Actor Noah Taylor and his goddaughter Holiday Sidewinder on their special relationship

His story

Noah Taylor, 44, actor and artist

It's an unusual relationship – to have known someone when they were born and then be friends with them when they're an adult. She's always been wise beyond her years. I remember being at a party feeling maudlin after a girl dumped me. Everyone was having a great time, but I was moping in a chair and this little six-year-old came and patted me on the shoulder and said: "Don't worry, it'll be all right." Instantly I perked up. I thought, how lucky am I to have such a magical little person in my life.

I went to watch her first gig when she was 13. I don't know what I was expecting, I suppose I thought it would just be teenagers, but the audience was all adult musicians in their 30s and I was immensely proud to see their jaws drop. For her graduation performance, which wasn't open to the public, she sang a 15th-century song in Latin. Her dad and I snuck on to the roof to watch and he sobbed – silently so she didn't get into trouble. He's a real character.

She's incredibly professional and way more focused than I am. I don't worry about her. She's very much all about the music and not bothered about celebrity. She's exceptionally modest. Music is what makes her happy and she's born to do it, but I could also imagine her becoming a politician – she's a real diplomat. She was a UN member when she was just 12 and went to Washington.

We do argue, about our musical differences and, of course, my smoking. She gives me a hard time about it and is always begging me to stop.

It's great that she's in England now. I feel like her resident guardian as well as a godfather.

Her story

Holiday Sidewinder, 23, musician

Noah played the male lead opposite my mum in an Australian classic called The Year My Voice Broke when they were 16. They became best friends and when Mum met my dad they became a trio. When I was born my dad decided to tattoo my name on his chest. Noah went with him and when the tattooist asked Noah if my name had "two Ls or one", he said two. So, thanks to Noah, my dad has my name spelled incorrectly on his chest for evermore.

Noah's always been eccentric. At my second birthday he turned up to my party dragging behind him a rubbish bag full of secondhand Barbies. Some of them had no hair. Not very girly but amazing, nonetheless. I was his little friend. When he moved to the UK to pursue an acting career years ago, he never forgot me. We formed a "Pink Club", for people who liked the colour pink. We used to write each other letters about things we'd seen or bought that were pink.

Everything around our house has his artistic stamp on it. He used to paint on anything he could get his hands on – even old kitchen cupboards. We fight like cat and dog. He can be a nightmare because he's very strong willed. He hates waiting to go into restaurants and gets really grumpy, so I tell him off. I feel like he's more of a brother sometimes.

He's very protective and now that I've moved to London, he definitely has my back – we see each other every month at least. It's a unique friendship, and I have nothing else like it . He inspires me all the time. I may actually be closer to Noah than my parents are now.

Noah Taylor's debut UK art exhibition, People are Strange, runs at Lawrence Alkin Gallery, London WC2, until 5 April (lawrencealkingallery.com)