Jill O'Hara

Jill O'Hara comes from a performing family with a long record of contributions in music, television, movies, and New York and regional theater. Born in Warren, Pennsylvania in 1947, she's one of three children of Edith O'Hara, who was then an actress and member of the Warren Players, a regional theater company — Jill and her sister, Jenny O'Hara, worked in the company's productions as teenagers, and Jenny later became a successful television and movie actress, with a particular specialty in comedy. Meanwhile, Jill O'Hara came to New York, where she made her career on-stage — the highlights of her early career included playing Sheila in the original Public Theater production of Hair in 1967, and also appearing on the original off-Broadway cast album. She earned a Tony Award nomination for her performance in David Merrick's production of Promises, Promises, and appeared on the cast album for that show — her rendition of Burt Bacharach's "Knowing When to Leave" from that show was selected for inclusion on the Bacharach box set anthology The Look of Love: The Burt Bacharach Collection. Edith O'Hara also made her career in New York after the 1960s, becoming a fixture of the theater world in Greenwich Village when she founded The 13th Street Theater which, since the 1970s, has been a training ground for aspiring theater professionals in the city. Jill's brother, Jack O'Hara, in addition to an acting career, has enjoyed a long career in music, including membership in the pioneering pub rock band Eggs Over Easy. In the 1990s, Jill O'Hara successfully reinvented herself as a cabaret singer.