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Jim Piddock
British actor (b. 1956) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Jim Piddock (born 8 April 1956 in Rochester, Kent) is an English actor, writer, producer, and author whose career spans over four decades. After training at Drama Studio London and graduating from King’s College, London, he began on stage in the UK before relocating to the United States in his early twenties. He made his U.S. theatrical debut in the one-man show The Boy’s Own Story in San Francisco, winning critical praise, and soon moved to Broadway, appearing in productions including Present Laughter, Noises Off, The Knack, and Design for Living.
Transitioning into television and film, Piddock has collected a wide-ranging résumé. He has appeared in ensemble comedies by Christopher Guest, such as Best in Show, A Mighty Wind, and For Your Consideration. Piddock has also worked on numerous major studio films such as Lethal Weapon 2, Independence Day, The Prestige, Austin Powers in Goldmember, and The Five-Year Engagement. On television, his credits include guest roles on Friends, ER, Lost, Modern Family, Mom, Castle, Law & Order: LA, among many others.
In addition to acting, Piddock is a prolific voice actor, lending his voice to video games (notably Major Zero in Metal Gear Solid 3) and animated series. He made his first major writing breakthrough in the 1990s, selling a spec screenplay, and went on to write and produce films such as The Tooth Fairy and A Different Loyalty. He also co-created the HBO/BBC series Family Tree with Christopher Guest. In 2022, he published his memoir, Caught With My Pants Down and Other Tales from a Life in Hollywood, offering a witty and insightful look at his journey in show business.
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Early life
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James Anthony Piddock was born on April 8, 1956 to Celia Mary (née O'Callaghan) and Charles Frederick Piddock, in Rochester, Kent. His mother worked as a medical receptionist, and his father, raised by an aunt, became an agricultural engineer.[2] Although Piddock decided as a teenager that he wanted to be an actor, he later learned that his family had deep roots in show business. His grandfather, Harry Piddock, had performed a Music Hall act with Charlie Chaplin, and his great-grandfather, J.C. Piddock, was a well-known comedian and singer.[3]
Piddock attended Worth School from the age of 10, a Catholic boarding school in Sussex. In his memoir, he referred to being "bored" during his education, until he was cast in a school play. He described opening night of the play as the moment he knew he wanted to become an actor. After that, Piddock wrote and acted in the school's annual comedy revues, often appearing with Robert Bathurst. The comedy revues at Worth had also seen Harry Enfield perform while at the school.[3]
After finishing school, Piddock studied English Literature and Language at King's College, London University, where by his own admission he spent "most of my time majoring in the subjects of acting and playing football." He was accepted into Drama Studio London, having auditioned for his first choice Royal Academy of Dramatic Art.[3]
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Career
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Stage career
Before moving to the United States, Piddock built his early career on the British stage. After graduating from drama school, he toured the UK for nine months with the Spectrum Theatre Company. He then worked extensively in regional repertory theatres in Chelmsford, Tunbridge Wells, Torquay, and Weston-Super-Mare, frequently playing leading roles. During this period, he also became the youngest director working in British repertory theatre. His early professional credits included a role in John Bull’s Other Island at the Greenwich Theatre in 1980.[4]
After leaving England for the United States, Piddock made his American theatrical debut in The Boy's Own Story, a one-man show about a football goalkeeper, at the Julian Theatre in San Francisco, for which he received the Bay Area Theatre Critics award for Best Actor (1981).[5] He also won the Drama-Logue Critics Award for best actor for his performances in the one-man show.[6] After being extended twice to accommodate the growing demand to see the show, the play transferred to the York Theatre, off-Broadway in New York in 1982.[7] That same year, he was cast as Fred in Noël Coward's Present Laughter, starring George C. Scott and in which he made his Broadway debut along with Nathan Lane, Kate Burton, and Dana Ivey. The production was an instant hit and other Broadway and Off-Broadway shows followed, including the original US production of Noises Off,, in which he created the role of Tim Allgood in America, The Knack at the Roundabout Theatre, Make and Break starring Peter Falk, and Otto in Design For Living.[8][9] Piddock said this about his stage career;
"I spent the first few years of my career pretty much doing nothing but stage work. I started in rep companies in England then did a one-man show in the US which led very quickly to doing several Broadway shows. I got very lucky early on. They were fun shows to do. I was in the first ever production of Noises Off in America and my first ever job in New York was being directed by and appearing with George C. Scott."[10]
After moving to Los Angeles, Piddock became an artistic associate at the Los Angeles Theatre Center, where he appeared in Diary of a Hunger Strike alongside Colm Meaney, the role of Jack Worthing in The Importance of Being Earnest, the classic British 1960's revue Beyond the Fringe, and Mick in Harold Pinter's The Caretaker (play), for which he won a Los Angeles Drama Desk award (1988) for Best Actor. The same year, he also won a Drama Desk award for his performance opposite Jean Smart in How the Other Half Loves at the Tiffany Theater in West Hollywood.
