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.)

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."

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."

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."

"Yellowstone" certainly has no shortage of devious politico sorts, but few of the series' politicos have been quite as shifty as the current chairman of the Confederated Tribes of Broken Rock and warden of the Broken Rock Reservation, Mr. Thomas Rainwater. In fact, over the course of the show, Rainwater has proven a most formidable foe to the Dutton clan's Yellowstone legacy, not to mention the land that the Duttons' claim as their own. 

If you're wondering where you've seen the actor who portrays Thomas Rainwater, well, the options are almost too numerous to count because Gil Birmingham has been busy, busy, busy over the past couple of decades. Still, odds are you remember Birmingham from his brief arc on the original run of "Veronica Mars" or for his turn as Billy Black in the "Twilight" saga. If that's not the case, it's possible you recall Birmingham from a tense, four-episode arc on Netflix's "House of Cards." And if you missed Birmingham in those projects, it's entirely likely you remember the actor from his quippy work as Jeff Bridges' second-in-command in the Taylor Sheridan-penned "Hell or High Water" or his emotionally devastating turn as the grieving father in Sheridan's "Wind River."

If you're at all familiar with the name Ryan Bingham, it's because he's a prolific songwriter who's halfway to becoming one of those rare performers who's won an EGOT. After all, he took home a Grammy and an Oscar for co-writing the song "The Weary Kind" with T Bone Burnett for the 2009 Jeff Brides film "Crazy Heart." And if you know Bingham's voice, it's likely because you've heard it on the radio or in a coffee house sometime in the past decade-plus, as the singer has released six albums of original, Americana-tinged material.

Still not sure where you've seen Ryan Bingham's face before? It's probable you saw him performing some good, old-fashioned music on television in the past decade. But most likely, you simply know him as Walker the singing bunkhouse boy in "Yellowstone." If that's not the case, you may well recognize Bingham's face from his cameo in "Crazy Heart" or from his surprisingly solid work in the grossly underrated 2017 Western "Hostiles," where he shared the screen with the likes of Christian Bale, Rosamund Pike, Wes Studi, Ben Foster, and Jesse Plemons.

With a mix of classic good looks and an easygoing swagger, Josh Lucas is one of those actors that many insiders pegged for superstardom when he came on the scene in the '90s. Surprisingly, that's continued to elude Josh Lucas, not that he's been hurting for work in the past couple of decades. Point of fact, the actor's dashing looks and singular charm alone have landed him quite a few gigs over the years. They're almost certainly what led Taylor Sheridan to cast him as the young John Dutton for the flashback scenes in "Yellowstone."

If you're struggling to figure where you've seen Lucas' face before, it's basically been a mainstay on the big screen over the years, with the actor particularly standing out as Reese Witherspoon's down-home paramour Jake in "Sweet Home Alabama," Russell Crowe's rival in "A Beautiful Mind," and a dedicated basketball coach in the 2006 racial drama "Glory Road." Lucas can also be seen sharing the screen with Matt Damon and Christian Bale in the race car drama "Ford v. Ferrari." But if you want to see Josh Lucas at his absolute best, we'd advise you to check him out in David Gordon Green's tragically underrated Southern Gothic gem "Undertow."

As if the Duttons didn't have enough going on via the constant raging battle to keep hold of their coveted land, their lives got even more complicated when reporter Sarah Nguyen started digging into matters regarding the proprietorship of their property. Sadly, Sarah's digging into the Duttons' affairs led to a tragic end for the erstwhile reporter, which meant a short-lived run for the actor who portrayed her for five episodes on "Yellowstone."

That actor is Michaela Conlin, and if you know her face from anywhere, it's likely from her 12-season run as Angela Montenegro — aka a key member of the forensic team that solved untold numbers of gruesome murders on Fox's long-running crime dramedy "Bones." But just in case you've somehow never seen a single episode of "Bones," Conlin also appeared in Amy Adams' 2007 musical breakout "Enchanted" (she was May), Matthew McConaughey's 2011 legal drama "The Lincoln Lawyer" (she was Detective Sobel), and the 2016 haunted house creeper "The Disappointments Room" (where she played Kate Beckinsale's friend, Jules). Though she doesn't have a ton of credits to her name, Michaela Conlin is one of those actors we sincerely wish would work more. Here's hoping she's got some prime gigs on the horizon.

Over its four-seasons-and-counting run, "Yellowstone" has seen no particular shortage of antagonists. Frankly, just about every character on the show has played that part at one point or another. Few have been quite as diabolical as Angela Blue Thunder, who turned up during the series' third season to help Broken Rock Reservation's big boss Thomas Rainwater (Birmingham) fend off the land-hungry Market Equities crew. Her methods were shrewd to say the least, with Blue Thunder being a firm believer that bloodshed is merely the price of doing business when it comes to saving, and/or reclaiming the lands she believes belongs to her people. 

