Why The Cast Of Yellowstone Looks So Familiar
Paramount Network’s electrifying neo-Western saga “Yellowstone” has gone from a little extended cable series with a big name star to a ratings powerhouse that ranks among the most watched shows on television. And it’s done so by delivering a singular brand of primetime melodrama, with series creator Taylor Sheridan (“Sicario,” “Hell or High Water,” and “Wind River”) telling an epic tale of a ranching family fighting to keep their land and wrapping it up in a veritable spider’s web of political intrigue and classic Western mythos.
Simply put, there’s nothing else on television at the moment quite like “Yellowstone.” But while the story is incredible and the action is bloody, there can be little question that the series’ obscenely talented cast is a big part of what keeps its viewership numbers steadily on the rise. However, most of the people in the series aren’t exactly A-list stars, but nevertheless, they’ve worked on some pretty high-profile movies and TV shows. So if there’s a particular face that you know you’ve seen before, well, here’s why the cast of “Yellowstone” looks so familiar.
(Be warned, there are spoilers below.)
Kevin Costner is a Hollywood legend
Okay, so if there is one name on this list that you know — and really should know — it’s that of Kevin Costner. He is, after all, one of the most respected and revered actors in Hollywood, and has seen boundless success on both sides of the camera over his near four-decade career. While his work as the steely-eyed and hard-hearted paterfamilias John Dutton on “Yellowstone” is translating to a fresh wave of small screen success, Costner remains a bona fide movie star. After all, he’s appeared in a handful of legit iconic films, such as “The Untouchables,” “Bull Durham,” “Field of Dreams,” and “JFK” among them.
Just FYI, Costner is hardly a stranger to the Western genre either, having already saddled up for a handful of big screen cowboy classics like “Silverado,” “Wyatt Earp,” “Open Range,” and his Best Picture-winning Western opus “Dances With Wolves.” That being said, we’re fully aware that Costner is probably best known among viewers with at least a little bit of grey in their hair. So for all of you youngsters out there who’ve never shared a beer and a tear with your dad while watching “Field of Dreams,” it’s entirely likely you know Mr. Costner from his work as Jonathan Kent in the DCEU’s “Man of Steel.”
You’ve seen Kelly Reilly in some high-profile projects
Hopefully, you’re at least mildly familiar with Kelly Reilly’s face because she’s one of those actors who’s been perpetually on the fringe of a big-time Hollywood breakout for a while now. That her breakout hasn’t come yet is all but criminal at this point. Fortunately, Reilly has managed to build a career as a scene-stealing supporting player in recent years.
With any luck, Reilly’s razor-sharp work as the lone female Dutton sibling will help her get the attention of a few more producers who recognize a commanding screen presence when they see it. And yes, Reilly’s work as the fiery Beth Dutton is the very definition of commanding, with the actor bringing serious weight to a fascinatingly duplicitous character who would feel equally at home in a Shakespearean tragedy as she does among the Big Sky melodrama of “Yellowstone.”
If you’re having trouble figuring out exactly where you’ve seen Reilly’s face before, fans of HBO’s detective drama “True Detective” will almost certainly recognize her from her Season 2 turn as the Lady Macbeth-like wife of Vince Vaughn’s fading tough-guy crime lord. But if you checked out on of “True Detective” after the first season — and we know many of you did — it’s probable you know Reilly from her work as Mary to Jude Law’s Watson in the first two installments of the “Sherlock Holmes” franchise or as the venom-spewing Caroline Bingley in Joe Wright’s pitch-perfect 2006 adaptation of “Pride & Prejudice.”
Luke Grimes starred in a very different type of TV show before Yellowstone
When it comes to actors you should probably be way more familiar with, say hello to Mr. Luke Grimes. On “Yellowstone,” you know him as Dutton Ranch foreman, devoted father, and ex-Navy SEAL Kayce, but in reality, he’s another one of those perpetually “on the fringe of a breakout performers” who too often find themselves relegated to the role of side character.
Unlike many of those long-time supporting players, Luke Grimes is still at a relatively early stage in his career — though it certainly seems like he’s been around longer than he has. So while we’re sure that certain “Yellowstone” fans have taken full notice of Grimes’ roguish looks and hardened glare, we’re guessing many of you still aren’t entirely sure where you’ve seen them both before.
