Peta Toppano Biography

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".

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 Misrables 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.

Performances

Television

Year	Program	Character	Network, producer
1968	Homicide	Marika Lucas	7 Network (Crawford Productions)
1970	Bobby Limb's Sounds of the Seventies	Various	NLT Productions
1975	Class of '75	Gina Ferrari	Grundy Organisation
1976	Rush	Drusilla	ABC Television, Portman Productions
1976	King's Men	Policewoman	Grundy Television Productions
1976-77	The Young Doctors	Dr. Gail Henderson	Grundy Television Productions
1977	The Outsiders	Sally Gower	ABC Television
1978	Skyways	Sister Theresa	Crawford Productions
1978-79	Prisoner	Karen Travers	Grundy Television Productions
1979-80	Water Under the Bridge	Uke	Shotton Productions
1981	Sara Dane	Alison Barwell	South Australian Film Corporation
1981	Bellamy	Meredith	Grundy Television Productions
1981-82	M.P.S.I.B.	Lisa Hesse	ABC Television
1982	Parkinson	Tribute to Cy Coleman	Channel 10
1985	Return to Eden	Jilly Stewart	McElroy & McElroy
1987	The Flying Doctors	Carol Brett	Nine Network (Crawford Productions)
1987	Fields of Fire II	Gina	Palm Beach Pictures, Zenith UK
1988	Fields of Fire III	Gina	Palm Beach Pictures, Zenith UK
1988	E Street	Miki Fallon	Westside Film & Television
1989	G.P.	Anna Carelli	ABC TV (10-episode miniseries)
1989	All the Rivers Run II	Eunice Pike	Crawford Productions (directed by John Power)
1989-90	The Paper Man	Kate Cromwell)	ABC, Granada
1990	Which Way Home	Annie (with Cybill Shepherd	McElroy, Turner TV
1990	Harbour Beat	Mrs. De Santos	Palm Beach Pictures, Zenith Entertainment
1991	Piccolo Mondo	Lena	Generation Films
1991	A Country Practice	Colleen Nicholls (four episodes)	JNP Films
1993	The Feds (telefilm)	Brandy	Directed by George Ogilvie
1994	Heartbreak High	Stella Ioannou (20 episodes)	Gannon Television
1995	Bordertown	Diomira (10-episode miniseries)	ABC TV (directed by Ian Gilmour)
1998	Never Tell Me Never (telefilm)	M.C.	Golden Square Pictures, Palm Beach Pictures (directed by David Elfick)
2000	Above the Law	Mrs. Giovanelli	Columbia TriStar Television, McElroy Television
2002	3-4 Ever		Fandango, Vertigo Productions
2000-09	Home and Away	Helen Poulos	Seven Network

Films

Year	Film	Character	Director	Producer
1984	Street Hero		Michael Pattinson	Paul Dainty
1986	Echoes of Paradise	Judy	Phillip Noyce	Great Scott Productions
1992	Seeing Red	Vivian		Goosey

Theatre

Year	Play	Character	Producer
1972	Godspell		Ken Brodziak Productions
1976	Spats at the Speakeasy		Dinner theater
1977	A Chorus Line	Diana Morales	Edgley International, JC Williamsons
1980	My Fair Lady	Eliza Doolittle	Delicado Production tour
1982	I Love My Wife	Monica	JC Williamsons
1983	They're Playing Our Song	Sonia	UK tour
1986	Are You Lonesome Tonight?	Priscilla	Her Majesty's Theatre, Sydney
1987	Danny and the Deep Blue Sea	Roberta	Globe Theatre Company, Sydney
1988	Nine	Claudia	Nove Productions (Adelaide, Brisbane, Sydney)
1990	Love Letters	with Andrew McFarlane	Victoria Arts Centre (directed by George Fairfax)
May 1990-March 1991	Les Misrables	Fantine	Cameron Mackintosh
1991	Love Letters	with Shane Porteous	TN Complex, Brisbane
1991	Love and Magic in Mamma's Kitchen		Belvoir St. Theatre
1996	Merrily We Roll Along	Beth	Sydney Theatre Company

Footnotes