Sydney Topliffe is living her dream. Having grown up in Wyoming, Sydney was involved in the arts community in Lambton County from a young age.
“I was always at dance practice, I was always at music, I took a lot of voice, I did a lot of theatre at the Imperial Theatre and I did a lot of Theatre Sarnia and Lambton County players,” Sydney tells The Journal.
“I was like – I need to do every extra-curricular I can.”
Her dance lessons at Great Lakes Dance Academy and her roles in Theatre Sarnia and the
Lambton County Players have served her well. Sydney is now starring in Prime Video’s latest comedy series “Davey & Jonesie’s Locker” as Joyce, one of the students attending high school alongside the titular best friends Davey and Jonesie.
“There are these two teenage girls and their locker becomes a portal to the multiverse and mshenanigans ensue,” Sydney explained. “Our show is a very off-beat comedy; it’s kind of like ‘Everything Everywhere All at Once.’ Every episode is a different universe, it’s a lot of fun.”
The fun includes Sydney getting to play a different version of Joyce in every episode.
“In one of them, I play a rebellion leader that is a leader of the revolution and in the next episode, I’m a door. Really showing off that acting range,” she laughs.
As for her favourite Joyce to play?
“I play like a Mad Max/Han Solo type where I’m super badass and super weird. We have this bag of wet hair and we are trying to fight people with these long wet hair things and whipping them around. It’s insane but it was so much fun to shoot.”
Now residing in Toronto, teaching dance and going to auditions, there are aspects to the small-town way of life Sydney misses.
“I love Wyoming. I love the people, all of my family still lives there. It’s weird, like, when I moved to Toronto, you’re so used to in Wyoming walking down the street and seeing someone you know and talking for thirty minutes and seeing someone else,” she says. “In Toronto, everyone is looking down at the pavement trying not to make eye contact and that was a real adjustment coming to Toronto. It’s hard to find your community at first.”
So what’s next for the rising star? In addition to ‘Davey & Jonesie’s Locker,’ Sydney is starring as another high school student in the film ‘Doin’ It’ alongside Lilly Singh and Stephanie Beatriz.
“It’s really wild, it’s so different from this series but still campy and fun,” Sydney reveals.
‘Davey & Jonesie’s Locker’ is streaming now on Prime Video.