Nathalie Kelley

**Nathalie Kelley** is a main actress on The CW's *Dynasty*, portraying the role of Cristal Carrington in season one.

## Biography

### Early Life

Kelley was born on March 3, 1984, in Lima, Peru, to a Peruvian mother an an Argentine father. When Kelley was around two or three years old, her family moved to Sydney, Australia. She attended North Sydney Girls High School.

### Career

Kelley landed her first acting role in 2005, cast as the main protagonist, in a one-hour pilot for The WB titled *Mermaid*. Kelley played Nikki, a mermaid who is rescued by a young man when she washes ashore in Miami. The pilot was not picked up as a result of The WB and UPN merging into The CW; the resulting network passed on the show.

In June 2006, Kelley made her official onscreen acting debut as Neela in the action film, *The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift*, the third installment of *Fast & Furious* franchise. She then appeared as April in the 2008 crime thriller film, *Loaded*, starring Jesse Metcalfe. In 2010, Kelley played the love interest in the music video for the Bruno Mars song, "Just the Way You Are," and appeared in an episode of the 2010 American drama series, *Lone Star*.

Kelley's career progressed in 2011 when she had a minor role in American comedy-drama film, *Take Me Home Tonight*, which starred Topher Grace, Anna Faris, and fellow Australian Teresa Palmer. The film was shot in 2007, but its release was delayed by Universal Pictures for unknown reasons. Later in the same month, Kelley appeared in an episode of *CSI: Crime Scene Investigation*, and the following month, Kelley starred in the 2011 German horror film, *Urban Explorer*. From 2011 to 2012, Kelley portrayed the recurring role of Dani Alvarez in the second season of the ABC medical/crime comedy-drama series, *Body of Proof*, starring Dana Delany. In 2012, Kelley appeared in the American Western film *The Man Who Shook the Hand of Vicente Fernandez* and played a vampire princess in the music video for "Luna Llena," by Puerto Rican reggaeton duo Baby Rasta & Gringo.

In 2015, Kelley portrayed series regular, Grace, in the Lifetime drama series, *Unreal*. In 2016, she appeared in an episode of ABC's *Mistresses* and starred as Carmen in an unaired NBC pilot, *Cruel Intentions*, opposite Sarah Michelle Gellar. From 2016 to 2017, Kelley recurred in the eighth and final season of *The Vampire Diaries* as Sybil.

Due to her role as Sybil in *The Vampire Diaries*, The CW took notice of Kelley, and she was the first actor to be cast in the primetime soap opera, *Dynasty*, a remake of the 1980s series of the same name. Kelley was cast as one of the main protagonists, Cristal Flores, opposite Elizabeth Gillies, who took on the role of Fallon Carrington. However, in June 2018, Kelley revealed that she would not be returning for the second season, after her character's fate was left unclear in the first season's finale. The character was ultimately killed off to make way for the introduction of the "real" Cristal Flores, portrayed by Ana Brenda Contreras.

In 2018, Kelley appeared in the Australian biographical film, *In Like Flynn*, about the early life of actor Errol Flynn, as well as in the music video "Song for you", from Canadian R&B musical project, Rhye. In 2020, Kelley starred opposite Victor Rasuk in the ABC romantic comedy-drama series, *The Baker and the Beauty*. The series was canceled after one season. In 2021, she starred in Hallmark's *To Catch a Spy* as Chloe Day.

### Personal Life

Kelley dated Zach Roerig, whom she worked with on *The Vampire Diaries*. They separated in 2017.

In April 2018, Kelley confirmed her engagement to Jordan Burrows, via an Instagram post. They married on April 29, 2018 and later separated in 2020.

## Trivia

* Being a Peruvian-born Australian actress, she is fluent in both English and Spanish.
* On August 15, 2018, she appeared in the Instagram story of Rafael de La Fuente, her friend and former co-star; who is still shooting scenes in Atlanta, Georgia for Season 2 of Dynasty.
* Before it was officially announced Kelley was leaving the series she posted an Instagram picture of Waverley Cemetery with the caption "RIP CC" leaving the fan base to believe that she was either trolling them or discretely letting them know she didn't survive the Season 1 finale.
* In August of 2018, The CW announced that Ana Brenda Contreras would be replacing Nathalie in the role of Cristal. However, they would be portraying two different characters.
* While sites like Wikipedia list her birthday as March 3, 1985, she and Rafael confirmed that it is actually October 5.
* On March 13, 2020, Nathalie spoke about her sudden exit from the series saying she was dissatisfied with some of the Season 1 material, noting that “the writing was boxing me in a little bit.” When the show ultimately seemed to decide “the best thing they felt they could do is start afresh,” she was let go from the series. She also added, "I’m actually grateful to the execs at The CW who saw at the time what I couldn’t — that it was not the right fit."
* According to Sam Adegoke, Kelley is the one who initially encouraged him to pitch the idea for Jeff Colby to be Nigerian to the showrunners.

## Gallery

### Videos

Elizabeth Gillies & Nathalie Kelley Talk "Dynasty" Fights E! Live from the Red CarpetNathalie Kelley Speaks On The CW Series, "Dynasty"Dynasty Season 2 "Major Spoiler Alert"
### Images

* Season 1
* General

## External Links

* Nathalie Kelley on Internet Movie Database
* Nathalie Kelley on Wikipedia
* Nathalie Kelley on Facebook
* Nathalie Kelley on Instagram
* Nathalie Kelley on Twitter

## References

1. ↑ https://tvline.com/2020/04/14/dynasty-nathalie-kelley-recast-explained-cristal-the-cw/