[2] On film, Kelly played Hermione Granger's father in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1.
He acted on London's West End and in New York in his own one-man plays and also in the title role in the US premiere of Ron Hutchinson's Beau Brummell.
For his work in Alexei Balabanov's Voyna (War) he was nominated for Best Actor at the Montreal World Film Festival.
[13] The BBC Television drama Beau Brummell: This Charming Man with Hugh Bonneville and Phil Davis was based on Ian Kelly's biography.
As an actor his TV work includes Dennis Potter's Cold Lazarus[20] Drop the Dead Donkey, Silent Witness, Just William, Catherine Cookson's The Moth, Sensitive Skin, and Time Trumpet.