The Truth About The Actress Who Plays Beth In Yellowstone

Ever since the Paramount TV drama "Yellowstone" premiered in 2018, people have been captivated by the story. Now, entering Season 4, the many twists and turns of the Dutton family and their Montana-based ranch continue to intrigue viewers. Along with the fascinating plot, the show features an incredible cast of talented actors, with Kevin Costner leading as John Dutton. However, perhaps the most interesting character and one who has been a fan favorite throughout the series is John Dutton's daughter, Beth.

The character, Beth, is confident, strong, and fiery. And she keeps viewers on their toes with what she'll say next. One of the most important factors in creating Beth's character is, of course, the actress playing her. While many fans of the show have likely loved Beth for years, it's possible to know very little about Kelly Reilly, the talented actress bringing the character to life. Although she's been a successful actress for years, Reilly is also quite private. While you may have seen her in many other roles, including her work on "Sherlock Holmes," "Pride & Prejudice," and "Flight," the actress who plays Beth in "Yellowstone" remains a bit of an enigma (via IMDb). But, we're ready to dispel the mystery with these little-known truths about Kelly Reilly.

Long before her time on "Yellowstone," Kelly Reilly became known for her work in theater. In fact, playwright and director Terry Johnson, who cast her in several productions, was so impressed with her work, he said she "is possibly the most natural, dyed-in-the-wool, deep-in-the-bone actress I've ever worked with" (via DuJour).

But the role that Reilly was known best for on stage was 2003's "After Miss Julie." The English actress played the title role and got rave reviews on her spectacular performance. "It is the sense of Miss Julie as a lost soul that is beautifully caught in Kelly Reilly's astonishing performance," noted The Guardian. Reilly gained even more recognition when, during one performance, she cut her foot on broken glass onstage. Instead of stopping the show, Reilly acted while bleeding and finished the performance with a bandaged foot, proving herself once again to be incredible in live theater (via British Theatre Guide).

Kelly Reilly is now well known for the role her character Beth plays in the Dutton family on "Yellowstone." However, very little is known about the actress' real-life family. This is due in part to Reilly's private nature as well as the fact that none of her family is in the entertainment industry. Although she went on to appear in blockbuster movies like "Sherlock Holmes," per IMDb, Reilly comes from quite an average family background.

However, she has shared she's the daughter of a police officer. Reilly told The Guardian that, while she was growing up, her father worked "all over south London, Lambeth, Southwark." The Brixton riots of 1981 also took place during his 25 years as an officer. The riots were a series of protests that started in London but spread to other cities across the U.K. as a result of "rumors of police brutality against a Black man" (via the BBC).

As the daughter of a police officer who grew up during these protests, Reilly told The Guardian, "You hear that people hate the police, like during the recent student protests, and I think: 'Well, they're doing their job and they have kids who want to go to university too.'" But the actress also added that she thought non-violent protests could be "absolutely essential."

Many "Yellowstone" viewers have fallen in love with Beth's headstrong and fiery personality, and they aren't the only ones. During an interview with Looper, Kelly Reilly shared how much she loves Beth and the opportunity to play her. "She's a bit of a fantasy of all the things that you want to say, but you'd never have the courage to say or do," Reilly said. "I wish I could have a bit of Beth in me to be able to say some of those things ... So, to be able to do that and get to do it with all those great lines, it's just so satisfying."

Though she loves Beth, the actress also said it's "deeply challenging" and even "terrifying" at times to play a character that feels so real. She's complex, with both tough moments and raw emotional scenes, all of which Reilly manages to pull off authentically, likely from her deep love and understanding for Beth.

"Yellowstone" fans love seeing the relationship between Beth and Rip play out on screen, but Kelly Reilly is pretty private when it comes to her personal life. The star has been happily married since 2012, though little is known about her financier husband, Kyle Baugher. Like his wife, Baugher likes to keep his private life private and doesn't have much public social media presence. But, from what we can tell, they seem to have had a whirlwind romance since, according to Parade, the pair met and got married all in the same year.

However, it's possible they started dating earlier than 2012. In a 2011 interview with The Guardian, Reilly mentioned her American boyfriend, who some have speculated was her now-husband. "I live between my house on the borders of Sussex and Surrey and New York, where my boyfriend lives," the actress said. "I'm not saying any more about him except that he's not an actor, not in the business." It seems likely this was Baugher since he does live in New York, and she talked about it just a year before we know they were a couple.

Although the actress who plays Beth Dutton is from the U.K., this does not mean her love for Montana isn't real. 

