What Yellowstone Actor Kelly Reilly Is Really Like When The Cameras Aren't Rolling

When "Yellowstone" debuted in 2018, viewers immediately took notice. A deftly plotted family soap set at a massive ranch situated amidst the beauty of mountainous Montana, "Yellowstone" chronicled the exploits of wealthy rancher John Dutton (played by Oscar-winning actor and director Kevin Costner) and his feisty family. The show quickly became a ratings juggernaut that resurrected the career of its star, growing so popular that series creator Taylor Sheridan began pumping out spinoffs to expand the "Yellowstone" universe ("1893" and "1923" so far, with more on the horizon).

After Costner's much-publicized exit from "Yellowstone," the second half of the fifth (and possibly final) season is 100% Costner-free. As a result, the focus shifted to his ruthless daughter, Beth Dutton, whose cutthroat ambition and fiery temper have made her arguably the series' most intriguing character. "I had a reaction, it wasn't an intellectual one, it was in my body," actor Kelly Reilly, who plays Beth, told Awards Daily of how she reacted to the role when she read the pilot script for the first time. "I knew immediately this was a storm of a woman who wasn't just one thing. That resonated with me."

Beyond "Yellowstone," Reilly's extensive roster of screen credits includes the feature film "Sherlock Holmes," HBO's critically acclaimed series "True Detective," and the Agatha Christie whodunit "A Haunting in Venice," to name just a few. While viewers have become captivated by Beth, Reilly herself has proven to be an intensely private person with a tendency to keep her personal life close to the vest. That said, she has occasionally opened up about herself, revealing some fascinating details. To find out more, read on to discover what "Yellowstone" actor Kelly Reilly is really like when the cameras aren't rolling.

One of the most surprising things for many viewers of "Yellowstone" is the simple fact that while Beth Dutton may be quintessentially American, the actor who plays her was actually born and bred in London. That's right, Kelly Reilly is a Brit, whose flawless American accent as Beth would lead few to suspect her true origin.

Reilly got her start in her native land, acting in theater before segueing into film and television work. One of her earliest TV jobs was acting opposite Hollywood heavyweight Helen Mirren in the British crime drama "Prime Suspect," when she was all of 17 years old. That experience proved to be a seminal one for her in more ways than one; not only did she gain valuable experience performing in front of a camera — while sharing the screen with one of Britain's most renowned actors to boot — Reilly also received some life-changing advice from the Oscar-winning star. "I asked her if I should go to drama school — I thought it was a good idea — and she said: 'Bad idea — in fact, it's probably the worst thing you could do. Travel for three years or go to university, but don't go to drama school,'" Reilly told the Daily Mail, recounting what Mirren had told her. 

Reilly took Mirren's advice; instead of studying, she instead chose to simply work as an actor, learning the craft from some of Britain's top thespians while being paid for it. 

Many actors live somewhat vagabond lives, an occupational hazard when film and television roles take them to various parts of the world. That's certainly been the case for Kelly Reilly, who's gotten in the habit of spending several months each year in Montana filming "Yellowstone." That's perfectly fine for Reilly, who jumped at the chance to spend five months per year in Montana's picturesque Bitterroot Valley, where she can indulge in hiking and horseback riding in her downtime. "Everything about this job was, 'yes, please,'" she told The Independent.

When she's not enjoying the beauty of Big Sky country, Reilly can usually be found in one of her two homes, one situated in Southampton, New York, and the other in her native Britain, a 300-year-old cottage on the outskirts of an expansive national park. "This has become a third home," she said of Montana.

Relocating to Los Angeles is something of a necessity for those with major acting careers, and Reilly was no exception. While she no longer has a home there, she did put in her time as an Angeleno but admitted that she initially made the move with a certain degree of trepidation. "When I was younger, I was terrified [of Los Angeles]," she admitted in an interview with The Telegraph, revealing that the highly competitive nature of showbiz caused her to "come out in a rash." 

It may be surprising for fans to learn that Kelly Reilly, despite launching her professional acting career while still in her teens, doesn't consider herself to be particularly extroverted. "I wasn't a natural performer," she told The Independent. "I was very introverted, very shy." 

While those particular personality traits would appear to contradict performing in front of people, she nonetheless possessed a burning desire to become an actor. As she explained, her interest in acting first sparked within her during childhood and then reignited during her teenage years thanks to a pair of drama teachers who inspired her in school. The more she experienced theater, the greater her yearning to step onto a stage herself. "It came out of just an absolute need — I really wanted to be an actor," she recalled. "I really wanted that to be my life."

