James Anthony Piddock (born April 8, 1956) is an English actor, writer, and producer who began his career on the stage in England, before emigrating to the U.S. in 1981.
Piddock was born in Rochester, Kent, the son of Celia May (née O'Callaghan) and Charles Frederick Piddock. He made his theatrical debut in the U.S. in "The Boy's Own Story", a one-man show about a soccer 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 (1982), he was cast in Noel 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." Piddock then moved to Los Angeles and began to appear in tv shows, including "The Tracey Ullman Show", "Coach", "Max Headroom", "The Twilight Zone", "Murder She Wrote", "Mad About You", "Angel", "Yes Dear", "ER", "Friends", "The Geena Davis Show", "Crossing Jordan", "The Drew Carey Show", "Lost", and "Monk". He also starred in several tv movies and mini-series, including "From The Earth To The Moon", "A Mom For Christmas", "She Creature" on HBO, and "The Women Of Windsor".
He appeared in his first movie in 1989, "Lethal Weapon 2" as the South African consulate. Other film roles soon followed, including "Independence Day", "Traces Of Red", "Multiplicity", "Burn Hollywood Burn", "Austin Powers 3", "A Different Loyalty", "Love For Rent", "See This Movie", "Love For Rent", "The Prestige", "Epic Movie", "Who's Your Caddy?", and "The Seeker: The Dark Is Rising". He has also appeared in the Christopher Guest comedies "Best In Show" (as the Dog Show commentator with Fred Willard), "A Mighty Wind", and "For Your Consideration".
As a voice actor, he 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. Regarding movies he provided the voice of Bolero the Bull in the movie "Garfield 2", and the fictional artistic director of Forever Young Films, Kenneth Loring, doing the commentary in the directors' cut of the Coen Brothers' "Blood Simple".
He has produced or written other films, including "Traces Of Red", "One Good Turn", "A Different Loyalty", "The Man". He also created, wrote and produced the BBC series "Too Much Sun".
Educated at Worth Abbey, a Benedictine Catholic boarding school, in the south of England. After gaining a degree in English literature at London University, he toured a 1-man show in the U.S. before making his Broadway debut in 1982. After starring in several Broadway shows, he moved to Los Angeles and has appeared in numerous television shows and films, two of which (Lethal Weapon 2 and Indepedence Day) were the top-grossing movies of their respective years. In 1990, he sold his first screenplay for a mid-six figure sum and now splits his time between writing/producing and acting.
