Kelly Preston Biography Quotes 25 Report mistakes

Early Life and Education
Kelly Preston, born Kelly Kamalelehua Smith on October 13, 1962, in Honolulu, Hawaii, grew up with a deep connection to the islands that shaped her early years. Her Hawaiian middle name echoed her roots, and family would remain central to her identity. Her father died when she was very young, and her mother, Linda, later married Peter Palzis, a personnel director. Kelly took her stepfather's surname as a teen, and early in her career she was billed as Kelly Palzis. She spent parts of her childhood in Hawaii and abroad, then returned to the United States for school. After graduating from high school in Honolulu, she studied theater at the University of Southern California, building the foundation for the screen career she would pursue with resolve and enthusiasm. As a teenager, while living in Australia, she was noticed by a fashion photographer, an encounter that led to commercials and auditions and helped move her from modeling into acting.

Early Career
Preston's first screen roles appeared in the early 1980s, when she still used the name Kelly Palzis. She earned small parts in features and television before gaining wider visibility in a run of teen and young-adult films. In 1983, she appeared in the thriller Christine, adapted from Stephen King's novel. The following years brought starring turns that introduced her charisma to a broader audience: Mischief (1985) and Secret Admirer (1985) showcased her as a fresh, appealing presence with a knack for light comedy and romantic storylines. In SpaceCamp (1986), she played an ambitious trainee whose wit and confidence foreshadowed later roles. These projects established her as a versatile performer comfortable in both ensemble casts and leading parts.

Breakthrough and Mainstream Success
Preston's breakthrough came with the box-office hit Twins (1988), where she played opposite Arnold Schwarzenegger and Danny DeVito. Her timing and warmth complemented the film's offbeat premise and opened doors to higher-profile work. In 1989 she co-starred in The Experts, where she met John Travolta; the collaboration would spark a partnership that shaped her personal life and, at times, her professional choices.

The mid-1990s cemented her standing with a slate of prominent releases. In Jerry Maguire (1996), directed by Cameron Crowe and starring Tom Cruise, Preston portrayed Avery Bishop, a driven and exacting executive. The role tapped into a steelier side of her screen persona, and the film's worldwide success linked her name permanently with one of the decade's signature romantic dramas. She continued to move between comedy and romance with Addicted to Love (1997), then took on family-friendly fare in Jack Frost (1998). In Holy Man (1998), opposite Eddie Murphy and Jeff Goldblum, she played a TV executive navigating the oddities of modern media. Her range widened further with For Love of the Game (1999), where she co-starred with Kevin Costner, giving the film its emotional counterpoint as a relationship story set against the rituals of professional sports.

2000s Work and On-Screen Range
Preston opened the 2000s with roles that underlined her adaptability. In What a Girl Wants (2003), opposite Amanda Bynes and Colin Firth, she played a musician and single mother whose empathy grounded a father-daughter fairy tale. That same year she appeared in The Cat in the Hat (2003) as the overburdened mother at the center of the book's live-action chaos. She embraced genre shifts with equal ease in Sky High (2005), a superhero family comedy in which she portrayed Jetstream, a superhero mother balancing save-the-world duties with raising a teenager.

She also gravitated toward darker material with Death Sentence (2007), a revenge thriller starring Kevin Bacon, evidencing a willingness to push beyond comedic comfort zones into stories with sharper edges. Preston made memorable appearances in music videos and television as well, including a widely seen star turn in Maroon 5's She Will Be Loved, where she brought complexity to a brief, largely visual performance. She reunited onscreen with John Travolta in Old Dogs (2009), a family comedy that also featured Robin Williams and offered their daughter Ella Bleu an early moment in front of the camera.

In 2018, Preston earned praise for her portrayal of Victoria Gotti in Gotti, acting alongside Travolta in a project that required her to embody a real person with depth and restraint. Even when films drew mixed critical responses, her individual performances were frequently noted for poise, charm, and an ability to anchor a scene with subtle emotional cues.

Personal Life
Relationships and family were a central axis of Preston's life story. She married actor Kevin Gage in 1985; they divorced in 1987. She later dated George Clooney, and in 1990 she was briefly engaged to Charlie Sheen; their relationship ended that year after an accidental discharge of a firearm at his home caused a minor injury, a much-publicized incident that the two addressed separately over time.

Preston married John Travolta in 1991, beginning a nearly three-decade partnership that balanced high-profile careers with a strong emphasis on family. They had three children: Jett, born in 1992; Ella Bleu, born in 2000; and Benjamin, born in 2010. The family's life was shaped deeply by Jett's health challenges. He was diagnosed with autism and suffered from seizures. In January 2009, Jett died at age 16 after a seizure while the family was vacationing in the Bahamas. The loss was devastating and reshaped Preston's and Travolta's public and private lives. In Jett's memory, they supported efforts to assist children with special needs through the Jett Travolta Foundation, reflecting their commitment to channel grief into tangible help for others.

Preston and Travolta were longtime members of the Church of Scientology, and faith and community were often cited by the couple as pillars during both celebratory moments and the family's most difficult times.

Illness and Death
In the late 2010s, Preston was diagnosed with breast cancer. She chose to keep her treatment private, sharing details only with close family and medical caregivers. On July 12, 2020, she died in Clearwater, Florida, at the age of 57. John Travolta and Ella Bleu publicly honored her, speaking about her courage, generosity, and dedication as a mother and wife. Tributes from colleagues, collaborators, and fans highlighted her kindness off set and her professionalism on it, underscoring how reliably she elevated projects across genres for nearly four decades.

Legacy
Kelly Preston's legacy rests on a blend of star quality and relatability. She moved with ease between comedy and drama, from romantic leads to maternal roles to morally ambiguous characters, making an impression in studio blockbusters and smaller films alike. She worked with and learned from a wide range of artists, among them Arnold Schwarzenegger, Danny DeVito, Tom Cruise, Cameron Crowe, Kevin Costner, Eddie Murphy, Robin Williams, and Adam Levine, reflecting a career that spanned generational shifts in Hollywood. Beyond performances, she is remembered for devotion to family, resilience in the face of profound loss, and philanthropic work honoring Jett. For many, her filmography serves as a map of popular cinema from the 1980s into the 2010s, while her personal story remains an emblem of grace under public scrutiny.

Our collection contains 25 quotes who is written by Kelly, under the main topics: Friendship - Parenting - Sports - Faith - Life.

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