Kelly headlines a Miami-set "Charlie's Angels" alongside Rachael Taylor and Annie Ilonzeh.
Valerie Macon/Getty ImagesWhile Derek Jeter basks in his recent 3,000th career hit, girlfriend Minka Kelly is keeping busy all on her own. The 31-year actress was most recently seen in Just Go With It and The Roommate, but is currently preparing for her starring role on ABC’s Charlie’s Angels reboot.
While we anxiously await her turn as an angel in the Fall series, here are five things that you may not know about Kelly.
1. She was born in Los Angeles to former Aerosmith guitarist Rick Dufray, but took on the last name of her single mother, Maureen Kelly. Kelly’s mother worked as an exotic dancer and after several moves, they settled in Albuquerque, New Mexico, where she attended middle school. Kelly returned to L.A. after graduating high school.
2. Before landing the role of Lyla on NBC’s Friday Night Lights, Kelly spent a year studying to become a surgeon’s assistant, despite the urging of friends to pursue modeling.
“I’ve held several feet of colon in my hand. I could definitely sew up your leg. And anyway, modeling wasn’t for me,” she told Men’s Health in 2008. “I’m too short. I’ve got a big butt. It wasn’t going to happen.”
3. Though she lost out to Mila Kunis for the 2011 “Holy Grail of Hotness” honor from Spike, Kelly was named Esquire’s Sexiest Woman Alive in 2010.
4. The actress was dubbed fittest woman in Hollywood by Gold’s Gym in 2011 thanks in part to a healthy diet, as well as her new martial arts routine in preparation for Angels. On the same token, she beat Jennifer Lopez, Kim Kardashian and Beyonce for the Best Booty award.
5. Kelly has been in a stable relationship with Jeter since 2008, but was previously linked to Chris Evans, Donald Faison and John Mayer. It’s been widely reported that the couple may be engaged, but neither Kelly nor Jeter has confirmed.
