For all five seasons of “Yellowstone,” Kelly Reilly captivated audiences with her portrayal of Beth Dutton, a character who was arguably the best on television at one point. But the acclaimed Paramount Network drama was far from Reilly’s first big break. Many fans may also recognize the actor for her roles on shows like “True Detective” and “Black Box,” or films like the Robert Downey Jr.-led “Sherlock Holmes” duology. But when you turn the clock back further, you’ll find that Reilly actually came from rather humble beginnings — far away from the glitz and glamour of Hollywood.
Reilly grew up in Chessington, England (a suburb of London) as the daughter of a policeman and a part-time hospital worker. Speaking to The Times in 2006, Reilly confessed that she didn’t do particularly well in school, nor was she especially confident in herself. As a result, she didn’t have very many friends growing up. However, after she decided to give acting a try, Reilly started to come out of her shell a little bit. “They were kind of radical, not your usual teachers; they were completely inspiring,” Reilly said of her drama instructors, adding, “Without them I wouldn’t be sitting here talking to you. No way.” By age 16, Reilly decided to pursue acting as a profession, thus setting her stunning transformation into motion. That said, her parents weren’t fully on board with the idea at first.
How Kelly Reilly got one of her first auditions
During her interview with The Times, Kelly Reilly explained that her mother and father were fairly apprehensive about her plan to move away from home and become a professional actor. However, the future “Yellowstone” star refused to budge on the matter. “They probably wouldn’t have been able to hold me back even if they’d tried. They knew that it was something I was incredibly passionate about,” Reilly said, adding, “I was a very headstrong, fiercely independent 16-year-old.” So, when she was still a teenager, Reilly moved out of her family home and began waiting tables to make money while she tried to get her acting career started.
It seems as though it was Reilly’s headstrong attitude that helped her land one of her very first screen acting jobs. In 1995, when she was only 17 years old, Reilly appeared in “Prime Suspect: Inner Circles,” a made-for-TV movie that was released as part of Season 4 of the popular U.K. police procedural “Prime Suspect,” which starred Helen Mirren. Speaking to The Times in 2005, Reilly explained that she initially got her foot in the door by reaching out directly to the show’s producers and asking for an audition. Reilly recalled the letter, “I said: ‘I’m 16, I’m going to be an actress, I’m applying for drama schools and I really want the audition practice.’ She wrote back and said: ‘Don’t waste my time.’ So I bugged her again.” By the time the 2000s came around, Reilly had appeared in numerous other British TV shows and had begun branching out into the world of film as well.
