Peta Toppano
Australian actress, singer and dancer
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Peita Margaret Toppano (born 1951)[1][2] known as Peta Toppano is an English-born Australian former actress, singer and dancer. She is most widely known for her roles in television soap operas The Young Doctors as Dr. Gail Henderson, Prisoner, as Karen Travers, Return to Eden as Jilly Stewart, Heartbreak High as Stella Ioannou and briefly Home and Away as Helen Poulos.
1951 (age 74–75)
- Actress
- singer
- dancer
Peta Toppano | |
|---|---|
| Born | Peita Margaret Toppano 1951 (age 74–75) Finsbury Park, London, England, United Kingdom |
| Other names | Pieta Toppano |
| Occupations |
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| Years active | 1968–2009 |
| Known for |
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| Spouse | |
Early life
Toppano was born in Finsbury Park, London, England in 1951,[2] and grew up in Cammeray, New South Wales. She is the daughter of Enzo Toppano, a child performer and musician of Italian descent[2] and Margaret Joan "Peggy" (nee Mortimer) (1927-2003), an Australian vaudevillian, singer, dancer, actress, composer and lyricist, who married in 1950.[2] She has two younger brothers, Lorenzo and Dean.
At 16, Toppano 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 and. appeared in a J. C. Williamson production of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
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.2025
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.
Personal life
Toppano was married aged 18 to musician Peter O'Toole, and to her Prisoner co-star Barry Quin (who portrayed Dr. Greg Miller) from 1979 to 1989, and subsequently TV executive and billionaire business mogul Kerry Stokes.
Toppano suffered from cancer in 1996 and had to undergo a hysterectomy[1]
In 2005, now semi-retired from show-business she revealed she was working a regular $17 an hour job at David Jones at the china and crystal counter, she retired in 2009 but continued to work behind the scenes in community theatre.[1]
Filmography
Television
| Year | Program | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1968 | Homicide | Marika Lucas | Season 5, episode 20 |
| 1975 | Class of '75 | Gina Ferrari | |
| 1976 | Rush | Drusilla | Season 2, episode 3 |
| Alvin Purple | Angelica | Season 1, episode 13 | |
| King's Men | Policewoman | Season 1, episode 6 | |
| The Outsiders | Sally Gower | Season 1, episode 9 | |
| 1976–1977 | The Young Doctors | Dr. Gail Henderson | |
| 1979 | The Franky Doyle Story | Karen Travers | TV film |
| Skyways | Sister Theresa | 1 episode | |
| 1979–1980 | Prisoner | Karen Travers | Seasons 1–2, 79 episodes |
| 1980 | Water Under the Bridge | Uke | Miniseries |
| 1981 | Sara Dane | Alison Barwell | Miniseries |
| Bellamy | Meredith | Season 1, episode 16 | |
| Holiday Island | Madeleine Powell | 3 episodes | |
| 1982 | MPSIB | Lisa Hesse | |
| 1983 | Carson's Law | Judith Taylor | 2 episodes |
| 1985 | Return to Eden | Jilly Stewart | 22 episodes |
| 1987 | The Flying Doctors | Carol Brett | 1 episode |
| Fields of Fire II | Gina | Miniseries, 3 episodes | |
| 1988 | Fields of Fire III | Gina | Miniseries, 2 episodes |
| Rafferty's Rules | 1 episode | ||
| 1989 | E Street | Miki Fallon | |
| G.P. | Anna Carrelli | 10 episodes | |
| All the Rivers Run II | Eunice Pike | Miniseries | |
| 1990 | The Paper Man | Kate Cromwell | Miniseries |
| Harbour Beat | Mrs. De Santos | TV film | |
| 1991 | Which Way Home | Annie | Miniseries |
| A Country Practice | Colleen Nicholls | 4 episodes | |
| Six Pack | Lena | Miniseries, 1 episode: "Piccolo Mondo" | |
| 1994 | The Feds: Seduction | Brandy | TV film |
| Heartbreak High | Stella Ioannou | 20 episodes | |
| 1995 | Bordertown | Diomira | Miniseries |
| 1998 | Never Tell Me Never | M.C. | TV film |
| 2000 | Above the Law | Mrs Giovanelli | 1 episode |
| 2000–2009 | Home and Away | Helen Poulos | Seasons 14–15, 18 & 22, 13 episodes |
Film
| Year | Film | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1984 | Street Hero | Vinnie's Mother | |
| 1986 | Echoes of Paradise (aka Shadows of the Peacock) | Judy | |
| 1992 | Seeing Red | Vivian | |
| 2008 | Footsteps in the Night | Mother | Short film |