Emily O'Brien was born in 1985 and raised in England. She is known for working in dialect. Emily grew up in Bedfordshire, England.
Her mother is Persian and her father is British. She speaks Persian fluently and plays Jana Hawkes on The Young and the Restless.
Emily's parents Flora and Michael O’Brien say that “Acting is the only thing she wanted to do.”
She was in plays at Carlsbad High School, where she graduated in 2003, and at MiraCosta College, where she completed a theater major in 2005.
She was named a finalist in the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival’s Irene Ryan Acting Competition in 2005, where she was pitted against several hundred students from colleges and universities across the country.
Emily started with on The Young and the Restless in April of 2006 on a recurring basis and was later upgraded to contract status.
She was released in the spring of 2007, but rehired again in June 2007. She has been in scenes with stars such as Michael Madsen, Tony Todd and George Hamilton.