Sam West: My family values

The actor and director talks about his family

Saturday 10 December 2011

Sam West: 'I love being an uncle. I take that responsibility very seriously.'

Ours is a family acting business, not a dynasty. I don't think we really believe in genetic inheritability of talent quite as much as genetic inheritability of very small eyes that disappear when you smile. I looked just like my grandfather, the actor Lockwood West, when I was one.

My mother [Prunella Scales] has always been a great example of female independence. She used to take me backstage when I was tiny, and I remember perching like a bracket on her dressing-room table and watching her in the mirror as she put her makeup on. She was beautiful – and still is.

I went on political marches as a child with my parents and they haven't lost their radicalism. It was wonderful to see my dad [Timothy West] demonstrating against [tax-avoidance target, businessman] Philip Green for UK Uncut last year at the age of 76, with my mother watching in the crowd. I think a lot of actors are socialists because they work collectively – and also because they are often very badly paid.

The curse of the liberal upbringing is that you are sort of allowed to do anything. The trick is to give children boundaries they can cross so that they feel rebellious, while also making sure those boundaries are not dangerous.

My younger brother Joe and I had nannies because of Ma and Pa touring in plays. So we became self-sufficient quite early on. We are very close because we have similar tastes and he still makes me laugh like no one else. I don't think we were nightmare children, but I was certainly fairly hyperactive and a bit precocious – so we were a handful. Joe is a charming, beautiful person who was a bit less serious than me and I think he found all the discussions at home about acting rather boring, so he pissed off to Manchester, then Cornwall and later to France, where he lives with his wife and three children and works as a teacher and translator. He always knew his own mind.

I missed my parents very much when they were away on tour; it's a difficult balance between work and family. I'm sure there were times when I would have absolutely loved them not to be working, but they made sure that neither were both away at the same time for months on end.

I would very much like my own family, but I would prefer not to say if I've got close to it. When you run a theatre, as I have done in the past, it becomes your baby. I've lived with the playwright Laura Wade, and the combination of writer and actor was a good mix. But I love being an uncle to Joe's children; I take that responsibility very seriously.

I got all my tastes in music from our half-sister, Juliet, who was into bands like Pink Floyd and Sparks. She's my father's daughter from his first marriage and came to live with us on and off when I was eight. She was 10 years older with a great succession of cool boyfriends. She's a hairdresser now with two children in their 20s, and I don't see her nearly enough.

My parents gave me a belief in curiosity, for which I've always been grateful, and a very loving childhood. Pa would encourage our hobbies, like cricket and music, while Ma would get up at 6am to help me with my Greek homework – because, unlike Pa, she had not been to university and took a vicarious pleasure in me getting to Oxford.