Melissa Crystal O'Neil is a Canadian singer and actress who is the first Canadian female winner of the reality television competition show Canadian Idol. She appeared in its third season and won the title in 2005. She is also a musical theatre actress who is recognized for her role, Two/Portia Lin on Dark Matter; a science fiction series which was canceled in September 2017.
Early Life And Education Of Melissa O'Neil
Melissa O'Neil was born on July 12, 1988, in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. She is the daughter of Alison Yeung and Tim O'Neil. Her father is of Irish descent and her mother is Chinese, making her mix of Chinese and Irish ethnicity. Her maternal grandfather gave her the Chinese name, Oh Seemun. She grew up in Calgary Alberta.
Melissa attended Terry Fox Junior High School and later joined Lester B. Pearson High School. As she was interested in the entertainment world since her childhood, Melissa was involved in various theater productions in the Calgary scene. Before she came in limelight she used to work in a daycare center and was involved in local, musical theatre productions.
Melissa O'Neil's Career-Life And Achievements
As Melissa O'Neil had an early pa s sion for entertainment, she decided to audition for the third season of Canadian Idol and since then her life changed forever. During the audition, the judges (Farley Flex, Sa s s Jordan, Jake Gold, and Zack Werner) gave her standing ovations and she made it through to the top 100 and then top 32 and ultimately the winner of the competition. She was able to make a record of the youngest and first female to win the show.
After being the winner of the show, she released her debut single Alive, which became a ma s sive hit and reached number one on the Canadian singles chart and outlasted there for four weeks. The single endured a platinum certification four times from the CRIA.
Later on 22 November 2005, she debuted her self-titled first album which reached number sixteen on the Canadian albums chart. O’Neil then began her debut tour the Let It Go Tour in North Bay, Ontario. She was a s sisted by the Canadian Idol runner-up, Rex Goudie.
Besides, she is also an actress and made her film debut in 2010 starring in Broken Hearts. And in 2011 she made her Stratford Shakespeare Festival debut. In addition to this, she also had a guest appearance in Camelot.
At the Princess of Wales Theatre, she played in the sit-down production of Les Miserables as Eponine and won Dora Award for Excellent Female Performance. Her outstanding performance on the stage got her role of Two/Portia Lin in Canadian science fiction series Dark Matter which started on June 12, 2015, on both Syfy and Space. At the same time, Melissa also got a recurring role in Rogue.
But Syfy canceled the series after three seasons on September 2017. After the series was canceled, she wrote a heartfelt note on Instagram.
Melissa O'Neil's Net Worth
Melissa's estimated net worth is $8 million but her official salary and earnings are still under review. Her music career is her main source of income and besides, she is also a theatre actress from which she earns a decent salary.
Melissa O'Neil's Personal Life
As of 2018, Melissa O'Neil is not married. She, however, was in a relationship with a mystery guy back in 2011. She used to regularly post about him and the couple seemed to be in love.
She stopped posting pictures of herself with an unknown guy in the year 2014. And in 2016 Melissa started posting pictures with Daniel Birnbaum adding caption 'I adore you.' They turned out to be just friends.
She is a very private person and prefers to live a low key life. As of now, O'Neil is single and focused on her career.
by rabina, 02 Jul, 2018
