Kelly Preston Movies and Career Information

Kelly Preston Travolta (born October 13, 1962) is an American actress and former model. Preston was born as Kelly Kamalelehua Smith in Honolulu, Hawaii. Her mother, Linda, was an administrator of a mental health center, and her father, who worked for an agricultural firm, drowned when Preston was three years old. Her adoptive father was Peter Palzis, a personnel director, with whose name she began her acting career, and her stepfather was Lee Carlson. As a child, she spent time living in Iraq and Australia as a result of her biological father's work. While living in Australia, she attended Pembroke School in Adelaide, South Australia. She later attended Punahou School and studied drama and theater at the University of Southern California. While living in Australia, Preston was discovered at 16 by a fashion photographer who helped her get work in commercials and other small parts, which eventually developed into a successful movie career. Her first prominent role in a film came as "popular girl" in 1985's Secret Admirer opposite C. Thomas Howell, followed by a topless nude scene in Mischief that same year. She played the girlfriend of her husband, John Travolta's, character "Terl"