The middle of five children, Kelly was born and raised in Elizabeth, New Jersey, where his grandfather and father were police officers/detectives and his mother was a social worker.
[1][2] A graduate of St. Vincent College (Latrobe, Pennsylvania) in 1974, he pursued a Master of Fine Arts (MFA) at Catholic University (Washington, D.C.) on a full scholarship.
In 2003, he appeared at the Mark Taper Forum (Los Angeles), originating the role of Richard in Living Out by Lisa Loomer.
Aside from Hardcastle and McCormick, he has starred in such television series as Chicago Story, I Married Dora, Second Noah, Ponderosa and Walt Disney Presents The 100 Lives of Blackjack Savage (1991) which he also co-produced.
[4] He also appeared in miniseries and television movies, such as Passing Glory, The Tuskegee Airmen, Citizen Cohn, From the Earth to the Moon and The Nutcracker, among others.