About Kelly O’Brien
Kelly O’Brien is an Australian-born singer, actress and comedienne who has performed as Dolly Parton since 2007. She is the creator, producer and star of The Dolly Show, a live Dolly Parton tribute concert touring theatres in the UK, USA and Australia. Kelly is endorsed by the Parton family, has worked as Dolly’s body double for film for Dolly Parton Enterprises, and was the only UK finalist in #SearchForDolly, Dolly Parton’s 2025 casting search for her Broadway musical.
At a glance
- Born: McLaren Vale, South Australia
- Based: United Kingdom, since 2005
- Performing as Dolly Parton: since 2007
- Theatre shows: The Dolly Show (created 2021) and Decades of Dolly (2025)
- Endorsed by: members of the Parton family, including Dolly’s sister Frieda Parton
- Body double: for Dolly Parton Enterprises, for film
- #SearchForDolly: only UK finalist, 2025 (finalist list, Playbill)
- Awards: UK’s Official No.1 Dolly Parton tribute, National Tribute Music Awards, 2015, 2016 and 2017
- Television: BBC One, BBC Breakfast, ITV’s This Morning and Lorraine, Channel 4’s The Last Leg, The X Factor, Channel 5, Sky News
- Touring: UK, USA, Australia and Scandinavia
- Charity: a share of profits from every show goes to Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library
From McLaren Vale to the stage
Kelly grew up in McLaren Vale, about an hour from Adelaide, and began singing country music at the age of 12. In 1990 she was crowned South Australian Country Vocalist of the Year, and in 1994 she won Best New Talent at Queensland’s Gympie Muster country music festival, which led to her first recording contract.
Australian television followed, with appearances on New Faces, Good Morning Australia and Popstars. Kelly then moved into musical theatre. From 2002 to 2004 she starred as Dinah in Starlight Express in Germany, where she also signed to ZYX Music and had a Top 10 single. Her other theatre credits include The Hunchback of Notre Dame and Tonight’s the Night. In 2005 she moved to the UK.
Becoming Dolly
In 2007 a friend asked Kelly to perform as Dolly Parton at a party. It was meant to be a one-off. Instead it became her life’s work. Kelly studied every detail: the voice, the soft Tennessee accent, the laugh, the walk and the wit. Her make-up takes two hours, and her costumes are made by dressmakers around the world.
In 2011, when Dolly brought her Better Day tour to London’s O2 Arena, Kelly won a competition to meet her. “When I met her, it was like magic,” Kelly says. “She started chatting away about Dolly impersonators and how much she loves and values them. She gave me her blessing.”
Recognition from Dolly’s world
Members of the Parton family have seen and praised Kelly’s work. In May 2025 they came to see her perform at City Winery in Nashville. Dolly’s sister Frieda Parton called her “fabulous!”, and Dolly’s cousin Shelley Rena, her niece Jada Star and her creative director Steve Summers have all sent their praise.
Kelly has worked as Dolly’s body double for film for Dolly Parton Enterprises. In 2025 she was the only UK finalist among 15 performers chosen from thousands of entrants to #SearchForDolly, Dolly Parton’s own casting search for her Broadway musical, auditioning remotely from the UK. In 2019 she was a finalist in the #jolenechallenge, a social media search for the best version of Jolene.
Kelly was named the UK’s Official No.1 Dolly Parton tribute at the National Tribute Music Awards in 2015, 2016 and 2017. The awards ran until 2019.
On screen, on air and in print
Kelly represented Dolly on BBC One’s Even Better Than The Real Thing in 2018, a series showcasing the UK’s best tribute acts, where the BBC described her as “one of the world’s best tribute acts”. Her other television appearances include ITV’s This Morning and Lorraine, Channel 4’s The Last Leg, BBC Breakfast, Channel 5 News, Sky News, The X Factor and How to Look Good Naked, and she appears in Duran Duran’s Anniversary music video.
She has been interviewed on BBC Radio 2’s Jeremy Vine Show, Scott Mills Show and Sara Cox Show, and on BBC Radio 5 Live. Print and online coverage includes The Times, The Sunday Times, The Guardian, the Financial Times, the Daily Mail, The Sun, Metro and The People’s Friend. Kelly also has a full chapter in photographer Alice Hawkins’ book Dear Dolly (Baron Books, 2022).
Kelly also lends Dolly’s speaking voice to voice-over work, most recently for SPACE 1972, created by Bill Oakley, a writer and producer on The Simpsons.
Standing up for tribute artists: #DollyVsMeta
In 2023 Facebook and Instagram began removing the pages of tribute acts under rules against impersonating famous people. Kelly lost the Facebook page through which she sold most of her tickets. She led a campaign, #DollyVsMeta, delivered by the PR agency Hard Numbers, to get tribute artists treated fairly.
The campaign ran in two phases. In March and April 2023 Kelly told her story to The Times, the Daily Mail, Sky News, ITV News, Channel 5 News and ITV’s This Morning. On 27 June 2023 she led a protest of tribute acts outside Meta’s London offices in King’s Cross, covered by BBC News, The Guardian, the Financial Times, The Independent, The Sun, BBC Breakfast and BBC Radio 2, with more than 300 media reports in total.
The campaign succeeded: Meta changed how it treats tribute acts on its platforms. It also won a number of industry awards for Hard Numbers.
The Dolly Show today
Kelly created The Dolly Show as a theatre production in 2021, and in 2025 launched Decades of Dolly, a journey through every era of Dolly’s music and life, with multiple costume changes, film projections telling Dolly’s story, and a live band. The show includes Jolene, 9 to 5, Islands in the Stream, Coat of Many Colours, Here You Come Again and I Will Always Love You.
Dolly Parton died on 25 August 2026. Kelly continues to tour the show as a celebration of Dolly’s life, and a share of the profits from every performance goes directly to Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library, which sends free books to children from birth until they start school.
“She was a great artist, a hugely successful businesswoman, a philanthropist and a very warm, decent human being. I’m as much a fan of her as a person and a humanitarian as I am of her as a musician, and that’s saying something.”
— Kelly O’Brien, speaking to The People’s Friend, August 2026
For Kelly, the magic has always been about more than the music: the laughter, the storytelling and the joy of bringing people together. After almost 20 years in those famous rhinestone heels, there is still a whole lot of sparkle to come.
Press and bookings
Journalists can find photos, biographies and coverage on our Press page. For show and event bookings, call 07767 068 242 or email thedollyshow@live.co.uk.