Jory Steinberg already knew her American Idol audition had caught the extremely critical ear of judge Simon Cowell -- in a good way.

But the Ottawa native had no idea those moments --and the joyful ones which followed --would be featured Wednesday night when the popular Fox show aired the New York City tryouts.

Steinberg watched the show on television just like everyone else, though as she told the Sun yesterday from Santa Monica, Calif., she had been tipped off about her big moment from a friend back home.

"Of course I had a call three hours ahead," she said. "You guys got it before I did."

A confidentiality agreement bars Steinberg, 25, from disclosing anything about her future on the show.

"It's a good day," she said. "There's been a lot of support. It's been really cool."

Though she lives in Santa Monica, Steinberg chose to audition in New York City, thinking the tryout crowds would be thinner than Los Angeles. Wednesday's footage showed her wowing all three celebrity judges and guest Carole Bayer Sager with her rendition of Tina Arena's Chains.

"That was easy," said the normally biting Cowell. "You paced it well, did everything on the money."

Steinberg flew out of the room clutching her coveted gold ticket and let out a blood-curdling scream of joy. The camera caught her mom Sharon getting up off the floor, a moment that particularly amused Steinberg's older brother Hayes, a married father of two who lives in Toronto.

"My son said to me, 'The best part of the whole audition mom was when you fell down,' " Sharon Steinberg laughed yesterday. "I don't really think I fell down. I just think I was so full of, I don't know what, I had to sit on the floor and it appeared as if I fell down."

Steinberg's dad Gary, a family lawyer, said he was relieved his daughter didn't have to face Cowell's scathing rebukes.

"Of course, seeing your own child perform in front of a panel of, at times, unduly harsh critics and getting the praise that she did was so terrific," he said. "So as a parent I am obviously proud."

It will be a few weeks before American Idol fans will see if the hometown girl makes it to the show's finals. Growing up in Ottawa, Steinberg was a fixture singing at local events, performing in front of Queen Elizabeth at the 125th anniversary of Confederation celebration and at Kim Campbell's prime ministerial swearing-in.

When she was a teenager, House of Blues concert promoter Ken Craig introduced her to music producer David Foster.

She and her mom ended up moving to Los Angeles in 1997 to work with Foster, although she never ended up recording. While learning to write songs and singing whenever she could, Steinberg earned a psychology degree from California State University and graduated with honours in June.

As for whatever lies ahead on Idol, which has been pulling in American audiences of more than 35 million per episode, Sharon Steinberg believes her daughter is well-prepared to handle it.

"She's never really been upset about any of the ups and downs," she said. "She's very resilient and in order to be in this business you have to be very resilient."