For acclaimed actor and author Paterson Joseph, a single profound question from fellow performer Tilda Swinton acted as the catalyst that reshaped his entire creative trajectory. The star, best known for his role as the monstrously entertaining Alan Johnson in Peep Show, has revealed how a card-game conversation shifted his focus from acting alone to fulfilling a lifelong ambition to write.
From Library Sanctuary to Stage Fright
Born in Willesden, north-west London in 1964, Joseph's early years were spent in a crowded flat above a shop in Kensal Rise. With outdoor play difficult, his sanctuary became Willesden Green library, where he devoured everything from Oscar Wilde to Mills & Boon. However, his first brush with performance art was marked by intense shyness.
At just 14, he auditioned for the National Youth Theatre, discovering a love for Shakespeare's language while reading The Merchant of Venice. The audition was a disaster due to his reticence. "I looked at the ground for about 30 seconds," he recalls of being asked why he wanted to join. He eventually found his footing at The Cockpit in Marylebone, a transformative space where he witnessed the confidence he longed to embody.
The "Horrible" Character He Loves and a Hollywood Epiphany
Joseph's breakthrough TV role came as the sociopathic, confidence-masking businessman Alan Johnson in the iconic British comedy Peep Show. He describes Johnson as a "horrible person" he wouldn't want to meet, but a character he loves playing, noting the universal theme of "outward show of control versus the inward panic."
His film work includes a role alongside Leonardo DiCaprio in The Beach (2000). It was on this set, however, that a deeper creative spark was ignited. During long hours between takes, he and co-star Tilda Swinton would play cards and talk. One day, she posed a pivotal question: "If you were dying, what would you want to be remembered for?"
A Question That Changed Everything
Swinton's query forced Joseph to confront his "storytelling obsession" beyond acting. After reflection, he answered that he wanted to be known for writing a book or show about Black people in Britain before the Windrush. This moment became the direct inspiration for his subsequent work.
He first created a one-man show, which evolved into the nonfiction book Sancho: An Act of Remembrance. Later, during the Covid-19 lockdown, he penned his award-winning debut novel, The Secret Diaries of Charles Ignatius Sancho (2022). He is now also a published children's author and serves as a judge for the 2025 Nero Book Awards in the debut fiction category.
Joseph traces his drive back to an early, stark lesson in inequality. At just four-and-a-half years old, in a predominantly white school, he felt dismissed by a teacher after a single wrong answer, awakening him to the world's irrationality. He was later told by a supportive teacher that children from immigrant and working-class backgrounds were often written off. The publication of his novel, therefore, felt like a full-circle moment of validation, fulfilling the affirmations he wrote in his notepad as an eight-year-old boy.
Looking at a 1981 photo of his 17-year-old self—a shy hospital chef—Joseph believes that teenager would be "shocked, confused and mostly pleased" at the actor and author he became. Against all early expectations to "be quiet, sit down," Paterson Joseph went and did it anyway.