The actor who played Angela Blue Thunder in Season 3 of "Yellowstone" was Q'orianka Kilcher. And if you recognized her, it's likely because you're a fan of the films of Terrence Malick. More specifically, you're a fan of Malick's 2005 historical drama "The New World," which found Kilcher delivering a breakout turn opposite Colin Farrell and Christian Bale as Native-turned-Anglican icon Pocahontas. In the years since, Kilcher has kept quite busy, booking gigs on lauded programs like "Sons of Anarchy," "Longmire," and "The Alienist," alongside films like "Hostiles," and the Nicolas Cage sci-fi horror hit "Color Out of Space." 

After the unexpected exit of Roarke Morris in the Season 4 opener of "Yellowstone," there was yet another power vacuum in terms of the bad people doing bad things to the Duttons. Said vacuum was thankfully filled in the season's second episode, right about the time Market Equities CEO Caroline Warner stepped off her private jet in Montana. And oh boy is Warner setting up to play the part of a major "Yellowstone" villain. That's a good thing too, because those familiar with the actor who plays her know Jackie Weaver is a legit force of nature when the camera is on, and that her shrewd character is likely only getting started.

Prior to 2010, however, few U.S. viewers had likely ever heard the name Jackie Weaver as she'd spent the bulk of her career working on the Australian film and television scene. That changed with Weaver's ferocious, Oscar-nominated turn as Janine "Smurf" Cody in the original film "Animal Kingdom," which inspired the TNT hit of the same name. Hollywood clearly took notice of Weaver's work, with the actor going on to appear in some of best films released in the past decade-plus, including "Silver Linings Playbook," "Equals," "Widows," and the Netflix sci-fi/horror hit "Bird Box." 

"Yellowstone" fandom was no doubt surprised when series co-creator Taylor Sheridan announced he was working on a spin-off series a couple years back, and that said spin-off would be set more than 100 years prior to the events of the original series. They were likely even more surprised when Sheridan announced Tim McGraw and Faith Hill would be fronting "1883" as the Duttons who laid claim to the coveted lands John and company now call home.

That's hardly a knock at either's acting abilities, and both have so far been quite fantastic on "1883." Rather, it was a surprise because neither McGraw, nor Hill (who are a couple in real life) are actors by trade. They are, in fact, both country music superstars who've become legit royalty in that realm. Regarding their work on "Yellowstone," they barely shared any screen time in their brief Season 4 appearances, though both left their mark on the series via their enlightening flashback scenes.

As for where you've seen either outside of the "Yellowstone" or country music stages, most of Hill's IMDb credits have come via soundtrack contributions, though she did appear in 2004s "The Stepford Wives," and was brilliant in the 2017 indie "Dixieland." McGraw, on the other hand, clearly has an affinity for acting, having turned up in films like "The Kingdom," "Friday Night Lights," "The Blind Side," and "Tomorrowland" prior to booking his "Yellowstone" gig.  

Speaking of fan favorites among the "Yellowstone" rogues' gallery, the cowboy we know only as Colby is very much part of that particular conversation. That's all the more surprising too because, well, of all the rough riders who call the Yellowstone Dutton Ranch bunkhouse home, fans really don't know that much about Colby.

It's a testament to the muted yet soulful work of Denim Richards that fans still invest so much in the character. And it's a testament to Taylor Sheridan for casting Richards in a key role on "Yellowstone" to begin with, because the actor and trained vocalist really hadn't booked much work prior to claiming the role of Colby. He did, however, deliver memorable turns in MTV's "Catfish: The TV Show" and the Freeform teen drama "Good Trouble." Richards added writer and director to his resume via the indie film "The Forgotten Ones," proving he has ambitions on either side of the camera.

Jen Landon isn't the only Hollywood legacy in the "Yellowstone" cast. You may not know it, but Eden Brolin is, in fact, the daughter of Josh Brolin. That means she's also the step-granddaughter of Barbra Streisand and granddaughter to Streisand's famous actor husband James Brolin. And if her work as Jimmy's impetuous, barrel-riding love interest Mia is any indication, the acting gene didn't skip a generation in the Brolin clan.

Early in her own acting career, Eden has already proven herself a talent to be reckoned with, earning her first legit film credit with a supporting role in the well-received 2012 indie "Ruby Sparks." She's largely kept to her indie roots since, appearing in smaller projects like "I Dream Too Much," the Lifetime drama "Manson's Lost Girls," and the grievously overlooked 2020 crime thriller "Arkansas," which also featured Vince Vaughn, John Malkovich, Liam Hemsworth, and the late Michael C. Williams. But Brolin is perhaps best known for her work as Charlie in the Freeform sci-fi series "Beyond."

There was plenty of locker room talk about female barrel racers in early seasons of "Yellowstone" — so much so that actual expectations about the rodeo stars became very real prior to any barrel racers actually entering the narrative. Thankfully, those expectations were met and then some when Mia and her hard-riding pal Laramie turned up on the show — though we might admit the fast-living Laramie soon exceeded them after saddling up on a live bull, then snuggling up to not only the much older Lloyd (Forrie J. Smith), but the roguish crooner Walker (Ryan Bingham). 

