Who Is Luke Grimes? 5 Things to Know About the ‘Yellowstone’ Actor

Credit: MediaPunch/Shutterstock

Who Is Luke Grimes? 5 Things to Know About the ‘Yellowstone’ Actor

Living the dream! Luke Grimes flew under the radar at the start of his acting career, but that all changed when he landed the role of Kayce Dutton on Yellowstone. The Ohio native, 38, has wowed fans of the cowboy drama as the youngest son of John Dutton (played by Kevin Costner) on the Paramount series since its 2018 premiere. The network renewed Yellowstone for season 5 in February, and Grimes knew it was special from the start. “Kayce Dutton, in Yellowstone is a dream. I couldn’t have imagined it better myself than if I sat down and asked, ‘What would be the perfect character to play?’” he told As If Magazine in the fall of 2018. “I’m literally playing it.” The Magnificent Seven actor gushed about the role once again in January, telling Entertainment Tonight, “When you’re a little boy and you want to be an actor, what are some things you want to play? A cowboy, a soldier.” He added: “It's kind of all of the dream roles wrapped into one. He’s just an emotionally complex guy but also a badass. It’s all good stuff.” [sendtonews type="float" key="l0Nz6RARSM-2835129-14453"] While Grimes has always wanted to act, his passion for music is a close second when it comes to his career goals. “Acting was the first thing I knew I wanted to do artistically, and I had a lot of ambition,” the Happiness for Beginners star previously told As If. “Music came from a place of not being able to satisfy the need to act, so I started playing music in church when I was really young. … Music is very important to me, but I’m not ambitious about it. I’ve played in bands in L.A., but the moment the band picked up momentum I backed off to not lose sight of acting.” That focus paid off with Grimes and his Yellowstone costars earning a 2022 SAG Awards nomination for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series. The show lost to Succession at the February awards show. The El Camino Christmas actor reflected on his life during an interview with ET in January, saying, “I’m happy with my life, you know. I wake up every day and feel so lucky. ... I get to live where I live and be married to my wife. So yeah, sure, I’m proud of myself.” Scroll down to learn more about Grimes: [podcast_block]

Credit: MediaPunch/Shutterstock

Who Is Luke Grimes? 5 Things to Know About the ‘Yellowstone’ Actor

Living the dream! Luke Grimes flew under the radar at the start of his acting career, but that all changed when he landed the role of Kayce Dutton on Yellowstone. The Ohio native, 38, has wowed fans of the cowboy drama as the youngest son of John Dutton (played by Kevin Costner) on the Paramount series since its 2018 premiere. The network renewed Yellowstone for season 5 in February, and Grimes knew it was special from the start. “Kayce Dutton, in Yellowstone is a dream. I couldn’t have imagined it better myself than if I sat down and asked, ‘What would be the perfect character to play?’” he told As If Magazine in the fall of 2018. “I’m literally playing it.” The Magnificent Seven actor gushed about the role once again in January, telling Entertainment Tonight, “When you’re a little boy and you want to be an actor, what are some things you want to play? A cowboy, a soldier.” He added: “It's kind of all of the dream roles wrapped into one. He’s just an emotionally complex guy but also a badass. It’s all good stuff.” [sendtonews type="float" key="l0Nz6RARSM-2835129-14453"] While Grimes has always wanted to act, his passion for music is a close second when it comes to his career goals. “Acting was the first thing I knew I wanted to do artistically, and I had a lot of ambition,” the Happiness for Beginners star previously told As If. “Music came from a place of not being able to satisfy the need to act, so I started playing music in church when I was really young. … Music is very important to me, but I’m not ambitious about it. I’ve played in bands in L.A., but the moment the band picked up momentum I backed off to not lose sight of acting.” That focus paid off with Grimes and his Yellowstone costars earning a 2022 SAG Awards nomination for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series. The show lost to Succession at the February awards show. The El Camino Christmas actor reflected on his life during an interview with ET in January, saying, “I’m happy with my life, you know. I wake up every day and feel so lucky. ... I get to live where I live and be married to my wife. So yeah, sure, I’m proud of myself.” Scroll down to learn more about Grimes: [podcast_block]

Credit: Richard Shotwell/Shutterstock

1. He Studied His Craft in NYC

After graduating from Dayton Christian High School in Dayton, Ohio, in 2002, Grimes moved to New York City to pursue acting. He attended the American Academy of Dramatic Arts with the support of his parents.

“My initial plan was to move to L.A., but once my family understood how serious I was about acting, they did what they could to send me to acting school in New York. My parents sacrificed a lot to send me there, and I think that changed my trajectory,” the Midwest native told As If magazine during an interview for its Fall/Winter 2018 issue. “My training provided me with a good sense of the kind of actor I wanted to be, and the kind of projects I wanted to do.”

Credit: James Minchin/Paramount/Kobal/Shutterstock

2. He’s Been Acting Since the Early 2000s

Grimes landed his first movie role in 2006 as Jake in All the Boys Love Mandy Lane. His introduction to TV was playing Ryan Lafferty on Brothers & Sisters from 2009 to 2010. Some of his bigger film credits include American Sniper and portraying Elliott Grey in the Fifty Shades of Grey franchise.

Credit: Mediapunch/Shutterstock

3. He’s a Musician

Before finding success on Yellowstone, Grimes was a drummer in a country band out of Los Angeles. He has plans to take up country music again in the near future, planning a trip to Nashville to work on his songwriting, according to Rolling Stone.

"I hate this word, but the 'secular' music that I was allowed to listen to as a kid was Willie Nelson and Merle Haggard and Johnny Cash,” Grimes told the outlet in January of his musical influences after growing up as a pastor’s son. "That’s the stuff my dad grew up on in the Appalachian Mountains. When he didn’t have to be a pastor, he was playing that sort of folk and country-rock."

He teased his future in music later that month, telling Entertainment Tonight, “I think it would be weird if [my Yellowstone character] Kayce started singing. But here pretty soon, you’ll see Luke singing."

Credit: Chelsea Lauren/Shutterstock for SAG Awards

4. He’s Married

The Into the Ashes actor wed Brazilian model Bianca Rodrigues in November 2018.

Credit: Courtesy of Bianca Rodrigues Grimes/Instagram

5. He Currently Resides in Montana

The True Blood alum lives with his wife in Montana while filming the Paramount Network series.

Yellowstone’s first four seasons are streaming on Paramount+.