The actress previously told PEOPLE the Imagine Dragons singer is “easy to love” as she explained how his cameo on the series came about

Minka Kelly and Dan Reynolds

Minka Kelly in ‘Ransom Canyon’ (left); and Dan Reynolds attends the 2022 GQ Men Of The Year Party (right).Credit : Anna Kooris/Netflix; Robin L Marshall/WireImage

Minka Kelly’s boyfriend Dan Reynolds really came in handy when she booked her role on Ransom Canyon.

On the April 22 episode ofToday with Jenna & Friends, Kelly, 44, revealed that she really learned how to play piano for her role on the new Netflix Western series, and the Imagine Dragons frontman, 37, was a big help.

“He helped me a lot,” she said of the three songs she had to learn. “Because at home he’d help me translate — I can’t read music — so he would show me how it’s done.”

Kelly also “had a piano teacher in Albuquerque,” she said, “so I would just play [the songs] over and over and over again.”

It stuck with her, too, as she told Jenna Bush Hager she can still play the three songs she “had to learn for the show.”

RANSOM CANYON - Minka Kelly

Minka Kelly as Quinn in ‘Ransom Canyon’.Anna Kooris/Netflix

Reynolds didn’t only help Kelly off-screen, though — he also made an appearance in the series.

“He came to visit and everyone, all the producers and writers, just naturally fell in love with him, like you do,” she previously told PEOPLE. “It’s easy to love Dan.”

“They just asked one day, ‘Do you think he’d play this character?’ And I just was like, ‘Let me ask him,'” she continued. “And he was such a good sport and down to play.”

Reynolds was “surprisingly nervous” for the scene, which he starred in with Josh Duhamel and Eoin Macken, she revealed.

“I’m like, how could you be nervous? With what you do? I guess it’s just a different environment,” she said.

Dan Reynolds and Josh Duhamel in Ransom Canyon

Dan Reynolds and Josh Duhamel in ‘Ransom Canyon’.Netflix

Duhamel, 52, was also full of praise for the singer. “He’s a good dude,” he told PEOPLE. “He did a great job, he really did.”

“It’s hard to walk into another environment,” he added of Reynolds’ nerves. “Because you’re outside of [the cameras] watching, and then you have to step into it. It’s a scary thing.”

Ransom Canyon is now streaming on Netflix.