A Quick Chat With Gillian Cosgriff

Gillian Cosgriff is a singer, songwriter, pianist, actress and waitress. Her show, Waitressing, and Other Things I Do Well played at the Adelaide, Melbourne and Brisbane Cabaret Festivals this year. The show will be touring to Melbourne late this year, and Sydney early next year.

1. As a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?
A tightrope walker. My fear of heights put a quick stop to that one…

2. Who is the most important person in the world to you?
Too hard! I’m going to cheat and say “My Family” as if they were one big, split-personality person.

3. What animal best represents you and why?
Aardvark. I refuse to explain this.

4. If you were a contestant on Deal or No Deal, how much would you need to be on offer before you walked away?
Hmmm…I think I’d want at least $25,000. I bet I’d get greedy on there though, that’s what makes it watchable!

5. What’s the worst date you’ve ever had?
A one-year anniversary dinner with an old boyfriend. He got food poisoning and I spent the whole night sitting at the table by myself.

6. Windows or MAC?
MAC

7. Which Spice Girl was your favourite?
Sporty. I never liked sport at all, but I thought she was the best singer.

8. Who is the actor you would most like to work alongside?
I’d love to work with Tina Fey.

9. What five songs would be the first you put on a mix tape?
At the moment any mixtape would be a Summer-y one so:
Somebody That I Used to Know – Gotye (feat. Kimbra)
Lizstomania – Phoenix
Are You In? – Incubus
Young Folks – Peter Bjorn & John
Semi-Charmed Kind Of Life – Third Eye Blind

10. What is the best thing about theatre in Australia?
The people. The industry here is small enough that every time I go to an audition I get to catch up with a heap of friends.

11. What is the worst thing about theatre in Australia?
Not enough work for so many talented people.

12. Favourite food?
Smash from Penny Farthing in Northcote. It’s avocado, fetta, mint & chilli on sourdough, I could live off that for a long time!

13. What would you do if you found a wallet on the ground?
Try and find the person myself, or hand it in to the police. What goes around comes around!

14. What’s the worst job you’ve ever had?
There have been SO many. Working for Greenpeace was pretty hard – after a week of standing on the street with my clipboard, copping abuse from people, I was done.

15. What’s the first website you visit when you come online?
Facebook.

16. Name one moment when you looked around, breathed happily and felt content.
A few days ago, in the car when one of my favourite songs came on the radio.

17. Red or white?
Red in winter, white in summer.

18. Where is the most interesting place you have travelled?
I drove through Lichtenstein! But New York was my favourite city.

19. Who is the most famous person you’ve ever met?
I served Geoffrey Rush at work a few times. He drinks shiraz.

20. Where do you see yourself in five years?
Still not having an answer to this question! I think five-year plans are for business people, and for people who can see a clear way to advance in their industry. I don’t even know what I’ll be doing tomorrow, let alone in five years time!

+1 Question from Rob Mills, the last person to answer AussieTheatre.com’s 20 questions:

XBox or PS3?
In my house we had neither! It was Hocus Pocus or Lemmings on the computer, always fighting it out between all the siblings for a turn!