Peta Toppano

Last updated

Peta Toppano
Born
Peita Margaret Toppano

1952 (age 72–73) [1]
Finsbury Park, London, England, United Kingdom
Other namesPieta Toppano
Occupations
  • Actress
  • singer
  • dancer
Known for
Spouse
​
​
(m. 1979;div. 1989)​
​
​
(m. 1992;div. 1995)​

Peita Margaret Toppano (born 1952) [1] known as Peta Toppano is a British-born Australian actress, singer and dancer. She is most widely known for her roles in television soap opera's including The Young Doctors as Dr. Gail Henderson, Prisoner, as Karen Travers, Return to Eden as Jilly Stewart, and briefly Home and Away as Helen Poulos.

Contents

Toppano was married to her Prisoner co-star Barry Quin who portrayed Dr. Greg Miller and subsequently TV executive and billionaire business mogul Kerry Stokes.

Early life

Toppano was born in Finsbury Park, London, England in 1952, [1] and grew up in Cammeray, New South Wales. The daughter of Enzo Toppano, a child performer and musician of Italian descent [2] and Margaret Joan "Peggy" (nee Mortimer) (1927-2003), a vaudevillian, singer, dancer and actress, who also excelled as a composer and lyricist, they married in 1950. [2] she has two younger brothers: Lorenzo and Dean. At 16 she won a ballet scholarship to study in Cannes, Southern France. She returned to Australia to study drama at the Ensemble Theatre under director Hayes Gordon.

Career

Television and film

Toppano's television credits include Lena in Piccolo Mondo for SBS, in Prisoner, as original character Karen Travers (a role created for her by producer/writer Reg Watson); in All the Rivers Run , as Eunice Pyke; and in Fields of Fire , as Gina Agostini. Other appearances include Heartbreak High as Stella on Network Ten and in Bordertown for ABC Television as Diomira.

She also appeared in A Country Practice , G.P. , E Street and The Flying Doctors . She played Kate in the ABC miniseries The Paper Man with Oliver Tobias, John Bach and Rebecca Gilling (her co-star from Return to Eden ), and starred with John Waters and Cybill Shepherd in the 1991 miniseries Which Way Home . Toppano played a recast Jilly Stewart in Return to Eden and starred in Home and Away as Helen Poulos. [3] [4]

Film credits include Seeing Red, Harbour Beat and Echoes of Paradise , directed by Phillip Noyce. Toppano was nominated for an AFI Award for her work in Street Hero , directed by Michael Pattinson with Vince Colosimo. Other nominations include The Sydney Theatre Critic's Award for her performance in Danny and the Deep Blue Sea . Toppano received two Logie nominations for her work in Fields of Fire as Gina Agostini, and Uke in Water Under the Bridge .

Stage (drama and musicals)

Toppano she played Juanita in Sue Woolf’s multi-award-winning novel Leaning Towards Infinity in 1997, adapted for stage at the Ensemble Theatre.[ where? ]

While living in Perth, Toppano played Coral and later Gwen in Michael Gow’s Away , Ruth in Louis Nowra’s Così for the Black Swan Theatre Company and Blood Moon for Theatre West.

She starred in a one-woman play written by Heather Nimmo, directed by Leith Taylor called One Small Step. Toppano played Countess De Lage in The Women by Clare Boothe Luce with students from Theatre Nepean, directed by Mary-Ann Gifford.

She played Beth in Merrily We Roll Along for the Sydney Theatre Company.

Toppano played Fantine in Les Misérables for the Cameron Mackintosh organisation in Melbourne, Perth and Brisbane, Diana Morales in A Chorus Line for two years in Sydney and Melbourne. She played Sonia in They're Playing Our Song in the UK, and celebrated her 21st birthday in Godspell .

She played Claudia in the musical Nine , Eliza Doolittle (with Stuart Wagstaff) in My Fair Lady , Monica in I Love My Wife , Roberta in Danny and the Deep Blue Sea and Leonarda in Love and Magic in Mama's Kitchen at the Belvoir St Theatre directed by Teresa Crea.

Filmography

Television

YearProgramCharacterNotes
1968 Homicide Marika LucasTV series
1975 Class of '75 Gina FerrariTV series
1976 Rush DrusillaTV series
1976 Alvin Purple AngelicaTV series
1976 King's Men PolicewomanTV series
1976 The Outsiders Sally GowerTV series
1976–1977 The Young Doctors Dr. Gail HendersonTV series
1979–1980 Prisoner Karen TraversTV series
1979 The Franky Doyle Story Karen TraversTV series
1979 Skyways Sister TheresaTV series, 1 episode
1980 Water Under the Bridge UkeTV miniseries
1981 Sara Dane Alison BarwellTV miniseries
1981 Bellamy MeredithTV series, 1 episode
1981 Holiday Island Madeleine PowellTV series, 3 episodes
1982M.P.S.I.B.Lisa HesseTV series
1983 Carson's Law Judith TaylorTV series
1985 Return to Eden Jilly StewartTV series
1987 The Flying Doctors Carol BrettTV series
1987 Fields of Fire II GinaTV miniseries
1988 Fields of Fire III GinaTV miniseries
1988 Rafferty's Rules TV series
1989 E Street Miki FallonTV series
1989 G.P. Anna CarrelliTV series, 10 episodes
1989 All the Rivers Run II Eunice PikeTV miniseries
1990 The Paper Man Kate CromwellTV miniseries
1990 Harbour Beat Mrs. De Santos
1991 Which Way Home AnnieTV miniseries
1991 A Country Practice Colleen NichollsTV series, 4 episodes
1991 Six Pack LenaTV miniseries, episode: "Piccolo Mondo"
1994 The Feds: Seduction BrandyTV movie
1994 Heartbreak High Stella IoannouTV series, 20 episodes
1995 Bordertown DiomiraTV miniseries
1998 Never Tell Me Never M.C.TV film
2000 Above the Law Mrs GiovanelliTV series
2000–09 Home and Away Helen PoulosTV series

