Amy O'Neill
Amy O'Neill | |
|---|---|
 O'Neill at Concord Mouse-Con in 2023 | |
| Born | |
| Occupations | Actress, circus-style performer |
| Years active | Acting: 1984–1994, 2008, 2016, 2019 |
Amy O'Neill is an American actress. Starting her career as a child actress in 1984, she appears in several sitcoms and is best known for her role as Molly Stark on The Young and the Restless in 1986 as well as high schooler Amy Szalinski in the 1989 Disney film Honey, I Shrunk the Kids and its 1992 sequel Honey, I Blew Up the Kid.[1][2] In the 1990s she joined a circus-style entertainment troupe, appeared in documentaries about her childhood roles, and returned to acting with two short films and a television episode in the late 2010s.
Early life
[edit]O'Neill was born in Pacific Palisades, California, the daughter of Virginia, an art school director, and Thomas O'Neill, a Los Angeles construction company owner.[3]
Career
[edit]O'Neill began auditioning for parts at age ten with her siblings.[3] After her school session, they would drive out to Hollywood and make her first appearance on television at age 13 in an episode of Mama's Family as a younger version of Betty White's character, Ellen Harper.[4] She continued working on television shows such as Matt Houston, Night Court, Highway to Heaven and The Twilight Zone. She also appeared on the American game show, Body Language in the summer of 1985. After an appearance on Family Ties, O'Neill further cast the role of the pregnant teenager Molly Stark on the daytime soap, The Young and the Restless for thirty episodes in 1986.
She appeared in the 1989 television films, Desperate for Love as Tammy Lauren's best friend, with Christian Slater and as Jodie in I Know My First Name is Steven, before appearing in her most recognized role as Amy Szalinski in Honey, I Shrunk the Kids.[1][5][6] In the film, she and her brother are shrunk to 1/4 inch high by the father's (Rick Moranis) shrink ray.[7][8] O'Neill had a role in an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation, but most of her scenes were cut due to time constraints.[9] She played Lisa Barnes in the unsold pilot Where's Rodney?, with Rodney Dangerfield and her Honey, I Shrunk the Kids co-star Jared Rushton.[10] She continued working in television series such as Room for Romance, The Young Riders, and Gabriel's Fire, and starred as Susan Hartley in an episode of Murder, She Wrote.[11]
O'Neill reprised the role of Amy Szalinski in the 1992 film Honey, I Blew Up the Kid, albeit only in the opening scene where she leaves for college.[12] The reason for this is that the film was originally a standalone story unrelated to Honey, I Shrunk the Kids, and when the plot was changed to include the Szalinski family, there was no parallel character that O'Neill could replace.[13] She later appeared in the television film, White Wolves: A Cry in the Wild II as Pandra, one of the young adults stuck in the Cascade Mountains, having to fend for themselves.[14] In 1994, she appeared in the National Lampoon film, Attack of the 5 Ft. 2 In. Women as a "German Skater".[15] She quit her acting career in the same year after getting scripts that required nudity.[16]
She returned to television to appear in a 2005 Channel 4 documentary with her Honey, I Shrunk the Kids co-star Thomas Wilson Brown in The 100 Greatest Family Films.[a][17] In 2008, she appeared as an officer's wife in an independent film, The Japanese Sandman. In 2013, O'Neill was further working to produce a film tentatively titled Burn Down the Night, based on the 1982 book of the same name by Craig Strete, about the life of Jim Morrison before he joined The Doors.[18]
Personal life
[edit]After temporarily shifting from her regular acting career in the mid-1990s, Amy O'Neill is active in the performance art community of Los Angeles as one of the trio Girls on Stilts, a circus-style troupe.[3] She once described circus learning as challenging and once resulted in a black eye facial injury, though she eventually later mastered the skills after several practices.[3]
Filmography
[edit]Films
[edit]| Year | Film | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1989 | Desperate for Love | Cindy | |
| I Know My First Name Is Steven | Jody Edmondson | ||
| Honey, I Shrunk the Kids | Amy Szalinski | ||
| The Making of Honey, I Shrunk the Kids | Herself | Documentary short film | |
| 1992 | Honey, I Blew Up the Kid | Amy Szalinski | cameo |
| 1993 | White Wolves: A Cry in the Wild II | Pandra | |
| 1994 | Attack of the 5 Ft. 2 In. Women | German Skater | |
| 2005 | The 100 Greatest Family Films | Herself | Documentary film |
| 2008 | The Japanese Sandman | Mom & Officer's Wife | Short film |
| 2019 | The Follower | Mom | Short film |
| 2024 | The Character Series: Amy Szalinski - Shrinking Good Fun | Herself | Documentary film |
Television
[edit]| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1984 | Mama's Family | Young Ellen Harper | Episode: "Mama's Birthday" |
| 1984 | Matt Houston | Rosie | Episode: "Vanished" |
| 1985 | Night Court | Jenny Reader | Episode: "Walk, Don't Wheel" |
| 1985 | Highway to Heaven | Sue | Episode: "The Secret" |
| 1985 | The Twilight Zone | Blonde Girl | Episode: "The Shadow Man" |
| 1986 | Family Ties | Brenda | Episode: "The Disciple" |
| 1986 | The Young and the Restless | Molly Stark | 30 Episodes |
| 1987 | Second Chance | Jane Pfeiffer | Episode: "Plain Jane" |
| 1989 | Star Trek: The Next Generation | Annette | Episode: "Evolution" (uncredited, scenes cut) |
| 1990 | Where's Rodney? | Lisa Barnes | Unsold pilot |
| 1990 | Room for Romance | Unknown | Episode: "A Midsummer Night's Reality" |
| 1990 | The Young Riders | Jennifer Tompkins | Episode: "Pride and Prejudice" |
| 1991 | Gabriel's Fire | Ginny | Episode: "The Great Waldo" |
| 1991 | Murder, She Wrote | Susan Hartley | Episode: "A Killing in Vegas" |
| 2016 | Baskets | Arlequin | Episode: "Picnic" |
| 2020 | Prop Culture | Herself | Episode: "Honey, I Shrunk the Kids" |
Notes
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ a b Vagnini & Smith 2023, p. 424.
