Schtop! It's Ronald Top, star of one of the most succesful ad campaigns in history (Grolsch UK, 1999-2005), Dutch presenter of forty hit programmes for the Discovery Channel (each transmitted in over 140 countries, including the USA - latest series starts spring 2007), theatre-, tv-, film-actor, voice-over artist and established journalist (newspaper editor and radio broadcaster).
Presenting
"Can History be fun to watch? Absolutely! Just watch Ronald Top presenting Industrial Revelations Europe".
This is what a Dutch critic wrote about Ronald's history/engineering programme for the Discovery Channel.
He is passionate about acting, writing and presenting, "his unique blend of humour, intelligence and non-stop enthusiasm" is viewed by people in more than 140 countries in Europe, Africa, The Middle East and the USA.
'Industrial Revelations Europe' shows Ronald driving steam-trains and paddle steamers, operating historic printing presses and looms, lighting dynamite and taming horses. These half-hour, hands-on programs were seen by record-breaking audiences of over 35 million.
'More Industrial Revelations Europe', builds on the previous success and is currently a big hit across Europe. This time, Ronald guided hot air balloons across Germany, mastered a zeppelin, forged red hot iron, shaped wood with ceiling-high steam-powered saws and took a 19th century stream-train up a 48 degree Alp.
Ronald was the main presenter on ' Legend Detectives', which investigated Europe's most enduring legends, including Robin Hood, the Man in the Iron Mask, the Pied Piper of Hamlin and Dracula. Ronald marshalled a team of experts - British historian Tessa Dunlop, Italian psychologist Massimo Polidoro and British psychic medium Tony Stockwell and travelled through Europe to the birthplaces of these legends, to find out how true these fascinating stories are.
Ronalds latest ten-part series for Discovery is called "Inventing History", which traverses two millennia to reveal the fascinating development of everyday objects such as the wheel, the telephone, money and home-entertainment. The programmes also offer a 'sneak preview' of astonishing future developments.
'Inventing History' shows Ronald riding horses and historic carriages, mastering steam trains, climbing into the dark depths of a Polish flint mine, and racing the latest Lamborghini sports car on the Pirelli test-track in Italy. Filming took place in a concentrated period across ten European countries, from Norway to Poland.
Ronald is the most engaging, entertaining and low maintenance presenter I've come across in over fifteen years of directing documentaries. (Richard Nash, Director, Inventing History).
Journalist and Actor
Ronald is a journalist as much as he is an actor. He worked as an editor for Dutch newspapers until in 1990, when he switched to radio, presenting a long list of radio programmes, ranging from news to culture to live events. As a journalist, he covered stories about politics, history and arts, including a lot of strong human interest elements.
After finishing his four-year training at the drama school in Maastricht in1996, Ronald worked as a stage-actor in Antwerp, Belgium. He also took part in productions at the National Theatre in The Hague, and for several other Dutch theatre groups, performing in Shakespeare, Becket, Strindberg, Topor, Agatha Christie, Von Mayenberg and Camus. One leading critic in Holland wrote about "Eau de Vie" by writer/director Karst Woudstra: "Ronald's performance is so life-like, it's frightening".
On TV, Ronald performs in Dutch drama- as well as comedy series and both short and feature length films. The featurefilm 'the silence of the soul' (2000), in which he played a leading part, won the Golden Crown at the ICVM festival in Atlanta, USA. His TV work also includes a guest appearance in the long running British series "Coronation Street."
Advertising
Schtop!!! With this catchphrase from the extremely succesfull TV-campaign for Grolsch, Ronald became a household name in the UK.
For over six years, Ronald starred as the laid-back Dutchman in several widely acclaimed ads, made by the Leith agency in Edinburgh, Scotland. The 'never rushed' campaign won Silver at the Scottish Effectiveness Awards in 2003. The prizewinning films for TV and cinema made Grolsch's beersales skyrocket in the UK. The ads were filmed on location in London, Hong Kong, Malaga, Barcelona, Prague, Rotterdam, Amsterdam and Los Angeles. Dante Spinotti was one of several famous directors of photography who gave these ads their cinematic appearance.
Other commercials with Ronald include ' Infinity Q45' (Nissan USA), 'MacDonalds' , 'Tiscali' and 'Postbus 51' (all three in Holland). He has also starred in several corporate films in Holland.
Voice
Ronald is a voice-over artist, with a long list of credits for clients such as Coca-Cola, Honda, Tiscali, Grolsch, Lufthansa, Renault and Pedigree. He has voiced several cartoons, the Grolsch ads in the UK, as well as his own tv-series for the Discovery Channel.
Skills
Horseriding, sailing and scuba diving are Ronald's favorite sports.
And: he's learning to play the cello.
His native language is Dutch, Ronald is fluent in English and German.
For further information and bookings please contact
Elise van Meeteren,
tel. 0031(0)356233818 / e.meeteren@xs4all.nl.
Or for UK drama bookings: Sarah Spear/Grace Clissold
at Curtis Brown, London,
tel. 0044(0)2073934400
'Schtop', Grolsch-UK
Inventing History
PSV-corporate
The Silence of the Soul
e-mail: info@ronaldtop.com | design: Studio Tween