Peta Toppano : Biography

Peta Toppano must be one of Australia's busiest and most versatile actresses. She joined the Les Miserables company in the role of Fantine after starring opposite John Waters and Cybil Shepherd in the telemovie Which Way Home filmed in Thailand and New Zealand.

Prior to that she played Kate in the ABC mini-series Paper Man opposite Oliver Tobias, filmed in Australia and England, with a trip to Paris where she has become very popular through her portrayal of super-bitch Jilly Stewart in Return To Eden.

Peta gained a Logie nomination as Best Actress In A Telemovie Or Mini-Series for her portrayal of Gina in Fields of Fire III. Other award nominations have included an AFI Best Supporting Actress for the feature film Street Hero, a Sammy Award nomination for Uke in Water Under The Bridge and nominated Best Actress for the Sydney Theatre Critics Award as Roberta in Danny and The Deep Blue Sea.

Peta's parents are entertainers Enzo Toppano and Peggy Mortimer, and as a teenager Peta won a scholarship to study ballet in France.

In the theatre Peta has appeared in leading roles, including Claudia in Nine, Priscilla Presley in Are You Lonesome Tonight?, They're Playing Our Song, Eliza Doolittle in My Fair Lady, and for 14 months in A Chorus Line as Diana Morales.

Her numerous leading roles for television include; ABC/RCC tele-drama G.P., E Street, All The Rivers Run II, Fields of Fire II and Fields of Fire III, Flying Doctors, Return To Eden, Carson's Law, Sara Dane, Water Under The Bridge, Home & Away, Heartbreak High and Prisoner. Films include Harbour Beat, Echoes of Paradise and Street Hero.