Audrey Fleurot is currently shooting the fifth and final season of HPI, in which she stars. With over 12 million viewers, the drama broke audience records on TF1. Purchased in 105 countries and adapted in the US, the series has been nominated for Best Comedy at the Emmy Awards, which will be held in New York on Monday, November 25. At the age of 47, the actress – and now producer – is relishing the notoriety brought to her by her character as a gifted and wacky investigator.

I wouldn't have got here if...

...my parents hadn't both been thwarted in their professional desires by their own parents. Even though they were worried about my desire to pursue a career in the arts, and convinced that you had to have connections in that field to be able to access it, they were ready to support my desire, because theirs had been hindered. My mother wanted to write, to be an author. Her parents told her: "Listen, you're already going to do sewing." She eventually became a childcare assistant and still can't hem! My father would have liked to become a surveyor. His parents refused to register him for the exam, on the grounds that his elder brother had failed. He came from a military family, and ended up becoming a professional fireman.

What memories do you have of life in the barracks?

After Mantes-la-Jolie [northern France], we moved to the Château-Landon barracks, in the 10^th arrondissement of Paris. As an only child, I loved the place because there was a big gymnasium where all the kids could meet up and play. But after a few years, my mother got fed up with life in the barracks, a life governed by her husband's rank, and we moved to Place des Fêtes, in the 19^th arrondissement.

You've often talked about a pivotal evening when you were 8...

I would never have embarked on an artistic career if my father hadn't taken me to the Comédie-Française. He's always flattered that I tell this story, but you have to give credit where credit is due. That evening, my father was the fireman on duty at the Comédie-Française, and it was my mother who told him, "Take the kid." That evening was an epiphany.

Meaning?

It was a play by Carlo Goldoni, starring Catherine Hiegel. I watched the show from the jump seat between the auditorium and the stage. I saw the set changes, the actors running in all directions, and I discovered that you could tell stories, play characters, be someone else. I liked the idea of doing a job that allowed you, for a time, to have another life. I absolutely wanted to perform on stage. You're incredibly lucky to have such an obvious choice in your life. I had it at the age of 8, and I've organized my whole life around it.

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