Born in March 9, in Worcester, Massachusetts, Kelly began performing as a child. Though she made her Broadway debut at age 14 in the Stephen Sondheim Broadway musical Into the Woods and her film debut in the John Candy hit Uncle Buck , Kelly opted to go to college rather than diving headfirst into an acting career. After she graduated from Columbia University in with a degree in English, Kelly returned to acting full-time. Holland's Opus and starred in several little-seen independent films, including Origin of the Species Though Kelly also starred in the feature-film adaptation of the long-running musical The Fantasticks in , the release was delayed until fall Tia Russell says: Hey, Mom.