Paul Anthony Kelly 'Really' Wants to Play a Villain After Breakout Role as JFK Jr. in “Love Story” (Exclusive)
Paul Anthony Kelly 'Really' Wants to Play a Villain After Breakout Role as JFK Jr. in “Love Story” (Exclusive)
Brenton Blanchet, Deirdre DurkanTue, April 28, 2026 at 6:46 PM UTC
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Paul Anthony Kelly attends Disney's Emmy Season Toast to TV at Soho House Holloway on April 27, 2026Credit: Monica Schipper/Getty -
Paul Anthony Kelly is teasing what roles he's looking for after the success of Love Story
Kelly caught up with PEOPLE at Disney’s Toast to Television event on Monday, April 27, when he said he wanted to "play a villain" some day
Love Story: John F. Kennedy Jr. & Carolyn Bessette is now streaming on Hulu
Paul Anthony Kelly is ready for what's next after the success of Love Story.
The breakout actor, who starred as John F. Kennedy Jr. in FX's Love Story: John F. Kennedy Jr. & Carolyn Bessette, revealed to PEOPLE at Disney’s Toast to Television event on Monday, April 27 that he has his sights set on a drastically different type of character.
"I really want to play a villain," says Kelly, who previously played the late son of President John F. Kennedy in the show.
As for what's got lined up after Love Story wrapped its nine-episode run in March, Kelly, 37, teases that he "just signed on to something that I’m very excited about."
"I can’t say anything yet," he adds.
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Paul Anthony Kelly as John F. Kennedy Jr. in FX's 'Love Story'Credit: FX
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The first iteration of Love Story, which ran from February to March, followed JFK Jr. and Carolyn Bessette's romance in the years leading up to their tragic deaths in a 1999 plane crash. Kelly starred alongside Sarah Pidgeon, with the cast rounded out by Naomi Watts as Jackie Kennedy Onassis, Grace Gummer as Caroline Kennedy, Alessandro Nivola as Calvin Klein, Leila George as Kelly Klein, Sydney Lemmon as Lauren Bessette and Constance Zimmer as Ann Marie Messina.
Elsewhere during his latest red-carpet appearance, Kelly raved about his relationship with his parents, who he said "set an example" for him. "I’m very fortunate that they are still very much in love and together and a partnership through and through, and it was also an example that I try to lead by now," he said.
Love Story executive producers Brad Simpson and Nina Jacobson previously told PEOPLE that it was "hard" to cast for JFK Jr. "We were three weeks away from shooting and we still [had] not cast him," Simpson said. "We'd seen every male actor between the age of 25 and 38. [Creator] Connor [Hines] was coming in every day with models he'd found on Instagram, sending cold emails."
Hines said the team was eventually "approaching people on the street, at the gym" and Simpson added there was something missing in the other potential actors until they eventually landed on Kelly. "Part of it was just that sort of '80s, old school masculinity — a man with hair on his chest, sort of Richard Gere, Tom Selleck, the classic chiseled looks — we're not making those guys anymore, for some reason, and he really needed to have that," Simpson said of what they were looking for.
"I remember at the screen test, one of the hair and makeup people passed by me, and was like, 'You're crazy if you don't cast him,' " Simpson said. "It was just clear that he was JFK."
Love Story: John F. Kennedy Jr. & Carolyn Bessette is now streaming on Hulu
on People
Source: “AOL Entertainment”
