Kelly Reilly

Kelly Reilly (birthname: Jessica Kelly Siobhan Reilly) is a striking British actor who has displayed remarkable versatility across many styles and genres, with a robust career in film, television, and the English theater.

Five years after her professional acting start, Reilly’s debut screen role was in writer-director Ben Elton’s badly received comedy, Maybe Baby (2000), with Hugh Laurie, Joely Richardson, James Purefoy, Tom Hollander, Joanna Lumley, Rowan Atkinson, Dawn French, and Emma Thompson. Reilly’s first co-starring role was opposite Matthew Rhys and Justin Salinger in Irish writer-director Nick Grosso’s film adaptation of his comic play, Peaches (2000).

Reilly was cast by director-writer Fred Schepisi in his adaptation of Graham Swift’s Booker Prize-winning novel, Last Orders (2001), with Michael Caine, Tom Courtenay, David Hemmings, Bob Hoskins, Helen Mirren, and Ray Winstone, and grossing $6.8 million worldwide after a Toronto film festival premiere.

Kelly Reilly joined the ensemble (including Romain Duris, Judith Godreche, Audrey Tatou, and Cécile de France) of director-writer Cédric Klapisch’s The Spanish Apartment (L’Auberge Espagnole), the first in a trilogy in which Reilly continued her character of Wendy, including Russian Dolls (2005) and Chinese Puzzle (2013). Reilly co-starred in the award-winning Irish drama, Dead Bodies (2003), written by Derek Landy. Reilly played support in the 17^th-century drama, the Laurence Dunmore-directed The Libertine (2004), based on Thomas Shadwell’s play, and starring Johnny Depp, Samantha Morton, John Malkovich, Rosamund Pike, Tom Hollander, and Rupert Friend.

Kelly Reilly was cast in the prestigious ensemble of the Joe Wright-directed version of Jane Austin’s Pride & Prejudice (2005), with Keira Knightley, Matthew Macfadyen, Brenda Blethyn, Donald Sutherland, Tom Hollander, Rosamund Pike, Jena Malone, and Judi Dench, grossing a robust $121.6 million globally and earning four Oscar nominations. Reilly was cast in a co-starring role opposite Judi Dench, Bob Hoskins, Christopher Guest, and Will Young in the Stephen Frears-directed musical comedy-drama, Mrs. Henderson Presents (2005), released by the Weinstein Company.

For director Nicolas Roeg, Kelly Reilly had one of her first starring roles in the supernatural drama, Puffball (2007), based on Fay Weldon’s 1980 novel, and starring Miranda Richardson, Rita Tushingham, and Donald Sutherland, and which premiered at the Toronto film festival. Reilly starred in British writer-director James Watkins’ horror movie, Eden Lake (2008), with Michael Fassbender, Jack O’Connell, and Finn Atkins, and winning the Empire Award for best horror film.

For filmmaker Richard Linklater, Reilly played support to Zac Efron, Christian McKay, Claire Danes, and Ben Chaplin in Me and Orson Welles (2008), which premiered at the Toronto Film Festival. Reilly played the love interest to Jude Law’s Dr. Watson in director Guy Ritchie’s blockbuster hit, Sherlock Holmes (2009), starring Robert Downey Jr., Rachel McAdams, Mark Strong, and Eddie Marsan, with the $90-million movie grossing $524 million; Reilly returned to the role of Mary Watson in Ritchie’s sequel, Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows (2011). Reilly joined Colin Farrell, Paz Vega, Christopher Lee, and Branko Đurić in writer-director Danis Tanović’s disappointing drama, Triage (2009), based on war correspondent Scott Anderson’s novel.

Kelly Reilly scored another starring role in the Belgian-produced rom-com, Meant to Be (2010), with Julian Rhind-Tutt, Santiago Cabrera, Mia Maestro, and Kris Marshall, and directed by Paul Breuls. Reilly co-starred in Canadian filmmaker Nathan Morlando’s Citizen Gangster (2011), opposite Scott Speedman, Kevin Durand, Joseph Cross, and Brian Cox, and won the Best Canadian First Feature Film Award at the Toronto Film Festival. Reilly co-starred with Denzel Washington, Don Cheadle, John Goodman, Bruce Greenwood, and Melissa Leo in the Robert Zemeckis-directed thriller, Flight (2012), grossing a strong $162 million globally for Paramount Pictures after premiering at the New York Film Festival.

For the little-seen crime thriller, A Single Shot (2013), Reilly co-starred with Sam Rockwell, Jeffrey Wright, Jason Isaacs, Ted Levine, and William H. Macy, under David M. Rosenthal’s direction. Kelly Reilly co-starred in American indie filmmaker Hilary Brougher’s horror drama, Innocence (2013), with Sophie Curtis, Graham Phillips, and Linus Roache, and produced by Christine Vachon’s and Pamela Koffler’s Killer Films, followed by Reilly co-starring in writer-director John Michael McDonagh’s successful Irish drama, Calvary (2014), starring Brendan Gleeson, Chris O’Dowd, Aidan Quinn, and Isaach de Bankolé, and premiering at Sundance and then the Berlin film festival, where it won the Ecumenical Jury prize.

Reilly co-starred opposite Greg Kinnear in writer-director Randall Wallace’s Christian-themed drama, Heaven is for Real (2014), produced by Joe Roth and T.D. Jakes for Sony-TriStar, and becoming the second-highest-grossing Christian-themed movie ($102 million). Reilly shifted to a smaller role in the 2016 Euro-American co-production, The Take (or under the international title, Bastille Day), starring Idris Elba, Richard Madden, Charlotte Le Bon, and Eriq Ebouaney, and making a profit for producer-distributor StudioCanal.

Kelly Reilly scored another starring role in the Suzi Ewing-directed kidnapping thriller written and produced by Noel Clarke, 10×10 (2018), with Luke Evans. Reilly returned to the horror genre for her starring role in cinematographer-writer-producer-director Sean Ellis’ werewolf drama, The Cursed (2021), with Boyd Holbrook, Alistair Petrie, Roxane Duran, and Aine Rose Daly, which premiered at the Sundance film festival under the title of Eight for Silver.

After Reilly starred in writer-director Amanda Sthers’ Italian-French co-production, Promises (2021), she starred opposite director-producer Kenneth Branagh (as Agatha Christie’s Hercule Poirot), Michelle Yeoh, and Tina Fey in A Haunting in Venice (2023), and released by 20^th Century Studios. Kelly Reilly reunited with director-writer-producer Robert Zemeckis for his film version of Richard McGuire’s graphic novel, Here (2024), with Tom Hanks, Robin Wright, Paul Bettany, and Michelle Dockery, and released by Sony Pictures. Reilly was cast opposite Brian Cox and Brooklynn Prince in the Dean Israelite-directed drama, Little Wing (date to be announced), based on an article by author Susan Orlean.