Mr. Topping profile picture

Mr. Topping

Bird's Dream...

About Me

Hallo there, and welcome to the myspace of James Topping. I'm an actor and writer originally from the Wirral (birthplace of John Peel, Ian Botham, Elvis Costello and Daniel Craig among others) and currently residing in North London with two scruffy Welshmen and a cat with a pierced ear. I am the eldest offspring of a folk-singing electrical engineer and a professional armpit-sniffer (well how else would they test deodorant?)Due to a cruel prank perpetrated by my parents, until the age of six I believed my full name to be James Matthew Aloysius Bartholomew Clint Earl Topping. It isn't. I had my acting debut at the age of eight when a film crew came to my school to shoot a scene for a Vauxhall Belmont commercial. I stood in the backgroud with my back to camera idly tossing a tennis ball to another student. I remember deciding that this might not be a bad career choice. The rest, as they say, is tedious. Last year I had the opportunity of seeing a bit of the world whilst performing scenes from Shakespeare and Noel Coward's Fallen Angels aboard the Cunard ship, the Queen Mary 2. I have also performed in such diverse locations as the former mortuary of Brixton Prison, The Handel House Museum, and the West End Stage in Willy Russell's Blood Brothers Like most actors, I have done my fair share of "resting" and have, over the years, pursued many glamourous alternative avenues of employment, including such exotic workplaces as a B-B-Q Beef Flavouring Factory, Chorley Sewage Farm, the "fat trap" in a margarine factory and a rat-infested duct under the Manchester Ship Canal. I have also been a barman, waiter, courier, telesales operative, mystery shopper and a CAD draughtsman and even "modelled cheese" (don't ask) whilst looking for acting work. Currently working on The 39 Steps at The Criterion Theatre in Piccadilly Circus. I am understudying BOTH clowns in a cast of four, and loving every minute. In my spare time I am working on a few script projects and putting the finishing touches on a book about acting with co-author, Psychic Medium, Spiritual Teacher and presenter of LBC's The Psychic Show, Becky Walsh View my acting CV here.Hey y'all. Check out my brand new website WWW.JAMESTOPPING.COMCheck out my brother, singer songwriter Joe Topping. He's ace!


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My Interests

Comedy and satire, film, television, theatre and literature, philosophy, ecology, ancient history, ethical living, popular science, golf, vintage clothes, hats (I collect them), recycling, BBC Radio 4, a properly made cup of tea, occult and hermetic philosophy, fine food and drink, chivalry, good manners, gentlemanly conduct and following the greatest football team in the world, namely Liverpool Football Club. I also enjoy painting and drawing (especially watercolours and grotesque cartoons of my friends), playing the guitar, riding my "retro" scooter, looking ridiculous, pontificating, and obsessing over technology, gadgets, computers and videogames (Xbox 360 Gamertag: Gretch). To my shame and private glee, I can almost never resist the lure of karaoke.

I'd like to meet:

Actors. UK Agents. Directors. Writers. Performers. People with similar aims and interests.Some selections from my scrapbook for your delectation and amusement: Get Your Own! | View SlideshowGet Your Own! | View Slideshow
Click to zoom in on my visitor map! You can also make your own!

Music:

Varied music tastes, including Indie & Alternative, Prog Rock, Classical, Jazz & British Folk. Now playing on my pocket gramophone: Arcade Fire, Midlake, Jeff Buckley, Radiohead, Snow Patrol, Super Furry Animals, Modest Mouse, Crimea, Kooks, Peter Gabriel, John Lennon, Muse, Rufus Wainwright, Beck, Bjork, Bowie, Doves, Elbow, Coldplay, Led Zeppellin, Imogen Heap, Seth Lakeman, Jim Moray, Jake Thackray, Bob Dylan, Freddie Stevenson, Nick Drake, Leonard Cohen, Kings of Convenience, Jack Johnson, Morrissey, The Beatles, early Genesis, King Crimson, The Bees, Ralph Vaughn Williams, Joseph Topping (my brother), The Tom Topping Band (my Dad).

Movies:

Too many to list, but here in no particular order are some all time favourites: V for Vendetta, The English Patient, The Big Lebowski, Withnail & I, Waiting for Guffman, One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest, The Lion In Winter, A Matter Of Life And Death, Annie Hall, Anchorman, Garden State, Russian Ark, All About Eve, The Matrix, Etre Et Avoir, Manhattan, This Is Spinal Tap, The Ladykillers (original), Sunset Boulevard, Some Like It Hot, It's A Wonderful Life, The Lord of the Rings trilogy (extended versions), the original Star Wars trilogy, James Bond movies, Mike Leigh's films, especially Naked, Donnie Darko, The Day The Earth Stood Still, What The Bleep, Contact, most Sci Fi, all Ealing Comedies, and I also derive guilty pleasure from almost all Superhero movies, especially Batman Begins. I do not include the movie "Condorman" starring Michael Crawford in this, even though it had a fantastic theme tune.

