Melissa O’Neil

About

Melissa O’Neil (born July 12, 1988) is a Canadian singer. In 2005, O’Neil won the third season of Canadian Idol. As an actress, she is known for her roles as Rebecca, Two, and Portia Lin in the Canadian science fiction series Dark Matter and as Officer Lucy Chen in the American police procedural drama series The Rookie.

Melissa O’Neil was born in Calgary, Alberta to a Chinese-Canadian mother from Hong Kong and an Irish-Canadian father. O’Neil attended Lester B. Pearson High School in Calgary, Alberta, where she performed in musicals, played rugby, and was on the basketball team.

In early 2005, while in high school, 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…