I'm a Third Grade dropout.  I'm a third-generation Hollywood native. My parents divorced when I was four. My father lived eight blocks away. I never saw him. I saw him on TV though. He was a cop on Dragnet, a cowboy in Gunsmoke, a weird guy in Twilight Zone. His name was, Lew Brown. His IMDB is a mile long. His friends were all blue-collar actors from 1970's television. Dennis Weaver, of McCloud fame, was my Godfather.

My mom wanted to smoke pot and hang out with hippies on the Sunset Strip. It was 1969. She pulled me out of Grant elementary school and put me in a "Free School" called Summerhill. You didn't have to take classes if you didn't feel like it. So I didn't. We were feral kids. My mother decided to take the hippy-thing one step further and go rogue, stick it to The Man, live off the land, counter-culture, all that. We moved to Humboldt County, California with my older brother and new stepfather. We built our own house, lived on a dirt road with no electricity, no telephone, no hot water, a wood stove and an outhouse. Soon they discovered how well pot grew in Humboldt County and thus began the family business. At that time, growing illegally. I often slept beneath drying pot plants hanging from the rafters. I knew people who were killed by "leaf-thieves". My mother was tied up and held at gunpoint by one of them as well as being arrested by the cops while gardening in the nude. I got the hell out of there at 17.

Working as an actress in local theater saved me. My first professional job was with the Dell'Arte International School of Physical Theater (Blue Lake, California) in a Country-Western-Musical-Melodrama called, Cash Valley, performed at fairs and rodeos off the back of a flatbed truck. I also performed in a production of Equus and, while I was underage at 17, no one seemed to mind me doing the nude scene. I drove my orange VW Hatchback back to Hollywood, alone, got an apartment and a desk job and began acting classes with Lee Strasberg and Stella Adler.  I was cast in Hill Street Blues, and on the same day, a TV Movie called (ironically), FREEDOM, written by the incredible Barbara Turner. I became friends with her daughter, Jennifer Jason Leigh. Jennifer was kind and generous to me. I was cast in, FAST TIMES AT RIDGEMONT HIGH and, as a Perry's Pizza waitress, spoke the classic line, "All right you guys, let's talk about that fox who just walked in!" I was realizing my dream of being a working actress. Just as I was in the right place at the right time, I freaked out. All the shame from my childhood I guess. 

I lived alone in a cabin for a year and cried. Then, at 21, I discovered a simple truth. "It's enough just to be. You don't have to BE anything."

Singing saved me. It was fun. Fun was all that mattered. I no longer had a big agenda. A bunch of my friends played in a bar band. They asked me to sit-in. When I sang, I felt strong. The exchange with the audience was immediate, different from acting on film. I became the lead singer. The musicians sent me home with Wilson Pickett, Aretha Franklin, and James Brown records. They schooled me. Fear disappeared, joy returned. A friend dropped out of an up and coming country band called, TIN STAR. I got the gig. TIN STAR was riding the wave of the "California Country" movement that included Dwight Yoakum, Lucinda Williams, and Jim Lauderdale. We all ran in the same circles, playing regularly at The Palomino, Raji's, Club Lingerie, The Central. Suddenly, I found myself in the midst of the L.A. Club scene in the '80's. It was incredible. TIN STAR signed to Rhino Records and made two albums. 



I started writing songs and created a solo career. My first album, SHELLY O'NEILL AND THE BIG WAY, was released to strong reviews. Music Connection magazine quoted, "This acoustic-oriented music possesses the methodical pacing of the Cowboy Junkies...O'Neill's vocals fly with a growling edge." My second album, ENOUGH IS A FEAST, is a compilation of heartfelt, autobiographical songs, sparsely produced. I made a third album called, SLINGER LAND, and I'm forever creating and releasing singles and videos on those streaming platforms you know so well.

I've recorded or performed with SmashMouth (on the Tonight Show), Dave Bassett, Adam Cohen, Jim Lauderdale, Kate Cebrano, Mark Goldenberg, Kevin McCormick, Amilia K. Spicer.

My song "Comes On Too Strong" (Shelving Unit Music/ASCAP) is featured in the 1999 major studio release, CHANGING HABITS, Starring Christopher Lloyd and Terri Garr. Another song "Bright Side" (Shelving Unit Music/ASCAP) can be heard over the opening credits of the independent feature film, STEALING YOU BLIND, Grand Prize winner at the 2008 Dances with Films festival in Los Angeles.

I'm in a commercial for TJ MAXX talking about what it's like to be a musician and a mom.

I'm writing a romance novel as well as a musical about my unconventional upbringing. Acting remains my first love and I try to memorize a monologue a week. I have two kids and a rescued racehorse. My story ends well.