The actor on the band she can’t wait to see, the best place to meet friends for food in Manchester, and performance poetry that made her laugh and cry

Born in Manchester in 1966, actor Siobhan Finneran’s first major role was as Rita in the 1987 film Rita, Sue and Bob Too. Her extensive TV work includes Happy Valley, Alma’s Not Normal and Downton Abbey, for which the cast won the 2012 Screen Actors Guild award for outstanding performance by an ensemble in a drama series. Finneran has starred in films such as Clio Barnard’s The Selfish Giant and Daniel Kokotajlo’s Apostasy, and her latest role is in the shipwreck thriller The Damned, in cinemas now. She lives in Saddleworth, Greater Manchester, and has two children.