She was born and raised in Chessington, England, an outlying section of Greater London. Her mother was a hotel receptionist; her father, Jack Reilly, a police officer, was the son of Irish parents. And her brother, Neil, is a professional golfer. Married for more than a decade to New York financier Kyle Baugher, KELLY REILLY is 44-years-old, is 5’ 6” tall, and has acted in 30 films and 23 television series since beginning her career in 2000. Anglophiles will remember her in Poldark, Rebecca, Pie in the Sky, and brilliantly as Mary Gerrard in Agatha Christie’s Poirot. Or not…because Kelly is one of those rare talents who transforms herself into the character she’s playing, whether it’s in comedy, drama, or adventure, in film, television, or on the stage. As Beth Dutton in Paramount Production’s sweeping modern-day Western drama, you’d almost believe she was born and bred in Montana and that she’s Kevin Costner’s daughter, not Jack Reilly’s. “As an actor, you always want to keep it different, change it up, and, you know, just to keep yourself inspired and work with interesting characters,” she says. Of her YELLOWSTONE family she says, “It’s lovely to work with a group of actors who make you laugh and smile.”
Image courtesy of the Paramount Network
Little is known about Kelly’s personal life—and that’s on purpose. At the time she and her husband were dating, she said, “I live between my house on the borders of Sussex and Surrey, and New York, where my boyfriend lives. I’m not saying any more about him except that he’s not an actor, not in the business. I spend a lot of time across the pond. I spend a lot of my time on aeroplanes. I’m probably going to do the move soon. I’d like my life to be in one place.” In 2015, Kelly decided to take a break from stage acting after starring opposite English actor Clive Owen, in Harold Pinter’s play, Old Times, on Broadway. “I hadn’t done a play in eight years,” she said at the time. “I was doing play after play after play in London, and I couldn’t manage a great personal life and do a play. Now, I’m married and happy and content so I thought it was time to see if I could get that balance back.”
Just two years later, Kelly found herself in Darby, Montana filming YELLOWSTONE. And though the rest, as they say, is history, her audience still knows as little now as we did back then about the woman behind the mask of Beth Dutton.