She Plays: Brilliant, bitter, beautiful Beth Dutton, a tough-as-nails corporate raider and the only daughter of über-wealthy cattleman John Dutton (Kevin Costner) on Paramount Network’s modern Western saga Yellowstone.

Her wild west upbringing means she can toss back whiskeys and throw down with cowboys. “She hates weakness in people,” Reilly says. “But she hates it most in herself.”

Where You’ve Seen Her: On Amazon Prime Video’s 2018 historical saga Britannia as headstrong Celtic warrior Kerra and on Season 2 of the HBO thriller True Detective as brainy Jordan Semyon. She has also appeared in feature films such as 2009’s Sherlock Holmes and 2012’s Flight.

Why We Love Her: Reilly’s fierce performance gives us zinger-envy. “People respond to Beth because of her willingness to do and say things we wouldn’t,” the actress says. “We propel our fantasies of being badass, or messy, onto her.”

Reilly also shows the underlying emotional pain Beth suffers, as she feels responsible for the death of her mother in a horseback-riding accident. “I’m interested in playing layered, truthful, flawed women,” she says.

Watch Out: As Beth begins to heal from her past wounds, she uses her business brains and strategy to go after her dad’s enemy, developer Dan Jenkins (Danny Huston). “She’s loyal to her father and would do anything for him,” Reilly says. “She’s the smartest person in any room.

She owns herself like a man does, and she doesn’t apologize for the space she takes or what she says or who she is.” You have a problem with that?

Yellowstone, Wednesdays, 10/9c, Paramount Network

Via TVInsider

We’ve obviously been on the Kelly train for years and I’m so pleased everyone else is finally getting on board as well. Here’s hoping all of the love for Kelly’s beautiful and bruised Beth results in an Emmy nomination come next round.