Gaynor Faye would concentrate most of her efforts on "pursuing world peace" if she wasn’t an actress.
The ‘Emmerdale’ star has admitted she would spend a lot more time working at her Buddhist organisation, Soka Gakkai International – which aims to empower individuals towards positive change – if she didn’t have a career as an actor and a writer.
When asked what she would be doing if she wasn’t penning scripts or acting them out, she said: "I’m a Buddhist, so I’d be working with Soka Gakkai International, which is my Buddhist organisation, in the pursuit of world peace.
"I do that anyway, but obviously because I work as an actor and writer, a lot of my time is taken up with that.
"But if I wasn’t an actress, I’d concentrate most of my efforts on that."
Before joining ‘Emmerdale’ as Megan Macey, Gaynor starred in ‘Coronation Street’ as Judy Mallett from 1995 to 1999 until her character was killed off – and people still approach the 46-year-old star in the streets to say how "upset" they were when her alter-ego died of a pulmonary embolism while hanging out the washing.
She added to Inside Soap magazine: "Judy was quite an iconic character in her day.
"I had lots of fantastic storylines, and people often talk about how upset they were when she died.
"I look back now and realise how lucky I was to have such big, dramatic storylines, and work with such amazing people."
Gaynor recently admitted she was shocked just how quickly her ‘Corrie’ name plaque was removed from her dressing room – just minutes after she’d filmed Judy’s death scene.
She recently said: "I know, it was dramatic. The blue make-up, the twins crying … I’d literally just died and I walked off set and they were bringing in the hearse to film my funeral.
"If that wasn’t bad enough, I got to my dressing room and they were taking the name plaque off the door with a drill. I hadn’t even left the building.
"I was up for Best Death Scene as Judy. Didn’t get it. I got beaten by Butch Dingle in ‘Emmerdale’ – and he didn’t even get the kiss of life from Ken Barlow."
Gaynor Faye’s world peace bid
