Emily Roya O'Brien (born 28 May 1985) is an English three-time Daytime Emmy-nominated

actress An actor or actress is a person who portrays a Character (arts), character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. The analogous Greek ...

and writer who is known for her five-year series regular role of

Jana Hawkes Fisher Jana Hawkes is a fictional character from the American CBS soap opera ''The Young and the Restless''. The role was portrayed by Emily O'Brien, first on a recurring status and then on contract until the character's death onscreen on May 6, 2011. J ...

on ''

The Young and the Restless ''The Young and the Restless'' (often abbreviated as ''Y&R'') is an American television soap opera created by William J. Bell and Lee Phillip Bell for CBS. The show is set in fictional Genoa City (not the real-life similarly-named Genoa City, Wi ...

'' from 2006–2011. She portrayed the voice of The Woman in Love Death and Robots Season 1 episode of The Witness, directed by Alberto Mielgo, which won The Emmy for Best Animation. She went on to portray motion capture and the voice of Eve in Season 2 of Love Death and Robots entitled Pop Squad. She also portrayed Julia in the 2014 film ''

Pernicious ''Pernicious'' is a Thai-American supernatural horror film directed by James Cullen Bressack, who also wrote the story along with co-writer Taryn Hillin. The film stars Ciara Hanna, Emily O'Brien, and Jackie Moore. Cast * Ciara Hanna as Al ...

'' and provided the voices of Camille and Samira in ''

League Of Legends ''League of Legends'' (''LoL''), commonly referred to as ''League'', is a 2009 multiplayer online battle arena video game developed and published by Riot Games. Inspired by ''Defense of the Ancients'', a Mod (video games), custom map for War ...

'', and Y'shtola in '' Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn''. Emily also voiced

Gamora Gamora is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer/artist Jim Starlin, the character first appeared in ''Strange Tales'' #180 (June 1975). Gamora is the adopted daughter of Thanos, and ...

in '' Guardians of the Galaxy: The Telltale Series'' and Special Agent Iman Avesta in the 2017 video game '' Batman: The Enemy Within''. In 2018, she became part of the main cast of the animated film ''Dagon Troll World Chronicles''. She also voiced Amelie and young Bridget Strand in the 2019 game ''

Death Stranding ''Death Stranding'' is a 2019 action game developed by Kojima Productions and published by Sony Interactive Entertainment for the PlayStation 4. It is the first game from director Hideo Kojima and Kojima Productions after their split from Kona ...

''. In 2020, O'Brien joined the cast of ''

Days of Our Lives ''Days of Our Lives'' (also stylized as ''Days of our Lives''; simply referred to as ''Days'' or ''DOOL'') is an American television soap opera that streams on the streaming service Peacock. The soap, which aired on the American television net ...

'' and currently portrays the character

Gwen Rizczech '' Days of Our Lives'' is an American television soap opera that was first broadcast on November 8, 1965. The following is a list of characters that first appear in the show during the 2020s, by order of first appearance. All characters were int ...

, the daughter of

Jack Deveraux Jack Deveraux is a fictional character from ''Days of Our Lives'', an American soap opera on the NBC network, most famously played by actor Matthew Ashford since 1987. He is a member of the Johnson family and first appeared onscreen in 1987. Ash ...

(

Matthew Ashford Matthew Nile Ashford (born January 29, 1960) is an American actor. He is best known for his roles on the soap operas ''Days of Our Lives'' and '' The Bay'', for the former of which he received a nomination for the Daytime Emmy Award for Outstand ...

) on the daytime drama.

Life and career

Emily O'Brien was in plays at Carlsbad High School, where she graduated in 2003, and at

MiraCosta College MiraCosta College is a public community college serving coastal North San Diego County in California with two campuses, one in eastern Oceanside and the other in Cardiff-by-the-Sea, and many satellite locations, including the Community Learnin ...

, where she completed a theater major in 2005. In 2005, she graduated with a degree in theater from Mira Costa College. She was named a finalist in the

Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival The Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival (KCACTF) is a national theatre program dedicated to the improvement of collegiate theatre in the United States. Focused on the celebration of diverse and exciting theatre, KCACTF involves student ...

