Actor Eve Myles looks back: ‘Early on, I was told I wasn’t the typical leading lady. Now I realise my idiosyncrasies are what make me authentic’

The Doctor Who and Torchwood star on growing up in a mining village, how Russell T Davies changed her life, and sausage rolls

Born in 1978 in Ystradgynlais, Wales, actor Eve Myles trained at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama before landing her first major role as Ceri Lewis in the BBC Wales drama Belonging, which ran from 2000 to 2009. She became a mainstream name playing Gwen Cooper in Torchwood, the BBC’s Doctor Who spin-off, from 2006 to 2011, and later won acclaim for her lead performance as Faith Howells in the thriller Keeping Faith/Un Bore Mercher. She lives in Cardiff with her husband, the actor Bradley Freegard, and their three daughters. She stars in ITV’s drama series The Hack this autumn.

This photo, taken at my third birthday party, reveals that I was brought up on pork-based foods. For this special occasion, it was sausage rolls and chipolatas on sticks – very posh, and the marker of any good celebration. My mother had obviously gone to town on that icing to hide the atrocity of the sponge cake that was buried under there. I would have been high as a kite after taking one bite.