Paul Anthony Kelly almost took the off-ramp on his road to fame.
The actor, who played JFK Jr. in this year’s smash hit “Love Story: John F. Kennedy Jr. & Carolyn Bessette” says he had been auditioning for parts for 13 years before landing the plum role in the FX series and was almost ready to give up on acting career.
But his wife, Syd Widziszewski-Kelly, made sure he stayed the course.
“I remember sitting down with her, and we were just talking and I was like, ‘You know, I don’t think this is really working. Haven’t hit it yet.’ Thirteen years is a long time,” he said May 26 on TODAY with Jenna & Sheinelle.
“We were thinking about starting a family, so it was like — what weighs more than the other? But she was like, ‘No, just stick it out,’ like, ‘Give it another year.’ And then a couple weeks later, I get this phone call for this, and here we are.”
Kelly said he believes coming to terms with the possibility of not making it as an actor was the moment it all came together for him.
“I think that that’s exactly what happens,” he said.
“Sometimes, when you let go …” Sheinelle Jones began.
“Yup, the universe comes back and says, ‘Oh, let me get this for you,’” Kelly said.
Sheinelle and Kelly were both at this year’s Met Gala, which prompted Sheinelle to note that he seemed “grateful” to be there.
“I mean, it’s exciting. It’s exhilarating, you know. I was there with people who are now considered my peers, people I’ve looked up to forever,” he said.
As it turns out, Kelly was able to have the career and a family. “Love Story” premiered in February, the same month he and Widziszewski-Kelly welcomed a baby.
“You just kind of got to go with it,” he said. “The train’s going, you’re not stopping. Yeah, it was a really interesting experience to become a father, and then you know, like a month later, have the show come out and give birth again to a career.”
Paul Anthony Kelly and Sarah Pidgeon star in the new Ryan Murphy series “Love Story: John F. Kennedy Jr. & Carolyn Bessette,” which explores the high profile marriage of the couple who, in 1999, met a tragic end in a plane crash.
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