Rya was a graduate of J.P. McCaskey High School, Lancaster, Pennsylvania and attended Skidmore College, Saratoga Springs, NY - graduated during 1991. She was a Theatre Major.
Gil Bellows & Rya Kihlstedt met in 1991 when both were working at the Williamstown Theatre Festival.
The couple have two children: Daughter, Ava Emanuelle,(4 April 1999) and their son, Giovanni (2001).