The latter course of action likely cost Laramie a few "Yellowstone" fans, but the actor who portrays the character is so darn charming it's all but impossible not to like her. That actor's name is Hassie Harrison, and genre lovers should know her from a memorable performance in the horror anthology "Southbound," if not the big-budget 2018 sci-fi movie "A-X-L," or the blissfully silly gaming comedy "Max Reload and the Nether Blasters." If not, you almost certainly recognize her from the "Super Trooper" team's tragically overlooked fireman comedy "Tacoma FD."

Speaking of one-episode "Yellowstone" wonders, Jill Hennessy is easily the show's most baffling one-and-done cast member. The actor's lone "Yellowstone" appearance came during its pilot episode, with Hennessy stepping in as a Montana Senator tapped to help Broken Rock Reservation Chief Thomas Rainwater retake some of the land he believed was stolen from his people.

Given that setup, Hennessy's Senator Huntington appeared to be lining up as a major player in Rainwater's showdown with John Dutton. That seemed even more evident as the Senator was listed as a "recurring" character in early "Yellowstone" casting announcements. In the end, she never made another appearance on the show, and we're still not entirely sure why.

Hennessy is, of course, well known outside of her brief "Yellowstone" stint, first catching the general public's eye as the ill-fated ADA Claire Kincaid on the iconic procedural "Law and Order." A few years after her heartbreaking exit from that show, Hennessy headlined her own primetime hit, playing Dr. Jordan Cavanaugh for six seasons on "Crossing Jordan." Along the way, she's also delivered memorable turns on series like "Madam Secretary," and "City on a Hill," along with films like "The Paper" and "Wild Hogs."

For the better part of its first four seasons, Bob Schwartz was one of the bigger players in the chess game surrounding the Yellowstone Dutton Ranch. The brains behind the Schwartz and Meyer banking firm, Bob initially employs the Mergers and Acquisitions pit bull known as Beth Dutton. An amiable, deeply intelligent business man who genuinely admires Beth's penchant for destroying anyone who gets in her way, Bob eventually makes the same mistake, leading the fiery Dutton femme to flay him as well.

It was actually pretty sad to see Bob go, because the actor who played the part made him so much fun to watch. That actor is Michael Nouri, who's become one of Hollywood's most reliable supporting players over the course of his decades-long career. Said career began in the 1960s, and though Nouri spent the better part of the '70s toiling away in largely forgettable projects, he broke through in 1983 playing romantic lead Nick Hurley in "Flashdance." Nouri has appeared in film and television projects too numerous to recount since, although highlights include stints on "The O.C.," "Damages," "NCIS," and the recent Netflix hit "The Watcher." 

Few "Yellowstone" characters have proven quite as open to outside manipulation as Mr. Jamie Dutton, and Taylor Sheridan took that narrative angle to a whole new level in Season 5 when he introduced Sarah Atwood into Jamie's orbit. Atwood stepped into the fray to help Market Equities in their struggle to turn the Dutton Ranch into a tourist haven, and was quick to wrap Jamie around her little finger while doing so. Though it's hard to root for Atwood as she bends the spurned Dutton to her will, it's been beyond fun to watch Dawn Oliveri play the part of pseudo-femme fatale.

If you're wondering where you've seen Oliveri before, the actor has been a regular presence in film and television since mid-2000s. Early credits came for brief roles on "CSI" and "Veronica Mars," but Oliveri got some solid exposure playing Ted's kick-boxing romantic interest Anna on "How I Met Your Mother." Oliveri would go on to play powerful empath Lydia on "Heroes," and later landed the key role of Monica Talbot on "House of Lies." Sarah Atwood was also not Oliveri's first role in the "Yellowstone" universe, with the actor playing Claire Dutton on "1883." 

Back when Taylor Sheridan was getting his o.g. cast together for the "Yellowstone" pilot, he made one of his most unconventional casting decisions when he tagged singer-songwriter Ryan Bingham to play the series' irascible crooning cowpoke Walker. Unconventional as that choice was, Bingham rewarded the risk by making Walker one of the series' best characters. Sheridan was no doubt hoping lightning would strike again when he brought rising country star Lainey Wilson aboard for Season 5, and strike it did: Wilson's show-stopping songsmith Abby proved as welcome a cast addition as any yet — particularly as she became a romantic interest to bunkhouse fan-favorite Ryan.

While that romance hit the rocks near the midway point in Season 5, the door is clearly open for Abby's return should Wilson find the time. "Yellowstone" was, of course, Wilson's first professional acting gig, so if you've seen her somewhere before, it was likely on the stage, or fronting one of her many music videos. But if we're lucky, she'll make a little room to keep acting down the road, because she's clearly got the gift.