She pursued her dream and has obviously become wildly successful at it. Her shyness, however, isn't something that's necessarily abated, despite all the time that she's spent in front of theater audiences and cameras. "I don't want to give my secrets away, but I'm very introverted, and I'm a homebird, I live very quietly, and I'm not interested in celebrity or being famous," she confessed in an interview with Awards Daily.

While Kelly Reilly is best known for portraying Beth Dutton on "Yellowstone," within London theater circles she's renowned for her acclaimed work onstage. She began performing professionally when she was still in her teens; Reilly was just 26 when she received her first Olivier Award, recognizing her performance in the play "After Miss Julie." Three years later, she was nominated again, this time for playing doomed Desdemona in Shakespeare's iconic tragedy "Othello." It was around that time that Reilly decided to take a big step in her career, relocating from London to New York City in an attempt to shift her focus from theatre to film and television work.

Despite her obvious success at that endeavor, the theater has continued to be her first love, the touchstone that keeps her connected to the craft of acting. As a result, she always tries to make time within her schedule to take on some stage work whenever possible.

In 2015, Reilly made her Broadway debut opposite fellow Brits Clive Owen and Eve Best in the play "Old Times," and has continued to divide her professional life between screen and stage. That said, she's also pragmatic enough to realize there can be a downside to committing to a play. "Theater takes up — if you're doing a run for two months you do a month of rehearsals, it can take up your life for three months and that's amazing, but you have to have the stamina and the energy to do it," she told Netribution. 

One key fact about Kelly Reilly that's emerged is the fact that she's married. In fact, she's been wed to husband Kyle Baugher for more than a decade, with the two having tied the knot back in 2012. In 2023, Reilly took to Instagram to share a sweet tribute to her husband on the occasion of their 11th wedding anniversary. "We were married in Somerset, England surrounded by the countryside I love," she wrote in the caption.

Baugher, unlike his British wife, is American, and he is a graduate of Princeton University who works in the financial sector. The couple tends to keep a low profile; aside from Baugher occasionally appearing alongside Reilly on the red carpet for one of her premieres, the two appear to be homebodies who enjoy spending time with their dog, a miniature schnauzer that turned 13 in 2024. Reilly certainly implied that during her interview with The Independent, detailing how she planned to spend her time when "Yellowstone" finally ends its run. "The first place I'm going to go is my garden for six months," she said. "And then I'd love to come back to London and do a play."

The couple's marriage is, by all indications, a solid one. "Now, I'm married and happy and content," Reilly told The Standard in 2015.

Beth Dutton has been seen on horseback at the Yellowstone Dutton Ranch, although viewers learned that the character had an aversion to horses due to the fact that her mother died in a horseback riding accident. Kelly Reilly, on the other hand, has no such antipathy for horses. In fact, she's had a long love of all things equestrian, extending all the way back to her childhood. 

As Reilly said in an interview with The Standard, her original career aspiration was "to work with horses." Because her parents — her father was a police officer, her mother the secretary for a maternity hospital — didn't have the means to get her a horse of her own, when she was a kid she took a job cleaning stables just so she could be close to horses. "I couldn't afford a horse, but I kind of adopted one and spent a lot of time with him," she said, confirming that she would likely have gravitated to a career that involved horses had she not been bitten by the acting bug. "It was an obsession — and if I hadn't discovered acting I wouldn't be here talking to you," she said.

Throughout her career, Reilly has continued riding horses whenever she gets a chance, finding the time that she spends atop a horse to be therapeutic for her. "I've been riding all my life," she told Parade. "It's always been where I get my head screwed back on — just being in nature and being on horses."

Prior to getting married to Kyle Baugher, Kelly Reilly was in some other long-term relationships. "I was with someone for five years, then six years," she told The Telegraph, characterizing herself as a "serial monogamist" who'd almost exclusively dated fellow actors. "My first boyfriend was a gardener, but I've only really been with people who are in the business," she explained.