Grimes actually made his screen debut back in 2006, when he appeared in Jonathan Levine’s breakout horror flick “All the Boys Love Mandy Lane.” A couple of years later, Grimes made his small-screen debut with a season-long run on ABC’s family drama “Brothers and Sisters,” but most of you will likely remember Grimes for his memorable six-episode arc as the kind-hearted bloodsucker James Kent on HBO’s “True Blood.”
Wes Bentley made his name in an Oscar-winning film
For fans of 1999’s acerbic Best Picture winner “American Beauty,” Wes Bentley certainly needs no introduction as he’s all but instantly recognizable as the drug dealing, plastic bag-adoring, would-be filmmaker Ricky Fitts. Of course, if you missed out on that millennium-ending gem and somehow haven’t stumbled upon it in the past 20 years, Bentley may be a bit more of an enigma.
As it turns out, that description suits him quite well, and it suits his murderous “Yellowstone” alter ego equally well. On the show, Bentley plays one of the elder Dutton brothers, Jamie, and he currently serves as the Duttons’ personal attorney (and sometimes ranch hand). Like several of the Dutton kids, Jamie has often found himself in tragically choppy waters, even teetering on the edge of suicide in the wake of some seriously troubling actions.
As for Wes Bentley, he had a few troubles of his own throughout the early 2000s, as he secretly battled addiction, and he was largely non-visible after his “American Beauty” breakout. Luckily, the talented actor got his act together in the new decade, delivering memorable performances in “The Hunger Games,” “Welcome to Me,” Christopher Nolan’s “Interstellar,” and Terrence Malick’s “Knight of Cups.” If you missed him in those films, you probably remember Bentley for his various turns on Ryan Murphy’s beloved horror anthology series “American Horror Story.”
Cole Hauser has always kept pretty busy
While the sprawling “Yellowstone” narrative has made clear that the Dutton clan is no stranger to tragedy, the Duttons’ adoptive family member Rip Wheeler may be the most tragic figure of them all. Played by Cole Hauser with a visceral air of stoic, introverted intensity, Wheeler is a survivor of childhood abuse who killed his own father after the ruthless drunk took the lives of the youngster’s mother and brother. Trauma like that obviously left the young Rip with swathe of unchecked emotional issues — issues that the Duttons have made ample use of after adopting Rip and bringing him into the fold.
If you’re still trying to figure out where you’ve seen Hauser, well, there’s at least a half dozen or so movies and TV shows you’ve seen him in before. If you’re a fan of ’90s classic “Dazed and Confused,” you know him as the true-hearted football player Benny. If that’s not the case, you probably noticed Hauser as Matt Damon’s strong and silent running buddy Billy in “Good Will Hunting” or perhaps as the backstabbing law man in the sci-fi classic “Pitch Black.” Or maybe you remember him as the villainous Carter Verone in “2 Fast 2 Furious,” bad boy Steve Curtis from “E.R.,” or as Pinkerton Charlie Siringo in the short-lived Lifetime drama series “The Lizzie Borden Chronicles.”
If you’re a CW fan, you’ve definitely seen Kelsey Asbille before
Of all the central players that currently occupy the screen on “Yellowstone,” we’d bet that Kelsey Asbille’s is one of the least known. On the show, she plays Monica Dutton, wife to Luke Grimes’ Kayce Dutton — a status that’s more than a little complicated due to her direct relations to ancestors and elders of the Broken Rock Indian Reservation. Fans of “Yellowstone” will need no more backstory than that, as the Broken Rock Res shares a border with the Dutton Yellowstone Ranch, and it’s regularly in direct conflict with John Dutton and his clan about who rightfully owns the land that said ranch occupies.
While Asbille continues to play her part of “strong but endlessly stuck in the middle” to a T on “Yellowstone,” the actor is delivering what may well go down as her breakout performance. However, we think she should’ve had that breakout moment long before now. After all, she’s given some pretty fantastic performances before “Yellowstone,” like her 18-episode stint as Gigi on the CW’s “One Tree Hill.” And she followed that stretch a few years later with a winning, 13-episode run on MTV’s “Teen Wolf.” Of course, Asbille was already on the radar of “Yellowstone” creator Taylor Sheridan after her heartbreaking turn as Natalie in Sheridan’s marvelous 2017 indie “Wind River.”
