Who Is Minka Kelly, 'Sexiest Woman Alive'?

 She has graced the cover of Esquire magazine's Sexiest Woman Alive , but not many people are familiar with the actress Minka Kelly.

The 30-year-old actress made her debut on the television show "Friday Night Lights" at the age of 26. Critics say the show was under-appreciated, so unless you watched it, you've probably never heard of Minka.

That is unless of course you're a baseball fan – a Yankees fan to be more precise.

CBS News reported that Minka and Yankee's shortstop Derek Jeter have been dating since 2008. It's even rumored that the couple plan to get married this November, according to The New York Post .

Kelly rarely talks about Jeter, but told Esquire that her boyfriend notices her manners. "My boyfriend noticed that about me, too. He's the same way, and he said it was a good way to judge someone's character."

Before Kelly was garnering attention for her looks on "Friday Night Lights," she was a surgical technician. She went to school for the job after working answering phones at a surgeon's office. Kelly pursued acting on the side, but the job was very time consuming and didn't give her many opportunities to go to casting calls.

Kelly's father was former Aerosmith guitar player Rick Dufay and her mother was a exotic dancer. She did not grow up with her father and moved around a lot with her mom. She said that she and her mom were more friends than mother and daughter, Esquire reported.

In her spare time, Kelly loves to wakeboard, which she picked up while living on the "Friday Night Lights" set in Austin, Texas.

Although "Friday Night Lights" is over, the new "Sexiest Woman Alive" can still be seen in the movies and on TV.

Yahoo reported that she recently appeared in a few episodes of NBC's drama "Parenthood," and will also be co-starring with Leighton Meester in the horror movie "The Roomate" that comes out February.