Yellowstone Star Wes Bentley Once Lit Up This $350 Million Dark Suburban Fantasy That Won 5 Oscars & Made Rose Petals Iconic!

Before Yellowstone made Wes Bentley a household name again, he was the haunting face behind one of the most surreal performances of the late ’90s. American Beauty was his breakout. A strange, tragic, rose-petal-drenched masterpiece that won five Oscars and pulled in $356 million (per Box Office Mojo). And those flying plastic bag shots? All Bentley.

When I hear him reflect on that movie now, it’s wild how much it still lingers in his life. In a MovieWeb interview, Bentley said, “American Beauty was an experience that… it’s like a storybook in some ways, because it was just that out of nowhere fame… more than you could ever even dream of as a young actor.” That movie wasn’t just a role. It was his rocket launch. And 25 years later, the fumes are still fueling his ride.

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Bentley admits that American Beauty is often why people still cast him today. “It’s even how I got Yellowstone,” he explained during the interview. “Most jobs I get are from someone who was like, ‘I remember you from American Beauty and I liked you, and I’ve always wanted to hire you.’” That’s a rare kind of legacy. And in some twisted way, it makes sense that Jamie Dutton (Yellowstone’s most tortured soul) was born from the same actor who made existential dread feel poetic at 17.