performance diploma and drama training. At the end of university I co-founded a theatre company made up of professional actors and young graduates. We played in the Market Theatre in Johannesburg and the Athol Fugard Theatre in Capetown.
I came to England in 1982 and scrabbled around. It was very hard and I wouldn't recommend it to anybody. I'm just grateful that my dream has materialised. Every obstacle is put in your path. I was one of the lucky ones.
Because my father was Minister for Education, he had to appear professional and accommodating about my ambition to become an actor. But privately he was concerned that I wouldn't be able to make a living.
He gathered together as much information as he could about how many actors were out of work. The statistics showed that it was nuclear fall-out and he made me aware of that. That's why he insisted that I do an English degree so that I could go into journalism or some other profession.
But, you can advise people against becoming actors as much as you like, the fact is that, if they are determined and feel it's a vocation, you won't stop them.
Richard E Grant is currently appearing in the BBC TV series, The Scarlet Pimpernel. he was in Dublin recently to address UCD's Literary And Historical Society. He was in conversation with Yvonne Healy.
