Paul Anthony Kelly Tells Mel Ottenberg How He Became John-John

I’m 10 minutes late for my interview with Paul Anthony Kelly, who’s playing John F. Kennedy Jr. opposite Sarah Pidgeon’s Carolyn Bessette in Ryan Murphy’s Love Story: John F. Kennedy, Jr. & Carolyn Bessette, coming out this February. He just texted. He’s waiting at my regular diner. Paul’s devastatingly good looking, as the internet knows. But I’m trying to figure out what else he has going on.

———

SUNDAY 4 PM NOV. 2, 2025 NYC 

PAUL ANTHONY KELLY: Hey.

MEL OTTENBERG: Good to meet you. How are you doing?

KELLY: Good. You got your hands full.

OTTENBERG: I do. Thank you for doing this in person.

KELLY: My pleasure. I prefer to do things in person.

OTTENBERG: Me too. I brought you a magazine.

KELLY: Amazing.

OTTENBERG: So when did you start filming?

KELLY: Early June. It’s been nonstop.

OTTENBERG: You’re giving John-John every single day.

KELLY: Pretty much. It’s hard to take him off at the moment. He’s a wonderful character to wear.

OTTENBERG: How did this happen?

KELLY: The origin story?

OTTENBERG: Yeah. You were two when he died. So you don’t remember—

KELLY: When did he die? Was it ’99? I was born in October ’88, so I was nine, almost 10.

OTTENBERG: Got it, got it, got it.

KELLY: I’m from Canada. Small town. Port McNicoll. Middle of nowhere. Moved to Toronto, got scouted for modeling, did that for a long time, which got me to New York. From there, I really wanted to start acting.

SPEAKER 3: Can I get anything for you?

OTTENBERG: Can I have an iced tea? Do you want something? By the way, we can eat.

KELLY: Yeah. I’ll take a little gander.

OTTENBERG: This is my tried and true place. What’s your diet like right now?

KELLY: They got me on a meal plan, which is great. I don’t lose weight, I don’t gain weight. I stay satiated.

OTTENBERG: What are you allowed to eat here?

KELLY: I can eat anything.

OTTENBERG: Really?

KELLY: Yeah. I can deviate from it. We’re at the tail end, too.

OTTENBERG: Yeah. I don’t want to fuck you up.

KELLY: It won’t.

OTTENBERG: Cool.

KELLY: I might get a turkey club.

OTTENBERG: That’s a really good idea. So you’re from a tiny town in Canada.

KELLY: Moved to Toronto. Got scouted for modeling. Saw the world. It’s great work but I felt pretty pigeonholed. I started doing commercials and got picked up by Innovative [Artists]. They took me under their wing for talent and held on to me for like, 10 years, just knowing something would hit. Then I auditioned for this in February.

SPEAKER 3: You guys ready?

OTTENBERG: Yeah.

KELLY: Can I get a turkey club on whole wheat? Does that come with cheese?

SPEAKER 3: No. It has French fries on the side.

KELLY: That’s fine. Thank you.

OTTENBERG: I’ll have a turkey sandwich on rye, toasted, with lettuce and tomato, mustard, and a side of fries.

KELLY: Nice.

OTTENBERG: Okay, so you did a John tape. How’d you feel about it?

KELLY: I felt pretty good. I mean, I’ve been auditioning for things for like 10 years. I got a role in a show called The Venery of Samantha Bird. I thought that was my foot in the door but it never saw the light of day. That’s okay. These things happen.

OTTENBERG: Yeah.

KELLY: What I got from that was that I wasn’t green. I could walk onto any set and at least know the gist of what I’m doing. So February comes around and I felt pretty good about it, but casting said they were reading other gentlemen for it. I was like, “Okay, that’s fine. Whatever.” A few months go by, and near the end of April I got an email from my agents. Casting wants to see me again to do another tape. Twenty minutes later, I got another email and they’re like, “We’re just going to go straight to the producer callback.” We’re in Portland. That’s our home base now, my wife and I. So I do the Zoom, and right before we’re about to go for dinner for our second wedding anniversary, she tells me we’re pregnant.

OTTENBERG: Same day?

KELLY: May 1st was a big day.

OTTENBERG: Wow, amazing. Congratulations.

KELLY: Thank you very much. The next day I got a phone call from my agent: they want to see me for a chemistry read with Sarah, who was already cast as Carolyn, the following week. The stipulation was I had to have my green card before then. The phone call came on Friday. Saturday I got my green card. Sunday I booked my ticket.

OTTENBERG: Was that just an amazing astrological occurrence?

KELLY: Yeah.

OTTENBERG: Wow.

KELLY: It definitely felt like right place, right time. I got to L.A. on Tuesday. On Wednesday I had the chemistry read with Sarah and they’re like, “Congratulations. We’d like to see you for a screen test tomorrow. Do you have a suit?” I had to go buy a suit that day—good old Uniqlo. The next day I went back to the stages. There was one other gentleman and myself screen testing. He went first, so I waited around for hours. I went in, did my thing, had a blast. Said thank you to everybody, and as I was getting de-mic’d, Sarah came back and said, “Paul, congratulations.” Ryan [Murphy], Brad [Simpson], and Max Winkler were there. They all shook my hand and were like, “We’ll see you in New York.”