’s Irene Ryan Acting Competition in 2005, where she was pitted against several hundred students from colleges and universities across the country. She attended Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London, England and wrote, produced and directed her first project ''Beatrice'' in 2011 which won best film at BIFF. She portrayed

in ''

''. O'Brien was nominated for three

Daytime Emmy Awards The Daytime Emmy Awards, or Daytime Emmys, are part of the extensive range of Emmy Awards for artistic and technical merit for the American television industry. Bestowed by the New York–based National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences ...

for her performance in ''The Young and the Restless''. She portrayed the role again in November 2008, when a parody of the show was the theme of the 1st showcase on ''

The Price Is Right ''The Price Is Right'' is a television game show franchise created by Bob Stewart, originally produced by Mark Goodson and Bill Todman; currently it is produced and owned by Fremantle. The franchise centers on television game shows, but also inc ...

''. O'Brien portrayed the role initially on a recurring status from 11 May to 5 September 2006, and then on contract from 10 October 2006 to 20 February 2007, when the character disappeared from the canvas temporarily until her return on 15 June 2007. O'Brien earned two

Daytime Emmy Award The Daytime Emmy Awards, or Daytime Emmys, are part of the extensive range of Emmy Awards for artistic and technical merit for the American television industry. Bestowed by the New York–based National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences ...

nominations for

Outstanding Younger Actress The Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Younger Actress in a Drama Series was an award presented annually by the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS) and the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (ATAS). It was given annually f ...

in 2008 and 2009. In March 2011, news broke that O'Brien had been let go from ''The Young and the Restless'', with her final airdate on 6 May 2011. Prior to her dismissal, O'Brien was pre-nominated for another Daytime Emmy in the same category. O’Brien is in much demand as a voice actor, and provided the voices of Y'Shtola in '' Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn'', Camille in ''

'',

Faris Scherwiz Faris Scherwiz is a fictional character in the ''Final Fantasy'' series. She first appears in ''Final Fantasy V'' as an early antagonist and later one of its protagonists. She was born Princess Sarisa Scherwil Tycoon, but was lost at sea and rais ...

in ''

World of Final Fantasy ''World of Final Fantasy'' is a role-playing video game developed by Tose (company), Tose and published by Square Enix. It is a spin-off of the ''Final Fantasy'' franchise, featuring characters from across its mainline and supplementary entries. ...

'', and

Veruca Salt Veruca Salt is an American alternative rock band founded in Chicago, Illinois, in 1992 by vocalist-guitarists Nina Gordon and Louise Post, drummer Jim Shapiro and bassist Steve Lack. They are best known for their first single, " Seether", that ...

in '' Tom and Jerry: Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory''. Emily then portrayed Julia in the 2014

supernatural horror film Supernatural horror film is a film genre that combines aspects of horror film and supernatural film. Supernatural occurrences in such films often include ghosts and demons, and many supernatural horror films have elements of religion. Common them ...

'', directed by

James Cullen Bressack James Cullen Bressack (born c. 1992 in Los Angeles, California) is an American film producer, screenwriter and film director. He is the son of Emmy Award-winning writer Gordon Bressack and voice actress Ellen Gerstell.Couch, Aaron (2015)Tom Gre ...

. She also voiced

in the Telltale video game, '' Guardians of the Galaxy: The Telltale Series''. She has received wide recognition for her portrayal of Special Agent Iman Avesta in '' Batman: The Enemy Within'', a fan of

Batman Batman is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character was created by artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger, and debuted in Detective Comics 27, the 27th issue of the comic book ''Detective Comics'' on ...

. O'Brien is partially deaf, and teared up having to voice a scene where the character could be rendered deaf by the

Riddler The Riddler (Edward Nigma, later Edward Nygma or Edward Nashton) is a supervillain appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character was created by Bill Finger and Dick Sprang, and debuted in ''Detective Comics'' #140 in Oc ...