- ^ Juneau, Jen (June 29, 2024). "Honey, I Shrunk the Kids Star Recalls Being 'Busted' by Movie Dad Rick Moranis When Trying to Drink Underage (Exclusive)". People. Archived from the original on May 15, 2026. Retrieved May 15, 2026.
- ^ a b c d Yu, Ting (May 20, 2002). "Going Full Stilt". People. Vol. 57, no. 19. Archived from the original on February 6, 2021. Retrieved February 6, 2021.
Since then O'Neill, 30, has discovered...
- ^ Triangle Publications 1984, p. 34.
- ^ Harwood 1997, p. 215.
- ^ Fischer 2011, p. 326.
- ^ Connors & Craddock 1999, p. 431.
- ^ Nowlan & Nowlan 2016, p. 599.
- ^ Nemecek 1995, p. 102.
- ^ Terrace 2020, p. 268.
- ^ "Murder, She Wrote [Credits]". BBC. Archived from the original on May 15, 2026. Retrieved May 15, 2026.
- ^ McBride, Joseph (July 17, 1992). "Honey, I Blew Up the Kid". Variety. Archived from the original on May 15, 2026. Retrieved May 15, 2026.
- ^ Castell 1995, p. 517.
- ^ "White Wolves: A Cry in the Wild II". TCM database. Turner Classic Movies. Archived from the original on February 22, 2016. Retrieved February 12, 2016.
- ^ "Honey I Shrunk The Kids: Then and Now". Yahoo! News (Yahoo! Movies UK ed.). January 20, 2016. Archived from the original on May 15, 2026. Retrieved May 15, 2026.
- ^ Time Incorporated 2002, p. 104.
- ^ Honey I Shrunk The Kids promo (media). TVARK (The Online Television Museum ed.). London, United Kingdom. January 5, 1994. 0:53 minutes in. Retrieved May 15, 2026.
- ^ Chris O'Neill (interviewer), Amy O'Neill (February 12, 2023). Amy O'Neill Exclusive Interview (YouTube). Tampa, Florida. Retrieved November 7, 2023.
Bibliography
[edit]- TV Guide. Vol. 32. Triangle Publications. 1984.
- Nemecek, Larry (1995). The Star Trek, the Next Generation: Companion. Pocket Books. ISBN 978-0-671-88340-9.
- Castell, Ron (1995). Blockbuster Video Guide to Movies and Videos 1996. Random House Publishing Group. ISBN 978-0-440-22114-2.
- Harwood, Sarah (June 12, 1997). Family Fictions: Representations of the Family in 1980s Hollywood Cinema. Springer. ISBN 978-1-349-25415-6.
- Connors, Martin; Craddock, Jim (1999). Videohound's Golden Movie Retriever 2000. Visible Ink Press. ISBN 978-1-57859-042-1.
- People. Time Incorporated. 2002.
- Fischer, Dennis (July 1, 2011). Science Fiction Film Directors, 1895-1998. McFarland. ISBN 978-0-7864-6091-5.
- Nowlan, Robert A.; Nowlan, Gwendolyn W. (April 30, 2016). Film Quotations: 11,000 Lines Spoken on Screen, Arranged by Subject, and Indexed. McFarland. ISBN 978-1-4766-2058-9.
- Terrace, V. (2020). Encyclopedia of Television Pilots: 2,470 Films Broadcast 1937-2019, 2d ed. McFarland, Incorporated, Publishers. ISBN 978-1-4766-3810-2.
- Vagnini, Steven; Smith, Dave (September 26, 2023). Disney A to Z: The Official Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. Random House. ISBN 978-1-368-06191-9.
External links
[edit]- Amy O'Neill at IMDb