Though Kelly Reilly told Parade she didn't really watch Westerns growing up, she did gain an appreciation for the west in her 20s. While working as an actress in Los Angeles, Reilly said she would visit places like Montana, Colorado, Utah, Idaho, and Wyoming during her breaks to go riding. "I've been riding all my life," Reilly said. "It's always been where I get my head screwed back on — just being in nature and being on horses. So being in the world of Montana whilst also doing a job, I'm so like passionate about, it was a perfect fit for me." 

Her love for riding and Montana makes the British actress a surprising but great fit for this modern western TV series.

Looking over the many accomplishments throughout Kelly Reilly's career, you might start to wonder how she's kept such a relatively low profile. Though she's quite well known for "Yellowstone" and other impressive roles, you don't often see her on the covers of magazines like you do with other stars at her level. In an interview with the Independent, she explained this isn't necessarily because she avoids publicity, but that she also doesn't chase after it. "Maybe if I had, after 'Mrs Henderson Presents,' done big front covers and got a very famous boyfriend, that world could have opened [that door]. But (a), it doesn't sit comfortably with me and (b), I have to feel that I'm there for the right reasons. Otherwise I'm just not interested in it," Reilly said.

While she's happy to do the promotion necessary for her job, Reilly said she just isn't comfortable in most of those situations. Instead, she admires the careers of well-respected, but less commercialized, longtime actors. "They can also go to the supermarket and don't need to be adored by the general public. That's the career I'd be really happy with," she told the publication.

Although, Kelly Reilly is now happily married to financer Kyle Baugher, the actress had a few public relationships with fellow actors before coupling up with her now-husband. Though the relationship was somewhat private, Reilly was engaged to Jonah Lotan from 2007 to 2009 (via Parade). You may know Reilly's former fiancé for his roles in "24" and "Generation Kill" (via IMDb).

After her engagement with Lotan ended, Reilly also dated "Captain America: The First Avenger" actor JJ Feild. The pair met on the set of "Last Orders." At the time of her 2012 interview with the Evening Standard, Reilly was sharing an apartment with Feild. She said that he was helping her to stay grounded as her acting career took off. "My parents are reveling in us doing so well, not so much because of our success," she said, "but because we're in jobs we love. I mean — how lucky are we?"

One of the biggest film franchises Kelly Reilly has been part of was "Sherlock Holmes." She played Mary Morstan, the girlfriend of Watson, portrayed by Jude Law. Describing her role in the film to the Independent, she said, "She [Mary Morstan] threatens Holmes' and Watson's friendship. Holmes thinks his friend is gonna be moving out and getting all domestic and not going on any adventures any more."

Though the movie was a hit, some were surprised by Reilly taking on a relatively small part in what she herself called a "boys' film." Speaking about taking the role, she explained there was one specific draw. "The two women's roles are not exactly ones you would break your heart over trying to get," Reilly admitted, but added, "Unless you want to work with Robert Downey Jr. and just do a cracking good scene with him, which is enough for me."

Kelly Reilly told the Evening Standard that before she ever dreamed of acting, she wanted to work with horses. "I didn't like school at all," she said. "And I wasn't very academic. I used to go and work in a yard in Epsom — I couldn't afford a horse, but I kind of adopted one and spent a lot of time with him. It was an obsession."

Reilly continues riding to this day, which became quite helpful when she started acting in "Yellowstone." Since the western show takes place on a ranch, horses are often on set and characters often ride them on the show. Unfortunately, Reilly's character, Beth, is seen on horseback the least. The show's creator, Taylor Sheridan, told Deadline that the whole cast learned how to ride for the show, but, he said, "Ironically, the person who gets to ride the least, Kelly Reilly, is the best rider. She grew up riding."

Kelly Reilly made her Broadway debut in 2015, starring alongside Clive Owen and Eve Best in "Old Times." After spending a lot of her early career on stage, she was an excellent fit for the one-act play. PIX11 quoted her words from opening night when Reilly said, "To be a London stage actor, in New York, it really is something that's very special ... [It's] a dream that I have always had."

It was both Reilly and her co-star Owen's first time on Broadway. The pair seemed very excited to be part of the production, and they threw themselves into their work. The actress said the cast spent a lot of time together in the two months before the show debuted as they rehearsed. Speaking about the careful timing of the play, Reilly added, "It is like a ballet and the more we do it, it's that tightrope of being very free with it but also it's sort of this enormous piece of engineering."