OTTENBERG: Wow.

KELLY: I was totally beside myself. Then I had to fly from there to San Francisco to finish one of my last modeling jobs. It’s just been nonstop since then.

OTTENBERG: So did people always tell you that you looked like John-John?

KELLY: I used to get it a lot, especially early in my modeling career, when I was working with Brooks Brothers. I didn’t really see it then.

OTTENBERG: I see it though. You’re very good looking, but you also look like you can turn it on easily. You’re still human.

KELLY: Thank you. I mean, we’re here now. They weren’t wrong.

OTTENBERG: What did you do to prep?

KELLY: Read several biographies, including Rosemarie Terenzio’s book. I watched everything I could. YouTube is great. I also listened to Jr. read his father’s book Profiles in Courage every day before work to get into his cadence and vocal style. He was a very well-documented individual. There’s just so much to take in, so once I got this, I was just a sponge.

OTTENBERG: Then how did you feel about the unexpected early criticism of the clothes and stuff ?

KELLY: It definitely showed how much people care and how close this story is to people’s hearts. They really hold them in high regard, so as hard as that was, it really forced the production value of everything and raised the stakes of my performance.

OTTENBERG: I mean, that’s what Ryan Murphy does, he picks things people care about. He can be brazen with what he does with them, and that can enrage a viewer like me, but I’m still watching.

KELLY: [Laughs] Absolutely. It’s doing its job.

OTTENBERG: Definitely. So tell me about your daily routine.

KELLY: Well, I work pretty much every day, sometimes including the weekend. It’s a 12-hour shooting day, and I’m typically in the chair an hour and a half beforehand, so it’s usually a 14-hour day total.

OTTENBERG: An hour and a half to get the hair perfect or—

KELLY: Honestly, it’s tattoo coverup. I have quite a few tattoos. The hair takes a minute—geez, Louise, look at this sandwich—we do a full blowout and brush it back. I have two very small pieces they put in, just to crop the corner. I’m getting older. My hairline is not as thick and prominent as John-John’s, but after that we’re good to go.

OTTENBERG: And then how many pages do you do a day?

KELLY: For episode eight we shot 16 pages in a day, but that’s a bottle episode, and we shot it like a play, which was a really cool experience. But those days were crazy.

OTTENBERG: Did you know how to rollerblade before the show?

KELLY: There’s no rollerblading on the show, but I do get to bike around a lot, which is great.

OTTENBERG: I’m not giving up hope for rollerblading.

KELLY: It’s not over yet.

OTTENBERG: Right, right, right. Okay. What’s the online noise vibe like?

KELLY: I don’t know. I’m not technologically savvy.

OTTENBERG: I like that for you.

KELLY: I love it for me. My wife would find paparazzi shots and show me, and that’s the extent of that. I’m too busy to read anybody’s opinion right now.

OTTENBERG: Yeah. Also, your thing hasn’t even come out.

KELLY: Exactly. We shoot a lot in front of the building they lived in in Tribeca, and people always have such nice things to say.

OTTENBERG: Like what?

KELLY: That I remind them a lot of him, which makes me feel good, because I feel like he can live through my portrayal a little bit more. People love the story. It’s just been really positive.

OTTENBERG: Interesting. When you’re trying to break out of modeling forever, how do you keep going? Because I was watching this documentary on Criterion about Mulholland Drive. Naomi Watts had almost given up after a decade of getting nowhere with callbacks and auditions, and then that movie happened.

KELLY: I was ready to leave and go back to Canada. I was living on the Altadena/Pasadena border when our town burned down, so we relocated to Portland after the fires. We absolutely love it there, so we’re going to stay, but for a while it was like, “Why don’t we move back to Canada?” [Coughs] This sandwich is kicking my ass.

OTTENBERG: Yeah.

KELLY: I think it’s the bacon.

OTTENBERG: Drink that water.

KELLY: It’s that really crusty bread. It gets in there. [Laughs] So we were just planning for the future. Nothing was really sticking, and then this came along and here we are.

OTTENBERG: Amazing. So how do you find chemistry with someone?

KELLY: I’m very lucky. The whole cast is incredible, so it just kind of happens. Grace Gummer as JohnJohn’s sister, my gosh. Naomi Watts as Jackie Kennedy, Ben Shenkman plays Ed Schlossberg, and then Sarah as Carolyn. It’s just incredible. Everyone comes in ready to work. They know their roles, but it’s also just been so organic in those feelings of camaraderie. Naomi as Jackie—there were moments where I really felt that maternal connection.

OTTENBERG: So what’s it like working with Naomi?

KELLY: Amazing. Watching her work up close is a gift. She’s such a pro. We both worked with the dialect coach, Jerome Butler, who’s incredible. He helped me delete my Canadianisms.

OTTENBERG: I love it. Is there a word that best describes the connection between you and Sarah?

