Has ACTRA has produced a front-runner to succeed Jack Layton as the NDP leader and official leader of the opposition in Ottawa?

No, not an actor, but top Layton adviser Brian Topp, 51, whose day jobs include executive director of ACTRA Toronto since 2001 and NDP party president.

Media reports Friday speculated that Topp would make a bid for the party’s leadership, although the actors union declined to comment on Topp’s future plans, not least out of respect for the late NDP leader so soon after he lost a long battle with cancer.

But it’s known Topp honed his backroom politicking skills in part at ACTRA, in addition to managing war rooms for NDP politicians like Roy Romanow and Alexa McDonough.

Topp is also a member of the board of Film Ontario, Pinewood Toronto Studios, the ROI Fund, a Pinewood studio investor that also runs a labour-sponsored venture capital fund sponsored by ACTRA Toronto.