Punahou School. Photo: Sr13, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Old_School_Hall_at_Punahou_School.jpg)
College/University
Gallery of Kelly Preston
University of Southern California. Photo: Bobak Ha'Eri, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:052607-016-BovardHall-USC.jpg)
Gallery of Kelly Preston
University of California, Los Angeles. Photo: CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Royce_Hall,_University_of_California,_Los_Angeles_(23-09-2003).jpg)
Career
Gallery of Kelly Preston
Neutrogena. Photo: Cory Doctorow from Beautiful Downtown Burbank, USA, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:High-end_cosmetics_vending-fridge,_DFW_1_(398405903).jpg)
University of Southern California. Photo: Bobak Ha'Eri, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:052607-016-BovardHall-USC.jpg)
University of California, Los Angeles. Photo: CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Royce_Hall,_University_of_California,_Los_Angeles_(23-09-2003).jpg)
Neutrogena. Photo: Cory Doctorow from Beautiful Downtown Burbank, USA, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:High-end_cosmetics_vending-fridge,_DFW_1_(398405903).jpg)
Kelly Preston (born Kelly Kamalelehua Smith) was an American actress whose career spanned more than six decades of film and television. Her prominent screen roles included Mischief, Twins, Jerry Maguire, and Sky High; she also appeared with her husband, John Travolta, in The Experts and Gotti.
Background
Preston was born Kelly Kamalelehua Smith in Honolulu, Hawaii. Her mother, Linda, worked as an administrator at a mental health center, and her father worked for an agricultural firm; he died by drowning when Preston was four. Her mother later married Peter Palzis, a personnel director who adopted Preston. She had a younger half-brother, Chris Palzis.
During childhood, Preston lived in Iraq and Australia. She attended Pembroke School in Adelaide before returning to Honolulu, where she completed her schooling at Punahou School. Her early years across several countries preceded the beginning of her acting career in Australia.
Education
Preston attended Pembroke School in Adelaide while living in Australia, then studied at Punahou School in Honolulu and graduated in 1980. Punahou, founded in 1841, is an independent school in Honolulu with a long history in Hawaiian education.
She later studied drama and theater at the University of Southern California. USC is a private university in Los Angeles with programs spanning the arts and professional fields. PRABOOK also records study at the University of California, Los Angeles; UCLA is a public university in Los Angeles. No degree or dates are specified for either university.
Preston began pursuing screen work while living in Australia. At 16, a fashion photographer helped her obtain commercial work and small parts and arranged an audition for The Blue Lagoon; she did not receive the role. She adopted the professional surname Preston at the start of her acting career.
Her first prominent film roles came in 1985, when she appeared in Mischief and Secret Admirer. She went on to act in a broad range of films, including SpaceCamp, Twins, Jerry Maguire, For Love of the Game, Holy Man, Nothing to Lose, Jack Frost, Battlefield Earth, The Cat in the Hat, What a Girl Wants, Sky High, and Old Dogs. In Battlefield Earth she played the girlfriend of her husband’s character, Terl; she received the Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Supporting Actress for the performance. In Sky High she played the protagonist’s superhero mother.
Her screen work also included television roles. She had a short-term recurring part in Medium and starred in the 2008 Lifetime television film The Tenth Circle, directed by Peter Markle and filmed in Nova Scotia. Other television credits included a role in the pilot Suburban Shootout. In 2004 she appeared in Maroon 5’s music video “She Will Be Loved.”
Preston worked as a spokesperson for Neutrogena, appearing in the company’s print and television advertisements. She was represented by International Creative Management in Beverly Hills, California. Her final red-carpet appearance was at the 2018 New York premiere of Gotti, in which she appeared with Travolta; her final film role was in Off the Rails, released in the United Kingdom in 2021.
Preston died at her home in Clearwater, Florida, on July 12, 2020, two years after being diagnosed with breast cancer. She received treatment at MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston and at other medical centers.
Preston remained a Scientologist until her death. Scientology developed in the United States in the mid-twentieth century from the teachings of L. Ron Hubbard, with an emphasis on spiritual development and practices that include auditing. In 2003, Preston appeared on The Montel Williams Show to promote Hubbard’s Purification Rundown, which she credited with helping her son.
Connections
Preston married actor Kevin Gage in 1985; they divorced in 1987. She later had a relationship with George Clooney and became engaged to Charlie Sheen in 1990. After an accidental firearm discharge left shrapnel in her body, the engagement ended; in a 2011 interview, Preston said Sheen had not shot her.
Preston met actor John Travolta in 1987 while they were filming The Experts. They married in a ceremony in Paris on September 5, 1991, followed by a second ceremony in Daytona Beach, Florida, on September 12. They had three children: Jett, Ella Bleu, and Benjamin. Jett died in the Bahamas on January 2, 2009, aged 16, after a seizure. Preston and Travolta later testified that Jett was autistic and had regular seizures.
Mother:
Linda
Worked as an administrator at a mental health center.
Son:
Benjamin Travolta
Daughter:
Ella Bleu Travolta
Son:
Jett Travolta
Died on January 2, 2009, aged 16.
husband:
John Travolta
Actor; Preston met him in 1987 while filming The Experts. They married in 1991 and had three children.
husband:
Kevin Gage
Actor; Preston married him in 1985, and they divorced in 1987.
Adoptive father:
Peter Palzis
Personnel director; he adopted Preston after marrying her mother.
Half-brother:
Chris Palzis
Partner:
George Clooney
Preston had a relationship with him in the late 1980s.
