---
name: "Minka Kelly"
canonical: "https://film.one/person/minka-kelly"
fi1m_id: "minka-kelly"
imdb_id: "nm1310368"
tmdb_id: 96625
wikidata_id: "Q232674"
roles: ["Actor"]
born: "24 June 1980"
reviewed_on_fi1m: 3
average_fi1m_score: 70
average_as: "actor"
average_over: 3
updated: "2026-10-01T22:42:28.648572+00:00"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# Minka Kelly

## Identity

Minka Kelly

- **Canonical:** https://film.one/person/minka-kelly
- **Type:** Person
- **Fi1m ID:** minka-kelly
- **IMDb ID:** nm1310368
- **TMDB ID:** 96625
- **Wikidata ID:** Q232674
- **Same entity:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minka_Kelly, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q232674, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1310368/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/96625

Actor. Born 24 June 1980 in Los Angeles, California, USA.

## Details

- **Work:** Actor
- **Born:** 24 June 1980, Los Angeles, California, USA
- **Active:** 2006–present
- **Also known as:** Minka Dumont Kelly
- **Average Fi1m score:** 70, as actor, over 3 titles
- **Fi1m score by decade:** 2000s 86 (1), 2010s 66 (1), 2020s 57 (1)
- **Score spread:** 1 at 80+, 1 at 60–79, 1 under 60
- **Lead roles:** 1 of 2 acting credits billed first or second
- **Genres:** Drama 3, Sport 1, Western 1
- **Screen time:** 2 hours of reviewed films
- **Box office:** $177m across 1 films with figures
- **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minka_Kelly, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q232674, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1310368/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/96625

## Streaming the US now

- **Paramount+:** [*Friday Night Lights*](https://film.one/tv/friday-night-lights.md) (86)
- **Netflix:** [*Ransom Canyon*](https://film.one/tv/ransom-canyon.md) (57)

For United States; add `?region=XX` for another country.

## Fi1m on Minka Kelly

> Minka Kelly can make a screen romance believable even when the writing gives us little reason to care. We rate that ability, but *Ransom Canyon* asks her chemistry with Josh Duhamel to cover too many gaps.

In *Ransom Canyon* (2025), Kelly’s Quinn O’Grady and Josh Duhamel’s Staten Kirkland make a persuasive couple in a drama too dependent on predictable complications. He makes the brooding attractive; she gives him a capable romantic partner. We warmed to them as a couple because their attraction felt convincing even when the dialogue did not. That is a real pleasure in a programme we cannot recommend, and a useful place to begin with Kelly.

Her breakthrough came as cheerleader Lyla Garrity in *Friday Night Lights* (2006), a role that fitted the attractive, popular types of her early work. Her dramatic acting also drew early praise for its emotional depth, which matters when so much of the casting seemed to begin with appearance. We recommend the series for its care with people under pressure and the performances that make its occasional earnestness forgivable. It is the stronger introduction to Kelly, with Kyle Chandler’s patient authority helping the ensemble.

The later credits include *Charlie’s Angels* (2011) and the superhero series *Titans* (2018), in which she plays Dawn Granger, or Dove. Physical preparation is a recurring feature of her work, with cheerleading, piano and riding among the skills she has taken on. A recurring part as Samantha in *Euphoria* (2019), which she joined in 2022, then moved her towards more grounded adult roles. These changes matter chiefly because they give her something beyond the popular young woman to play.

Of her *Ransom Canyon* role, Kelly said, “This is Lyla 20 years later”. The adult romantic lead makes sense for her, but April Blair’s drama asks her and Duhamel to do work the dialogue and characterisation ought to share. Its tiresome division of emotional labour does not help. We would welcome another romance, provided the writers give her more to do than make the attraction credible.

## Biography

Minka Kelly is an American actress. She is known for her role as Lyla Garrity in the NBC series *Friday Night Lights* (2006–2009).

Kelly was born Minka Dumont Kelly on 24 June 1980 in Los Angeles. She is the only child of former Aerosmith guitarist Rick Dufay and the late Maureen Dumont Kelly. After working as a scrub nurse and studying to become a surgical technician, she took an acting class that led her to pursue the profession full time.

Her other credits include appearances in *Drake & Josh* (2004), *The Kingdom* (2007), *(500) Days of Summer* (2009), *The Roommate* (2011), *The Butler* (2013), *Titans* (2018) as Dawn Granger / Dove, and *Euphoria* (2019).