In November 2007, he cemented his reputation as one of the UK's most renowned comedy actors when he appeared at the Ricardo Montalbán Theatre in Hollywood, starring in a production of What About Dick? alongside an all British expat cast, including Billy Connolly, Tim Curry, Eric Idle, Eddie Izzard, Jane Leeves, Emily Mortimer and Tracey Ullman.[11] When the play officially premiered in 2012, with the addition of Russell Brand, he was again in the cast.[12] Piddock also worked with Eric Idle in 2009 on An Evening Without Monty Python, a 40 year anniversary tribute to Monty Python's Flying Circus, which he starred in with Alan Tudyk, Jane Leeves, Rick Holmes, and Jeff B. Davis. The show played at the Ricardo Montalban Theatre in Los Angeles and then on Broadway at The Town Hall.[8][9]
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Film and television career
Of his transition into television, Piddock said:
I'd always wanted to end up working in film and TV. I guess I could have stayed in New York and probably had a long and fruitful career in the theatre but in the mid-1980s I felt like it was time to change gears and I'd certainly not been short-changed in terms of getting to perform live.[13]
He has appeared in close to a hundred TV shows, including The Blacklist, The Haunting of Bly Manor, Modern Family, A Confession, Designated Survivor, Get Shorty, Training Day, Mom, Childrens Hospital, The Royals, Touch, Two and a Half Men, Castle, ER, Law & Order: LA, Party Down, Chuck, Dollhouse, Without a Trace, Monk, Lost, Crossing Jordan, Citizen Baines, Friends, Yes, Dear, Angel, The Tracey Ullman Show, Murder She Wrote, Coach, Tour of Duty, Max Headroom, and The Twilight Zone.
He has also appeared in several TV films and mini-series, including From The Earth to the Moon, A Mom for Christmas, She Creature on HBO, and The Women of Windsor.[8][9] He also created, wrote and produced the BBC series Too Much Sun.[8][9]
His film appearances include Get Him to the Greek, Woody Allen's You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger. Falling Up, The Seeker: The Dark Is Rising, Who's Your Caddy?, Epic Movie, Meet the Spartans, The Prestige, Love for Rent, A Different Loyalty, See This Movie, Austin Powers in Goldmember, Multiplicity, Independence Day, Traces of Red, and Lethal Weapon 2.
He also notably appeared in the Christopher Guest comedies Best in Show as the Dog Show commentator Trevor Beckwith with Fred Willard, Leonard Crabbe in A Mighty Wind, Simon Whitset in For Your Consideration, and Owen Golly Sr. in Mascots, the last of which he co-wrote and produced.[8][9]
In 2013, he also created, starred in, and produced the critically-acclaimed HBO and BBC television series Family Tree with Christopher Guest, in which he played Chris O'Dowd's character's eccentric landlord Mr. Pfister.
Voice work
As a voice actor, Piddock provided the voice of Major Zero in the English version of the video game Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater as well as Agent One in Return to Castle Wolfenstein for Xbox and PlayStation 2. In film he provided the voice of Bolero the Bull in the film Garfield 2 and of Kenneth Loring, the fictional artistic director of Forever Young Films, in the commentary of the directors' cut of the Coen brothers' Blood Simple. He also voiced the part of King Mufasa's hornbill majordomo, Zazu in the Disney games Timon & Pumbaa's Jungle Games and The Lion King: Simba's Mighty Adventure, Batman's butler, Alfred Pennyworth, in the DC Comics animated film Batman: Under the Red Hood, and voiced Chic for the animated science fiction film Dead Space: Downfall, based on the video game Dead Space.[14]
Later work
Piddock appeared in 2012's The Five-Year Engagement, which starred Jason Segel and Emily Blunt, playing Blunt's father, The Cold Light of Day starring Henry Cavill, Bruce Willis and Sigourney Weaver, 1915, Kill Your Friends, and The Dictator with Sacha Baron Cohen.[8][9]
In August 2012, it was announced[15] that Piddock would be co-writing, acting, and producing a new TV comedy series with Christopher Guest for HBO and the BBC titled Family Tree.[8][9] The show subsequently aired in 2013.