That first long-term relationship to which she alluded was with JJ Feild, her co-star in the 2001 film "Last Orders." While little is known about their relationship, the two were photographed together attending a 2001 screening and also at the premiere of "Pride and Prejudice" in 2005, which would confirm the five-year timeframe she referenced. In 2006, she started dating Jonah Lotan, her second longstanding romance. In an earlier interview with The Telegraph, Reilly divulged that she met Lotan when he walked up and introduced himself in a New York City bar, inviting her to have dinner with him. They hit it off immediately. "He's just heaven," she said of Lotan at the time. She and Lotan got engaged in 2007, but a happily ever after was not in the cards; they reportedly broke things off in 2009.

At some point not long after that, she began seeing her future husband, first mentioning him in a 2011 interview with The Guardian. 

Kelly Reilly has been interviewed numerous times over the years, in connection with her various acting projects. During the course of all those conversations, she's only discussed anything relating to her personal life on very rare occastions.

There have, however, been exceptions, including her 2011 interview with The Guardian, which marked the first time that she ever made mention of her now-spouse Kyle Baugher. "I'm not saying any more about him except that he's not an actor, not in the business," she said. She also revealed that, at the time, their relationship was of the long-distance variety, given that he lived in New York while she was still based in Britain. "I spend a lot of time across the pond," she admitted. "I spend a lot of my time on aeroplanes," she added but shared her intention to join her beau in America. "I'm probably going to do the move soon," Reilly added. "I'd like my life to be in one place."

While Reilly's mentions of her husband have remained infrequent over the years, she has occasionally shared photos of Baugher with her Instagram followers — such as a January 2022 post celebrating the beginning of the new year. "Another year of love ... so grateful for you," she wrote in the caption, accompanying a photo of herself posing with Baugher.

Throughout her career, Kelly Reilly has made no secret of the fact that she's British. When she was cast as Beth Dutton in "Yellowstone," however, she studied hard to perfect her American accent, even feeling that using her native British accent while not in character would be an impediment. "I work with a dialect coach, who helps me," Reilly explained during an interview with "Entertainment Tonight." "That's just a bit of hard grind, you know, sitting at home just going over and over it."

So adamant was Reilly about nailing the accent, in order to interact authentically with the other "Yellowstone" actors, that she made the decision to conceal her Britishness from the rest of the cast. "I live in America now so I'm hearing it all the time, but the first season when I first played Beth, I didn't want anyone to know that I wasn't American," she said, a ruse that she attempted to execute by trying to avoid her co-stars as much as possible when not in front of the camera. "I just didn't talk to anyone, unless I was playing Beth," she said, explaining she worried that the other actors would hear her use her regular accent, which "would sort of ruin the illusion" she was creating. 

"It was only until, like, season three did I start to hang out with everybody," she added. "They probably just thought I wasn't very friendly."

Anyone who's witnessed Beth Dutton's outrageous, inflammatory and downright scary personality may be surprised to realize that when she's not playing the role, the actual Kelly Reilly is worlds apart from the character for which she's become best known. "My life could not be more removed from the world of Beth, but people really do think I'm her," Reilly told the Los Angeles Times, revealing that fans will often approach her as if she's Beth, not the actor who portrays her. "It's horrifying and exciting, depending on the day," she mused.

Another big difference between Reilly and Beth is the character's incessant smoking. "I don't smoke, so all those cigarettes are the herbal cigarettes," Reilly told "Entertainment Tonight." "I hate them so much." 

When playing Beth, Reilly doesn't delve into method acting; when the director yells "cut," Reilly parts ways with Beth until it's time to inhabit her once again. "I keep her locked up in a box with a padlock," Reilly told "ET." "I'm not joking." In fact, when "Yellowstone" finally concludes, Reilly is adamant about having no intention to play another Beth-like character, even though she's inundated with offers for similar roles. "But I don't want to play that again," she told Looper in an exclusive interview.

While Kelly Reilly's schedule as an in-demand actor is understandably jam-packed, she still carves out some time to focus inward. When interviewed by The Guardian, she confirmed that she regularly meditates. "I do sometimes," she said. "It's really helpful to me. I'm not Buddhist or anything, it's just about trying to quieten your brain." 

The intent behind her meditation is to ensure that she remains centered and grounded — something that's not always easy within the milieu of Hollywood. However, she insisted that keeping her feet on the ground is a crucial factor in her acting process. "I think when you're an actor and you're drawing on your emotions all the time you need to be quite steady. You need to be able to separate yourself," she said. For Reilly, the trappings of Hollywood are something she'd prefer to live without. "I don't want to be a neurotic or crazy," she added. "I have a nice, normal life and I couldn't live in this world all the time."