Kelly Reilly became one of the most watched women on TV as the feisty and confident Beth Dutton on “Yellowstone.” A massive 6.8 million

people tuned in to the pilot episode, according to the Television Academy, a number Deadline reported surged to 13.1 million when

“Yellowstone” bowed out in 2024 and aired its final episode. But while the Western hit may have firmly put Reilly in the spotlight, she was

 

 

a star with a thriving acting career long before the show came along. You just may not have realized, because Reilly’s not your typical Hollywood actor posing on every red carpet or sharing every second of her life on social media.

“I’m not interested in Hollywood. It’s far too pressured. You have to fit into their mould,” the star refreshingly told The Scotsman in 2005. “Fame and celebrity don’t interest me at all. I don’t want to be doing fashion shoots and being interviewed about where I shop. Who cares?” she continued. “I act because I have to, because I need to find out whether I can do it or not — that’s what drives me and excites me and lights me up,” she added. That need to appear on stage and screen began manifesting when Reilly was just a young girl growing up in the U.K. (yep, despite her authentic-sounding twang on “Yellowstone,” she’s British), which marked the start of a major transformation.

 

 

Kelly Reilly was born in Surrey, England, in 1977. Unlike a lot of actors who have confidence in spades from a young age, Reilly was no precocious stage kid who thought she’d be a superstar. “I was just very private,” she told The Scotsman. But while she may not have been the most outspoken little girl, that didn’t stop her discovering her calling. “When I was very young I was always grabbing all my friends from down the street and making them put on plays with me,” she told Netribution Film Network. “But I never, ever, ever, in my wildest dreams, thought that I could be an actor because I come from a working-class family,” she added. Thankfully, Reilly is proof that with hard work and perseverance, anything can happen.

At 15, she attended a production of “Angels in America” that changed the trajectory of her life. “It was like a drug. Nothing made me feel like that. I had never experienced the excitement and rawness I saw with actors onstage performing in plays that were very serious,” she told Town & Country. “I wanted to run off to the circus with them. I wanted to do that,” she added. And she did.

By the time she was a teenager, Kelly Reilly was ready to kick start her career. She started on a high, as the fresh-faced actor soon booked a gig alongside Helen Mirren in the British TV series “Prime Suspect: Inner Circles.” “I remember it being intimidating, but brilliant. I just loved working with Helen, but it was terrifying and exciting,” she told the Nottingham Post.

On the advice of her new friend and co-star, Reilly decided against drama school and instead focused on finding work. “She said [drama school] was the worst idea I could possibly have,” Reilly recalled. Later, she told the Netribution Film Network that she was glad she listened to Mirren. “At that age, if I’d gone to drama school, I think my confidence levels could have dropped. I think drama school is tough, I think it’s hard, and I think you have to be a tough cookie to go through it,” she said. “My strength lies in other places than that.”

Instead, Reilly was ready to stand on her own two feet and, at 17, the up-and-coming actor moved out of her parents’ home. “I wasn’t an easy teenager. I’m rather strong-minded, so I needed to go and to spread my wings. I think they would say that life’s a lot easier when I’m not living with them,” she told The Scotsman. Her headstrong qualities paid off though, as Reilly saw a good amount of success early on. She appeared in several British TV shows, including the comedy “Pie in the Sky” and booked multiple period dramas, like “Bramwell,” “Poldark” and “Rebecca.” While many had high hopes for “Poldark,” it didn’t set the world on fire, and the ever-honest star wasn’t afraid to admit it. “It was really bad, wasn’t it?” Reilly later told The Telegraph.