Jim Piddock
James Anthony Piddock is an English actor, writer, and producer who began his career on the stage in the United Kingdom, before emigrating to the United States in 1981.
Personal life
Piddock was born in Rochester, Kent, the son of Celia Mary and Charles Frederick Piddock. After completing his tertiary studies at Worth School, a Roman Catholic Benedictine boarding school in the south of England, Piddock attended London University, gaining an Honours degree in English literature.Despite being a resident of California since 1985, he founded a Supporters Trust for the South London football team he had supported since childhood, Crystal Palace, which helped lead the club out of administration and avoid liquidation in 2000. The unique model for this Trust has since been incorporated by supporters of football clubs across the United Kingdom. Piddock is often seen attending Crystal Palace games when he is in England.
He has a daughter, Alexandra, from his former marriage with writer Margaret Oberman. Piddock is currently engaged to actress Ann Cusack, who he has been with since 2011.
Career
Piddock began his acting career on the stage in the UK, before emigrating to the US in his early twenties. He made his US theatrical debut in a one-man show, The Boy's Own Story, in 1982. A large number of film and television credits followed, most notably Lethal Weapon 2, Independence Day, The Prestige, Austin Powers in Goldmember, The Five-Year Engagement, Think Like a Man Too, and several Christopher Guest films, including Best in Show and A Mighty Wind.Stage career
Piddock made his theatrical debut in the US in The Boy's Own Story, a one-man show about a football goalkeeper, at the Julian Theatre in San Francisco. The show won Piddock the Bay Area Critics' Best Actor Award. The show was then produced Off-Broadway. That same year, he was cast in Noël Coward's Present Laughter, and other Broadway and Off-Broadway shows followed, including the original US production of Noises Off, The Knack at the Roundabout Theatre, Make and Break, and Design For Living. He won a Drama Desk award for his performance in Noises Off."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", Piddock said. In the mid-1980s, Piddock moved to Los Angeles where he garnered work in film and television.
In November 2007, he cemented his growing reputation as one of the UK's most notable comedy actor exports at the Ricardo Montalbán Theatre in Hollywood, starring on stage 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. When the play officially premiered in 2012, with the addition of Russell Brand, he was again in the cast. He also appeared in 2009 at the Montalban Theatre and on Broadway in An Evening Without Monty Python.
Film and television career
Following a successful stint as a stage performer, Piddock started successfully carving out a career for himself as a TV actor, now spanning four decades. "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", Piddock said of his transition into television.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. He also created, wrote and produced the BBC series Too Much Sun.
He appeared in the Christopher Guest comedies Best in Show, A Mighty Wind, For Your Consideration, and Mascots, the last of which he co-wrote.
Voice work
As a voice actor, Piddock provided the voice of Major Zero in the English version of the video game ' 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 ', Batman's butler, Alfred Pennyworth, in the DC Comics animated film ', and voiced Chic for the animated science fiction film ', based on the video game Dead Space.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, and The Dictator with Sacha Baron Cohen.In August, 2012 it was announced 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. 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.
Writing and producing
Piddock sold his first screenplay in 1990 for a mid-six figure sum. Since then, his produced work has been diverse, ranging from Fox's $120 million grossing family film Tooth Fairy in 2010, starring Dwayne Johnson, Ashley Judd, Julie Andrews, Billy Crystal, and Stephen Merchant; New Line's action-comedy The Man, starring Samuel L. Jackson and Eugene Levy; and the Cold War romantic thriller A Different Loyalty, starring Sharon Stone and Rupert Everett. His other produced film writing credits include the thrillers Traces of Red and One Good Turn.In November 2019, it was announced that his screenplay Frankel would begin shooting in 2020 with Jeremy Irons playing the lead role of Sir Henry Cecil.
In the television world, Piddock created, wrote, and produced the BBC sitcom Too Much Sun, starring Mark Addy, Alex Jennings, and Lee Majors. In addition to writing, producing, and starring in the HBO/BBC series Family Tree, he has also written one-hour episodic dramas for U.S. television and several half-hour comedy pilots.
In 2019, Piddock optioned all the David Raker books, written by Tim Weaver, to develop as a UK/US returnable crime series and also teamed up with producer Mark Gordon to produce a series based on his one-hour pilot about a London gangster living in America, titled Faces.