On 13 October 2016, Mascots, which he also co-wrote with Guest, stars in, and produced, premiered on Netflix. Since then he has appeared in several television shows, including Modern Family, Designated Survivor, Get Shorty, Training Day, Blunt Talk, and The Royals.
In 2021, he played Captain Carradine in the film Haunting of the Queen Mary, which was shot in the UK and the US and released in 2023.
Most recently, Piddock played the role of the head of MI6 in the second season of the FOX comedy Going Dutch, starring Denis Leary, which is due to be released in early 2026.
Writing and producing
Piddock wrote the story for and produced Tooth Fairy starring Dwayne Johnson, Ashley Judd, Julie Andrews, Stephen Merchant, and Seth MacFarlane, New Line's action-comedy The Man, starring Samuel L. Jackson and Eugene Levy, One Good Turn, Traces of Red, and the Cold War romantic thriller A Different Loyalty starring Rupert Everett and Sharon Stone, in which Piddock played the supporting role of George Quennell, who was based on the notorious spy Donald Maclean.
Author
His light-hearted, gossipy, and irreverent memoir, Caught with My Pants Down and Other Tales from a Life in Hollywood, chronicling his four decades in the entertainment industry, was released on March 23, 2022, in paperback, ebook, and audiobook formats.[16] American comedian and television host Seth Meyers said of the book: "Jim has a big heart and a sharp wit and both are on display in the pages of this book. So f***ing read it!". British comedian, actor, and writer, Russell Brand commented that "Jim has done that rare thing that perhaps only Michael Caine and David Niven have done before; conjured a funny, inclusive, whimsical, and magical tale." American actress Jean Smart wrote: "This laugh-out-loud book... entertains endlessly and most wisely". Downton Abbey stars Hugh Bonneville described it as "hilarious, passionate, beautifully told, and memorably waspish" and Elizabeth McGovern said: "When I wasn't gasping or laughing my head off, I was wondering why my life was so boring compared to Jim Piddock's". Among the other celebrity praise for the book were "Jim Piddock is a funny man with a trove of stories to tell" (Christopher Guest), "Jim Piddock is a sharp, witty, and erudite man" (Eddie Izzard), and "Dry as a bone, lethal as a rapier. Couldn't put it down. Great read." (Ian McShane).[17]
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Personal life
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Piddock lived with and dated Linda Kozlowski in New York in the late 1970s/early 1980s, before he moved to Los Angeles.[18] He was married to former Saturday Night Live writer Margaret Oberman from 1991 until 2004.[19][20] Together they have a daughter who was born in 1994.[21][22]
Piddock married actress and singer Ann Cusack on April 1, 2023 in a private ceremony at their home in the Hollywood Hills, California.[23][24] British-born Piddock has lived in Los Angeles since the mid-1980s, but also splits his time between other residences in London and Provence.[25]
He is a lifelong supporter of the English football team, Crystal Palace. In 1999, when the club entered administration with debts of £22 million,[26] Piddock subsequently became a founder of the Crystal Palace Supporters Trust in an attempt to save the club.[27][28] The formation of the supporters trust and the funds raised was seen as "a lifeline" for the club, which was eventually saved.[29] The co-founders of the trust were recognised by the English Football Hall of Fame for their fan activism.[30]
He has also supported Crystal Palace's official charitable arm Palace for Life on numerous fundraising efforts. In 2023, Piddock played in the charitable football match, Palace Aid, which was held at Selhurst Park.[31] He also announced that 25% of the proceeds from his book released in 2025 would go to the foundation, and 25% to BAFTA's "Access for All" programme.[32] Piddock has also worked alongside the club to provide talks to school leavers in South London.[33]
Filmography
Film
Television
Video games
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References
External links
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