Christopher John O'Neill

Christopher John O'Neill is a comedian and Broadway actor who grew up in Stamford, Connecticut, the son of Rich and Karen O'Neill. His father, a Juilliard School-educated pianist and multi-instrumentalist, and his mother, a middle school teacher, raised O'Neill alongside his brother Brian. As a young person, O'Neill pursued soccer as his primary ambition, though by his sophomore year at Stamford High School he had been removed from the team due to poor grades. By the time he graduated, his focus had shifted entirely to professional comedy. He applied to multiple college theater programs but was not admitted to any of them due to limited experience.

Shortly after graduating high school in 2003, O'Neill and collaborator Paul Valenti relocated to New York City, where O'Neill supported himself through retail and service work while Valenti secured performance opportunities for their sketch-comedy duo, The Chris and Paul Show, which the two had begun developing together in 2000. O'Neill characterized the duo's comedic style as physical, stupid, and abrupt. The act earned recognition over the following years, with O'Neill receiving a Best Actor in a Comedy award from the New York Television Festival and the duo receiving the Best Newcomer award at the 2011 Montreal Sketch Festival. That same year, The Chris and Paul Show was nominated for the Best Newcomer award at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and was invited to return to the festival in 2012. In 2019, the duo competed on the NBC comedy competition series Bring the Funny, advancing to the finals of the show's first season.

It was during their 2012 appearance at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe that both O'Neill and Valenti were noticed by a casting director for the Broadway musical The Book of Mormon. The two advanced through several auditions held in Los Angeles before O'Neill was brought to New York for a month-long training camp and extended audition process. Among the other performers who auditioned for the role of Elder Cunningham at that camp were Ben Platt and Cody Strand, who were ultimately cast in the Chicago and Broadway productions, respectively. O'Neill was selected to join the first national tour in the role of Elder Cunningham, replacing original cast member Jared Gertner, who departed the tour for the West End production. O'Neill made his debut in the role on December 28, 2012, a performance that also marked the national tour debut of Mark Evans as Elder Price, replacing Gavin Creel. The engagement represented O'Neill's first credit in professional musical theater.

On January 6, 2015, O'Neill joined the Broadway cast of The Book of Mormon as Elder Cunningham, with Gavin Creel entering the Broadway cast as Elder Price on the same night. His Broadway run is documented in verified records as spanning 2011 to 2012, with his Broadway appearance occurring within that production's run. O'Neill married Jennifer Viola Sessions in April 2013, and the couple have two daughters, Harper and Hailey.