Eugene O'Neill (1888-1953) was an American playwright.

Eugene Gladstone O'Neill was born in New York City to James and Mary Ellen Quinlan O'Neill on October 16, 1888. His father was an actor and O'Neill was born in a hotel and spent his early years traveling as his father performed onstage. He, his brother and parents had a volatile family life which found itself later played out in O'Neill's dramas.

O'Neill attended boarding school followed by one year at Princeton. Following this he went to sea and lived a derilict life even at one point attempting suicide. In 1912-1913 he spent six months in a sanitarium and came to terms with himself. After this point he began writing plays. Except for one comedy, O'Neill focused on tragedies. Major plays include "Anna Christie," "The Iceman Cometh," and "Long Day's Journey into Night." He won the Pulitzer Prize in 1920, 1923, 1928, and 1957. In 1936 O'Neill was adwarded the Nobel Prize for Literature, the only American playwright to be honored this way.

He was married to Kathleen Jenkins, Agnes Boulton and Carlotta Monterey. Eugene O'Neill died on November 27, 1953 in Boston, Massachussets.