Television:

Question Time, Extras, 24, Jeeves and Wooster, University Challenge, Horizon, State of Play, The Day Today, Brasseye, Shameless, Heroes, Life on Mars, Spaced, I'm Alan Partridge, Armando Iannucci's Time Trumpet, The Office, Morcambe and Wise, My Name is Earl, The West Wing, Yes Minister, Shameless, Scrubs, The Thick of It, Dead Like Me, The Mighty Boosh, Reeves and Mortimer, People Like Us, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Carnivale, Lost, Battlestar Galactica, Firefly, The 4400, Doctor Who, Frasier, House, The Simpsons, Futurama, Stand-Up Comedy.

Books:

Everything; novels, biographies, science fiction, history, science, philosophy, "comics" etc. Favourite writers: Shakespeare, JRR Tolkein, Kyril Bonfiglioli, P.G. Wodehouse, Alan Moore, David Mamet, Douglas Adams, David Mitchell, Jonathan Safran Foer, Robert Jordan, Charles Dickens, e.e. cummings, Ken Kesey, John Irving, Iain Banks, Charles Bukowski, Sir Noel Coward, Patrick Hamilton, Anton Chekhov, Thomas Hardy, Craig Brown, Woody Allen, George Orwell, Wayne Dyer, Abraham-Hicks, Gary R. Renard, William Congreve, Deepak Chopra, Frank Miller, Robert Anton Wilson, The occasional Terry Pratchett novel, metaphysical poetry. From my newsagent I take The Independent, The Ecologist and What Is Enlightenment? and I am an avid reader of The Chap.

Heroes:

Bill Shakespeare, Bill Murray, Bill Hicks, Billy Connolly, Billie Piper, Peter Cook, Peter Sellers, P.G. Wodehouse, Stephen Fry, Douglas Adams, Cary Grant, Alec Guinness, Terry Thomas, David Niven, Alastair Sim, Spike Milligan, Richard Pryor, John Lennon, Nelson Mandela, Avatars.

My Blog

The honeymoon is officially over

Well, I was never really in the running for myspace's most prolific blogger or anything, but just to let people know that my love affair with this site is over. I'm not deleting my page or anything, b...
Posted by Mr. Topping on Wed, 04 Jul 2007 07:01:00 PST

My extended absence

Hello to all my myspace chums out there. Well, this is my first post of the new year. In fact, it's the first time I have been on myspace since Christmas, so sorry for not responding to messages and o...
Posted by Mr. Topping on Thu, 25 Jan 2007 06:09:00 PST

More from my brother

My brother recently completed his 1400 mile three month walk across the US to raise money and awareness for the New Orleans Musician's Relief Fund. He was interviewed on his arrival in New Orleans for...
Posted by Mr. Topping on Tue, 14 Nov 2006 08:37:00 PST

Check out this video: Walking to New Orleans (he really is)

Posted By:NOMRFGet this video and more at MySpace.comHere's a video of Joe, my brother, stopping off to learn a song called "Walking To New Orleans" whilst walking from Chicago to New Orleans. He is n...
Posted by Mr. Topping on Fri, 10 Nov 2006 07:37:00 PST

Halloween fun.

Seasonal greetings to all readers. This is my favourite time of year; the crispness of the air, the smell of leaf litter and the re-emergence of coats, boots, hats and scarves from summer hibernation,...
Posted by Mr. Topping on Sat, 28 Oct 2006 05:22:00 PST

Up and running

Well, Wednesday night was Press night for the 39 Steps. Very exciting for me as I have never been to a West End press night for a show I have been working on. Quite a glamourous affair, the audience f...
Posted by Mr. Topping on Fri, 22 Sep 2006 06:21:00 PST

Return to the West End

Today I am very excited. Not only is tomorrow my 31st Birthday, which in itself is cause for a feeling of mild pleasantness, but tomorrow is also my first day working on the West End transfer of the T...
Posted by Mr. Topping on Mon, 11 Sep 2006 08:23:00 PST

The Daughters of War

Wednesday's play reading was a success. It was one of the more complex readings I have taken part in, being as it was a hugely ambitious and very relevant piece of writing dealing with the various war...
Posted by Mr. Topping on Fri, 18 Aug 2006 03:02:00 PST

My lunatic Brother

My younger brother, Joe, is currently on his way to New Orleans. Nothing particularly out of the ordinary about that, except that my brother has decided to Start in Chicago, and walk it. The total nut...
Posted by Mr. Topping on Mon, 14 Aug 2006 08:52:00 PST

Play Reading this Wednesday

Dear Chums, I'll be taking part in a rehearsed reading of a new play this week. At the moment I don't have much detail. In fact all I know is that the event takes place in The Vanbrugh Theatre which i...
Posted by Mr. Topping on Mon, 14 Aug 2006 05:58:00 PST