Television (as self)

YearProgramCharacterNotes
1970 Bobby Limb's Sounds of the Seventies VariousTV series
1977-1978 Graham Kennedy's Blankety Blanks PanelistTV series
1977 This Is Your Life: Enzo ToppanoGuestTV series
1980 Celebrity Tattletales PanelistTV series
1980; 1981 The Mike Walsh Show GuestTV series, 3 episodes
1982 Parkinson in Australia Tribute to Cy Coleman TV series
1982 The Don Lane Show HerselfTV series
1986Kids 21st Birthday Channel Ten TelethonGuest (with Return to Eden cast: Rebecca Gilling & Peter Cousens)TV special
1986 Television: The First 30 Years HerselfTV special
1987Have a GoHerselfTV series
1988 The Midday Show GuestTV series
1989 The Bert Newton Show GuestTV series, 1 episode
1990 In Melbourne Today GuestTV series, 1 episode
1990 Hey Hey It's Saturday Herself ("Red Faces" segment)TV series
1991In Sydney TodayHerselfTV series
1991 Tonight Live with Steve Vizard GuestTV series
1996 Midday HerselfTV series
1996 This Is Your Life? HerselfTV series
1996Monday to FridayHerselfTV series
1997 Good Morning Australia HerselfTV series
1999LawsGuestTV series
2000 Denise HerselfTV series, 1 episode
20023–4 Ever
2002The Best of Aussie DramasHerselfTV series
2002The Best of Aussie Cop ShowsHerselfTV series
2006 Where Are They Now? Guest (with Prisoner cast: Val Lehman, Amanda Muggleton, Carol Burns & Maggie Kirkpatrick)TV series
2009 9am with David & Kim Guest (with Prisoner cast: Val Lehman & Amanda Muggleton)TV series
2016 Studio 10 HerselfTV series (

Films

YearFilmCharacterDirectorProducer
1984 Street Hero Vinnie's MotherMichael Pattinson]] Paul Dainty
1986 Echoes of Paradise (aka Shadows of the Peacock)Judy Phillip Noyce Great Scott Productions
1992 Seeing Red VivianGoosey
2008Footsteps in the Night (short film)Mother

Theatre

YearProductionRoleVenue / Company
1968 Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs Snow White J. C. Williamson's
1972 Godspell Ken Brodziac Productions
1976 A Very Good Year
1976Spats Back In Business at the Speakeasy Dinner theater
1976In the Family Way
1977–78 A Chorus Line Diana MoralesSydney & Melbourne with Edgley International & J. C. Williamson's
1980 My Fair Lady Eliza Doolittle Delicado Production tour
1982 I Love My Wife Monica J. C. Williamson's
1983 They're Playing Our Song Sonia Canberra Theatre & UK tour
1985You and the Night and the House Wine: the Party of a LifetimeRose's Nightclub, Sydney
1986–87 Are You Lonesome Tonight? Priscilla Her Majesty's Theatre, Sydney, Festival Theatre, Adelaide
1987 Danny and the Deep Blue Sea RobertaGlobe Theatre, Sydney
1987–88 Nine Claudia Comedy Theatre, Melbourne, Festival Theatre, Adelaide, Lyric Theatre, Brisbane, Her Majesty's Theatre, Sydney with Nove Productions
1990; 1991 Love Letters Melissa Gardner Playhouse, Melbourne, TN Complex, Brisbane
1990–91 Les Misérables Fantine His Majesty's Theatre, Perth, Festival Theatre, Adelaide, Lyric Theatre, Brisbane with Cameron Mackintosh
1991Love and Magic in Mamma's KitchenLeonarda Belvoir Street Theatre
1992 Away Coral / GwenHole in the Wall Theatre, Perth with STCWA
1992; 1994One Small StepRegina / various rolesHole in the Wall Theatre, Perth with STCWA
1993Blood Moon Sydney Opera House & Western Australia with Black Swan State Theatre Company & Theatre West
1994 Falsettos Sydney Opera House with STC for Sydney Festival
1993The Girl's Gotta Eat
1995 Cosi RuthSubiaco Theatre Centre, Perth with Black Swan State Theatre Company
1996 Merrily We Roll Along Beth University of Sydney with Sydney Theatre Company
1996EleganceTilbury Hotel, Woolloomooloo
1997 The Women Countess De Lage Theatre Nepean
1999Leaning Towards InfinityJuanita Ensemble Theatre, Sydney
2001 The Women Q Theatre, Penrith with Railway Street Theatre Company

[5]

Footnotes

  1. 1 2 3 "Peta Toppano". National Film and Sound Archive .
  2. 1 2 Valerie Lawson. "Margaret Joan (Peggy) Toppano (1927-2003)". ANU.
  3. ↑ Mercado, Andrew. Super Aussie Soaps: Behind the Scenes of Australia's Best Loved TV Shows (2004): "Peta Toppano, once tagged as the nice girl, found herself typecast as a superbitch after screaming 'No!' so many times as Jilly."
  4. ↑ "Peta Toppano: Biography Archived 10 June 2010 at the Wayback Machine ", petatoppano.com. Retrieved 2 December 2010.
  5. ↑ "AusStage".
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