April 5, 1991
Features
Faces to Watch MOIRA KELLY 
MOVIES 
by Mark Harris

Her porcelain features and precocious performances have won Moira Kelly praise as "a young Winona Ryder," a quasi-compliment the New York native notes with a smile, a wince, and a spirited refutation. For one thing, Kelly, 23, is three years older than Ryder; for another, she's been acting professionally only one year. But what a year. "It's been so easy for me," she says, "that I'm kind of embarrassed." In February, 29 million viewers saw her spectacular debut as a killer in NBC's Love, Lies and Murder. And her performance as an abused orphan in this summer's Billy Bathgate is being called indelible by Disney executives. Recently, she signed on to play a skater in the film The Cutting Edge. No matter that she'd never touched blade to ice: "I landed on my chin a couple of times, but it's my job to work at it." One thing about Kelly: She almost never falls on her face. -MH