Other names Pieta Toppano Occupation Actor, Singer, Dancer | Name Peta Toppano Role Actress | |
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Full Name Peita Margaret Toppano Born 8 April 1951 (age 71–72) ( 1951-04-08 ) London, England Parents Enzo Toppano, Peggy Mortimer Siblings Lorenzo Toppano, Dean Toppano Nominations AACTA Award for Best Supporting Actress, Logie Award for Most Popular Actress in a Miniseries/Telemovie Movies and TV shows Similar People Barry Quin, Rebecca Gilling, Kerry Stokes, Lorenzo Toppano, Reg Watson | ||
Peta toppano showreel
Peta Toppano (born Peita Margaret Toppano 8 April 1951) is an English Australian actress, singer and dancer who was successful in Australian television. She is known for her series roles in The Young Doctors, Prisoner, as Karen Travers, Home and Away as Helen Poulos, Heartbreak High and Return to Eden, in which she played a "superbitch".
Contents
- Peta toppano showreel
- Peta toppano street hero afi award nomination
- Early life
- Career
- Personal life
- Filmography
- References
Peta toppano street hero afi award nomination
Early life
Toppano was born in Finsbury Park in London and grew up in Cammeray, New South Wales. The daughter of accordionist Enzo Toppano and actress, musician and dancer Peggy Mortimer, she has two younger brothers: Lorenzo and Dean. Toppano trained at the Ensemble Theatre under American actor Hayes Gordon. As a teenager she won a scholarship to study ballet in the south of France, but a foot injury prevented her from becoming a ballerina.
Career
Toppano's television credits include Piccolo Mondo for SBS, Prisoner, All the Rivers Run and Fields of Fire. Other appearances include the telemovie Feds, as Stella in Heartbreak High on Network Ten and Bordertown for ABC Television. She also appeared in A Country Practice, G.P., E Street and Flying Doctors. In 1989 and 1990 she played Kate in the ABC miniseries The Paper Man with Oliver Tobias, John Bach and Rebecca Gilling (her co-star in Return To Eden), and starred with John Waters and Cybill Shepherd in the 1991 miniseries Which Way Home. Toppano played Jilly Stewart in Return to Eden and Helen Poulos in Home and Away. She hosted a 2010 event for Prisoner fans at the Old Joint Stock Theatre in Birmingham, England.
Film credits include Seeing Red, Harbour Beat and Echoes of Paradise. Other film roles include Harbour Beat for Palm Beach Pictures and Echoes of Paradise, directed by Phillip Noyce and also featuring Wendy Hughes and John Lone. Toppano was nominated for an AFI Award for her work in Street Hero, directed by Michael Pattinson and also featuring Vince Colosimo.
While living in Perth for four years, Toppano played Coral and Gwen in Michael Gow's Away, Ruth in Louis Nowra's Cosi for the Black Swan Theatre Company and appeared in Blood Moon for Theatre West. Returning to Sydney, she played Beth in Merrily We Roll Along for the Sydney Theatre Company and appeared in Tony Taylor and Tony Sheldon's Elegance at the Tilbury in Woolloomooloo. Toppano played Fantine in Les Misérables for the Cameron Mackintosh organization in Melbourne, Perth and Brisbane, Diana Morales in A Chorus Line for two years in Sydney and Melbourne during the late 1970s, and starred in productions of They're Playing Our Song and Godspell. She played Claudia in the musical Nine, Eliza Doolittle (with Stuart Wagstaff) in My Fair Lady, Monica (with Tony Sheldon) in I Love My Wife, Roberta (with Barry Quin) in Danny and the Deep Blue Sea and Leonarda in Love and Magic in Mama's Kitchen at the Belvoir St Theatre in Sydney.
Personal life
Toppano lives near Sydney's Blue Mountains. She was married to Prisoner co-star Barry Quin from 1979 to 1989.