*Sources: en.wikipedia.org, imdb.com, themoviedb.org.*

## On Fi1m (3)

- *Ransom Canyon* (2025), Fi1m 57, as Quinn O'Grady — [page](https://film.one/tv/ransom-canyon.md)
- *The Butler* (2013), Fi1m 66, as Jackie Kennedy — [page](https://film.one/film/the-butler.md)
- *Friday Night Lights* (2006), Fi1m 86, as Lyla Garrity — [page](https://film.one/tv/friday-night-lights.md)

## Complete filmography (37)

Every credit, newest first. Titles without a page can be requested for review on the HTML page.

- *Champagne Problems* (2025), as Sydney Price
- *Ransom Canyon* (2025), series, as Quinn O'Grady · Executive Producer — Fi1m 57, [page](https://film.one/tv/ransom-canyon.md)
- *Blackwater Lane* (2024), as Cass
- *Lansky* (2021), as Maureen Duffy
- *She's in Portland* (2020), as Sarah
- *Night Hunter* (2019), as Angie
- *Euphoria* (2019), series, as Samantha — Fi1m 65, [page](https://film.one/tv/euphoria.md)
- *Titans* (2018), series, as Dawn Granger / Dove
- *The Beach House* (2018), as Coretta 'Cara' Rudland
- *Naked* (2017), as Callie (uncredited)
- *Bull* (2016), series, as Kara Clayton
- *The Path* (2016), series, as Miranda Frank
- *Papa Hemingway in Cuba* (2015), as Debbie Hunt
- *Away and Back* (2015), as Ginny Newsom
- *Man Seeking Woman* (2015), series, as Whitney
- *The World Made Straight* (2015), as Dena
- *Jane the Virgin* (2014), series, as Abbey Whitman
- *Almost Human* (2013), series, as Valerie Stahl
- *Full Circle* (2013), series, as Bridgette Murphy
- *The Butler* (2013), as Jackie Kennedy — Fi1m 66, [page](https://film.one/film/the-butler.md)
- *Searching for Sonny* (2011), as Eden Mercer
- *Charlie's Angels* (2011), series, as Eve French
- *Just Go with It* (2011), as Joanna Damon
- *The Roommate* (2011), as Sara Matthews
- *Parenthood* (2010), series, as Gaby
- *(500) Days of Summer* (2009), as Autumn
- *The Kingdom* (2007), as Miss Ross
- *The Pumpkin Karver* (2006), as Tammy Boyles
- *Friday Night Lights* (2006), series, as Lyla Garrity — Fi1m 86, [page](https://film.one/tv/friday-night-lights.md)
- *Devil's Highway* (2005), as River
- *State's Evidence* (2004), as Girl #3
- *Entourage* (2004), series, as Minka Kelly — Fi1m 63, [page](https://film.one/tv/entourage.md)
- *Cracking Up* (2004), series, as Monica
- *Drake & Josh* (2004), series, as Stacey
- *The Turbo Charged Prelude for 2 Fast 2 Furious* (2003), as Girl
- *American Dreams* (2002), series, as Bonnie
- *What I Like About You* (2002), series, as Ricki

## Gallery

- ![Minka Kelly](https://film.one/media/person/101715/gallery-e889af82b145.png) Minka Kelly — Sidewalk Entertainment, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/45/Minka_Kelly_in_2020.png?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled)
- ![Actress Minka Kelly, who starred in the TV series “Friday Night Lights,” greets Service members during a USO Holiday Troop Visit Dec. 16, 2011, at Bagram Airfie](https://film.one/media/person/101715/gallery-a948c8d2155c.jpg) Actress Minka Kelly, who starred in the TV series “Friday Night Lights,” greets Service members during a USO Holiday Troop Visit Dec. 16, 2011, at Bagram Airfie — Airman 1st Class Cody Ramirez, U.S. Air Force, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/28/Actress_Minka_Kelly_in_2011.jpg/1280px-Actress_Minka_Kelly_in_2011.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![Minka Kelly](https://film.one/media/person/101715/gallery-c79fa84e6541.jpg) Minka Kelly — Image via TMDB
- ![Minka Kelly](https://film.one/media/person/101715/gallery-60d169630e25.jpg) Minka Kelly — Image via TMDB
- ![Minka Kelly](https://film.one/media/person/101715/gallery-ee0c1c0b6d44.jpg) Minka Kelly — Image via TMDB
- ![Minka Kelly](https://film.one/media/person/101715/gallery-ef54bf10daf3.jpg) Minka Kelly — Image via TMDB
- ![Minka Kelly](https://film.one/media/person/101715/gallery-356a1346bfda.jpg) Minka Kelly — Image via TMDB
- ![Minka Kelly](https://film.one/media/person/101715/gallery-8c8dd4aa9182.jpg) Minka Kelly — Image via TMDB

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/person/minka-kelly