Peta Toppano

Toppano was born in Finsbury Park in London and grew up in Cammeray, New South Wales. The daughter of musicians Enzo Toppano and Peggy Mortimer, she has two younger brothers: Lorenzo and Dean.[2] At 16 she won a ballet scholarship to study in Cannes, Southern France. She returned to Australia to study drama at the Ensemble Studio with teacher Hayes Gordon.

Toppano's television credits include "Lena" in Piccolo Mondo for SBS, "Karen Travers" in Prisoner, "Eunice Pyke" All the Rivers Run and "Gina Agostini" in Fields of Fire. Other appearances include "Stella" in Heartbreak High on Network Ten and "Diomira" in 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.[3][4] She hosted a 2010 event for Prisoner fans at the Old Joint Stock Theatre in Birmingham, England.[5]

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 and starring Vince Colosimo.

While living in Perth for four years, Toppano played "Coral" and later "Gwen" in Michael Gow's Away, "Ruth" in Louis Nowra's Così for the Black Swan Theatre Company and appeared in Blood Moon for Theatre West. She starred in a one-woman play written by Heather Nimmo, and directed by Leith Taylor called "One Small Step" for which she received great critical acclaim. Peta was thrilled to be in "The Women" by Clare Boothe Luce playing the "Countess De Lage" with students from Theatre Nepean and Diane Craig, Sandra Eldridge and Sarah Woods, directed by Mary- Ann Gifford. 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. She played "Sonia" in They're Playing Our Song in the UK, and herself in 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.

Toppano lives in the Blue Mountains, near Sydney. She was married to Prisoner co-star Barry Quin from 1979 to 1989 and Perth billionaire Kerry Stokes from 1992 to 1995.

• Peta Toppano Official Website
• Peta Toppano on IMDb