. While the game itself was moderately received, her performance was generally praised by critics. In 2018, she briefly played Jillian Marshall in the

Focus on the Family Focus on the Family (FOTF or FotF) is a fundamentalist Protestant organization founded in 1977 in Southern California by James Dobson, based in Colorado Springs, Colorado. The group is one of a number of evangelical parachurch organizations ...

radio program ''

Adventures in Odyssey ''Adventures in Odyssey'' (AIO), or simply ''Odyssey'', is an Evangelical Christian radio drama and comedy series created and produced by Focus on the Family. Aimed at families with children age 12 and younger, the series first aired in 1987 as ...

''. That same year, she provided the voice of Renee Chandler in the

CW Seed CW may stand for: Science and technology * centiwatt (cW), one hundredth of a watt * Cω, a programming language * CW complex, a type of topological space * Carrier wave, in radio communications * CodeWarrior, an integrated development environ ...

animated series '' Constantine: City of Demons''. She also appeared as the suspicious Portia in the thriller ''Dangerous Matrimony'', then signed on to play the voice of Ruth the human mother and wife of the Ambassador of Earth in the upcoming dark fantasy motion comi
Dagon Troll World Chronicles
that is set to be released in 2021. She reprised the role of Gamora in '' Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 3: The Black Order''. O'Brien appeared in

Hideo Kojima is a Japanese video game designer, director, producer and writer. He is regarded as an auteur of video games. He developed a strong passion for action/adventure cinema and literature during his childhood and adolescence. In 1986, he was hired ...

's 2019 game ''

'' as the voices of Bridget and the young Amelie Strand, characters using the likeness of

Lindsay Wagner Lindsay Jean Wagner (born June 22, 1949) is an American film and television actress, model, author, singer, and acting coach. Wagner is best known for her leading role in the American science-fiction television series ''The Bionic Woman'' (1976 ...

. She has several projects in hand that are currently in post-production, like ''Vampire Dad'', ''Iris'', and ''Beautifully Flawed''. In May 2020, it was announced that O'Brien had joined the cast of ''

'' in the role of

. She made her first appearance on 1 June of the same year.

Personal life

Her mother is Persian and her father is British & Irish. Emily's parents, Flora and Michael, say, “Acting is the only thing she wanted to do.” She has a sister named Natalie. O'Brien speaks

Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

fluently and has studied French and Spanish. She was born and raised in England and is capable of multiple British dialects plus various other European accents. She also sings professionally and is currently the national narrator for the eBay and PayPal campaign.

Filmography

Other

* 2009: She is featured as the test subject in a

TED talk TED Conferences, LLC (Technology, Entertainment, Design) is an American-Canadian non-profit media organization that posts international talks online for free distribution under the slogan "ideas worth spreading". TED was founded by Richard Sau ...

about recreating human faces in digital, photo-realistic quality. * 2016: She voiced Scout Three in ''Rogue One: Recon A Star Wars 360 Experience''. * 2018: She briefly played Jillian Marshall on ''

''.

Awards

*ACTF Irene Ryans Theater festival Finalist and 2006 Nominee (2005) *CHS Film Festival: Best Actress of 2003 Best Film (

Pleasant Dreams ''Pleasant Dreams'' is the sixth studio album by American punk rock band the Ramones, released on July 20, 1981, through Sire Records. While the band members wanted Steve Lillywhite to produce, Sire chose Graham Gouldman in an attempt to gain ...

) of 2003 (2003) *DTASC Shakespeare Festival : 3rd place award for Othello (2003) *BEST FEST San Diego Film Festival (2003) 3rd place award for Pleasant Dreams *Team Power Award Don't Drink the Water from the city of Carlsbad (2002) *Daytime Emmy Award Nomination: Outstanding Younger Actress in a Drama Series (2008 Nominee) *Daytime Emmy Award Nomination: Outstanding Younger Actress in a Drama Series (2009 Nominee) *Daytime Emmy Award Nomination: Outstanding Younger Actress in a Drama Series (2011 Nominee)

References

External links

*
The Digital Emily Project: Achieving a Photoreal Digital Actor

Today’s Local News » Restless no more - Emily O'Brien

Emily O'Brien
{{DEFAULTSORT:Obrien, Emily Living people English film actresses English soap opera actresses English video game actresses English people of Iranian descent 21st-century Iranian actresses English voice actresses Place of birth missing (living people) People from Carlsbad, California 21st-century English actresses English feminists 1985 births