Melissa O'Neil

About Melissa O'Neil

Melissa Crystal O’Neil (born July 12, 1988) is a Canadian singer and stage and screen actress who was the winner of the third season of Canadian Idol in 2005. She was the first Canadian female winner. She is also an actress, known for her role as Two/Portia Lin on Dark Matter.

O’Neil was born and raised in Calgary, Alberta, and attended Terry Fox Junior High School before studying at Lester B. Pearson High School. Prior to her Canadian Idol experience, she worked at a day care centre and was involved in local, musical-theatre productions. Her maternal grandfather gave her a Chinese name (Chinese: 奧詩敏).

In early 2005, O’Neil auditioned for the third season of Canadian Idol. The judges were impressed by her vocals, and she made it through to the top 100 round. On the first day, she sang the song «Concrete Angel» by Martina McBride a cappella and again impressed the judges; but, on the final day of competition, she forgot the words to her chosen song and froze. Nevertheless, the judges were still so impressed by her singing abilities that she continued to the top 32. After scoring the highest number of votes in her semi-final group, again with «Concrete Angel», O’Neil was granted a place in the final 10 of the contest.

As an actress, she is known for her roles as Two / Rebecca / Portia Lin in the science fiction series Dark Matter and as Officer Lucy Chen in the police procedural drama series The Rookie.