Jenny Seagrove, the British actress, is probably best known for her role in the television series Judge John Deed alongside Martin Shaw.

After the Bristol Old Vic theatre school, her big break came in 1983 with the film Local Hero. The following year, she starred in Barbara Taylor Bradford’s A Woman of Substance on TV. In 1990 she appeared in The Guardian, a horror film by Exorcist director William Friedkin, as a tree-spirit worshipping nanny.

Seagrove, 52, was born in Malaysia and married fellow actor Madhav Sharma in 1984. They divorced four years later. She also had a long-term relationship with Michael Winner.

A passionate animal rights activist, Seagrove is appearing at the Born Free Foundation Wild & Live concert at the Royal Albert Hall on November 14. Tonight she will co-host Horses’ Tales, an evening of music and comedy at the Theatre Royal Haymarket, London, in aid of the Horse Refuge.

She lives with Bill Kenwright, the impresario and Everton FC chairman, in Little Venice, west London.

How much money do you have in your wallet?

Usually about £50, but last week it was mostly in coins because I had to pay for parking at the theatre in Windsor where I was performing. The machine took only £1 coins so I had to have plenty of them on me.

What credit cards do you use?

Anything I can get my hands on — I’ve got two Mastercards, two Diners Club cards and an American Express. The Amex isn’t the Platinum one — I’m not that posh. One of the Mastercards gives money to a charity, the Dogs Trust. I pay off my bills in full each month.

Are you a saver or a spender?

I’m a spender who tries to save. I put my savings into a high street account but interest rates are pathetic — I’m getting only about 0.2%.

I don’t like owing money and have been in debt only once. It was after I got divorced and I borrowed a huge amount to buy a flat in Kensington, west London. Luckily, I got a part in a very big Hollywood film called The Guardian soon afterwards and used my fee — about $200,000 (£123,000) — to pay off the entire loan. My main expenditure is my two dogs — I have a springer spaniel and a Jack Russell labrador cross.

How much did you earn last year?

I have no idea — I simply send everything to my accountant and he tells me what tax I owe. It wasn’t a huge amount, though. What television pays nowadays is a joke, unless you’re a lead in a long-running series. People think that if you are on the telly you must be frightfully rich, but that’s just not true.

Have you ever been really hard-up?

I left school at 17 and had a year off to take acting lessons before I went to drama school. I stayed in a hostel in London and signed on for social security benefit of £21 a week. My hostel cost me £11 and drama lessons £10. I had no money to eat and lost a lot of weight — it was also about this time that I became anorexic.

Are you better off than your parents?

Yes. During the war, my father worked for the British intelligence services in Malaysia as a Japanese interpreter. He stayed out in the Far East and set up an import/export business. I was born in Kuala Lumpur, but was sent off to boarding school in Surrey when I was nine.

In the holidays, I would stay with my mother’s parents — a middle-class couple who didn’t have much money. They were quite happy, though.

Do you own a property?

I sold my property in Kensington after I got the money from The Guardian and, about 10 years ago, bought a one-bedroom flat in Little Venice. It cost about £180,000 then, but I suspect its value has gone up quite considerably — it’s in the Paddington basin, which is being heavily redeveloped.

I let it, but if my dad ever needs to move back to the UK from Malaysia, that’s where he’ll live. The house Bill and I share is on the same street — he owned it before we got together.

What was your first job?

In my school holidays, I worked as a chambermaid at the local hotel, in Crowborough, East Sussex. I don’t remember how much I earned — I just remember being so excited about having my own money.

What is the most lucrative work you have ever done?

The Guardian, without a doubt. It paid for my loan — it was a loan rather than a mortgage because I arranged it through my company, which I started in 1984. A lot of actors have got limited companies for tax reasons. [Money in a limited company is taxed at 19% to 21%, lower than income tax. You then take dividends, which are free of National Insurance.]

Do you invest in shares?

No. I don’t have the time to watch the markets. If I did, I would have to buy ethical shares.

What’s better — property or pension?

Property. Even though it goes up and down in value, it’s always there and I’ve seen too many people lose their pensions. I have a pension plan, but I think it’s a total waste of time — I think I’ve even given up paying into it. It was pretty small in any case, just a way of keeping a little bit of money from the taxman every year.

What’s been your best investment?

My health. I go to the gym twice a week and eat really good organic food. It costs more, but I think it’s worth it. We are what we eat — a drama school teacher used to tell me that. Even though it took a few years for me to get over my anorexia, that mantra stuck in my head.

What about worst?

I once hired a financial adviser and put some money into an investment scheme. But then the market crashed in the early 2000s and I lost pretty much everything.

I didn’t lose any money in the recent credit crunch, although I have lost whatever interest I was getting on my savings.

Do you manage your own financial affairs?

I’ve had the same accountant for nearly 20 years.

What’s the most extravagant thing you’ve ever bought?

When I was filming in Hollywood, I got incredibly homesick. One day I caught a red-eye flight from Los Angeles to New York and then got on Concorde to London, just for the weekend. It cost a lot of money but I needed to do it at the time.

What is your money weakness?

I have two extravagances. The first is that I always try to travel first class. I have to travel for work and want to arrive at the other end in a good state.

I also believe in spending money on phoning friends and family. Wherever you are in the world, you need to keep in touch. It’s good to talk, as the old BT advert used to say.

What aspect of the tax system would you change?

It’s an impossible wish, but I’d like to be able to choose what I pay tax on. For a start, I wouldn’t have wanted to put any money towards going to war with Iraq, not that I’m trying to undermine the armed services. Similarly, I wouldn’t choose for any money to go towards GM foods, but it’s not possible to do that because we live in a democracy where our government is supposedly elected — I say supposedly because we are being governed by a prime minister who hasn’t been.

Do you play the lottery?

No. I don’t tend to win things like that because I’m actually quite lucky in life.

What is the most important lesson you have learnt about money?

Money should be like manure — if you spread it generously, things will grow out of it.