KELLY: Probably compassion and security. When I got the job, I remember telling her, “I’m here for you. I’m so excited to fall in love with you every day, and the days that we have to hate each other, I’m excited to go through that together.” And she did the same for me.

OTTENBERG: Yeah. A real love story. Do you and Sarah enjoy fighting with each other?

KELLY: Yes and no. It’s a fun exercise. But Sarah is such a gift to work with that fighting with her sucks because we enjoy each other’s company. But it’s also fun to just know that you’re safe to do it with someone.

OTTENBERG: Right, right, right.

KELLY: Let out your frustrations.

OTTENBERG: I mean, you get the vibe that Carolyn was really fiery. They drank, fucked, fought, and smoked cigarettes.

KELLY: They were real.

OTTENBERG: Yeah. When you’re doing shirtless John-John, hottest guy that ever lived, according to me, how do you get ready for that scene?

KELLY: As I eat this Turkey club.

OTTENBERG: And French fries. What’s the regimen?

KELLY: Well, I got a trainer for the show. I got on a meal plan. I was a model, so I was a little skinnier. I had to put a little bit of—

OTTENBERG: Where would you guys work out?

KELLY: First we were doing it virtually because I was still in Portland. Then I moved back, and we would train at Grind House in Williamsburg, but it’s so busy there. I didn’t realize people would start recognizing me, so when I moved into a building with a good gym, we just trained there.

OTTENBERG: How many days a week were you working out?

KELLY: Every day or every two days. I couldn’t do a lot of cardio because I burn it off very quickly. So it was a lot of lifting, chest, and back. I still don’t have an incredible physique, but the side-by-side photos of him and I are pretty darn close.

OTTENBERG: Yeah, you look good.

KELLY: He looks better.

OTTENBERG: I’m sure he would say the same thing. [Laughs]

KELLY: I’m sure, yeah. He lived his life. He liked sandwiches and beer every now and then.

OTTENBERG: Oh man. Today, I was like, fuck, we should have had a George magazine for our shoot. And our art director Jack was like, “I have many at home.”

KELLY: I also have many.

OTTENBERG: Okay, wait. Let me look at my questions to see what else I forgot to ask you. Do you think you don’t get jobs sometimes because you’re so good-looking?

KELLY: I recently auditioned for something and the guy told me straight up, “Yeah, you’re too good looking for this.” I was like, “Well, I can grow a beard and be scruffy.” I see so many imperfections and flaws.

OTTENBERG: Flaws are good. The scar is helping your face. It looks like it hurt. The one on your cheek.

KELLY: There’s nothing there?

OTTENBERG: Oh, that might have been coleslaw. [Laughs] Alright, alright, alright. So what was JohnJohn listening to?

KELLY: He listened to a lot of alternative rock. There’s one photo I love of him where he’s wearing a Nine Inch Nails shirt. I was just like, “My guy,” because that’s what I like listening to.

OTTENBERG: Right.

KELLY: He was always active, always running around.

OTTENBERG: With a Discman. The Discman was louder than the iPhone.

KELLY: Portishead, Slayer. He had to drive out all the interior noise.

OTTENBERG: Wow. Yeah. It’s wild because he’s so loved. And it’s not just because of his looks, but—

KELLY: It’s his legacy.

OTTENBERG: What’s the thing you hear over and over that people care about the most about this man? I guess, his love life or—

KELLY: For sure, but also him as an individual. His compassion, his sense of duty. John-John really wanted to be a regular guy. To talk to everybody. He took the time, made people feel special. That’s the story I get from folks in the streets who met him. If he spent two seconds with you, you would remember that for the rest of your life.

OTTENBERG: He was a real star.

KELLY: Truly. I mean, just being born into that family—but there was something about him. I mean, he’s electric.

OTTENBERG: Wow. What’s your favorite YouTube video of him?

KELLY: I’ve rehearsed a lot of things from Larry King Live. His interview there was really good. I used it to understand his mannerisms in those kinds of situations, and the way he spoke.

OTTENBERG: Cool. So what are you doing when this is all over?

KELLY: When we finish filming, my wife and I need to go back home and start nesting. The baby comes in January. Originally the baby was estimated to come January 7th, which was Carolyn Bessette Kennedy’s birthday.

OTTENBERG: Wow. And a year to the day after the fires started in L.A. What happened to your house?

KELLY: It was fine. We got very lucky.

OTTENBERG: But you just took your shit and left?

KELLY: Yeah. We took our cat and dog and drove up to Portland. We went back a few days after, packed everything up, put it in a U-Haul truck, and drove up.

OTTENBERG: That’s great. Wait, was this your first interview?

KELLY: Solo interview, yeah. So, thank you.

OTTENBERG: You’re so welcome. I think we got everything we need.

———

Grooming: Jess Ortiz using Oribe at Kalpana.

Fashion Assistant: Piper Smith.

On-set Production: Carly Gallagher.

Post-production: Brett Rosenfeld.

Location: Tiwa Select.

Special Thanks: Alex Tieghi-Walker.