Krysten Alyce Ritter is an American actress and former model. She grew up on a beef farm in Shickshinny, Pennsylvania, where her mother, stepfather and sister still live.
Her father lives in nearby Benton; she is of no relation to the late John Ritter. Ritter was scouted by a modeling agent at her local shopping mall, the Wyoming Valley Mall, at the age of 15 at a modeling event. Ritter described herself at the time as “tall, gawky, awkward, and really, really skinny” to Philadelphia Style magazine. While in high school, she traveled to New York on her days off, and began modeling in New York and Philadelphia. She signed with the Elite Model Management agency, and then with Wilhelmina Models. She moved to New York City at the age of 18 and established an international modeling career in print ads and on television. Ritter modeled for about 5 years. Ritter gained notice from Wilhelmina’s acting division, and went on her first audition, a television commercial for Dr Pepper. Ritter told Philadelphia Style that she felt her “outgoing and bubbly and funny” personality as a performer helped her transition into acting naturally by letting her entertain the casting people. “I felt like this is where I belonged”, she added.
Ritter began pursuing film acting and trained with Marjorie Ballentine, an acclaimed acting coach. Ritter describes her acting influences as Katharine Hepburn, Geena Davis, Juliette Lewis, Lucille Ball and Gilda Radner. She won several bit film roles starting in 2001, and then played a 1950s art history student in Mona Lisa Smile (2003). She also juggled careers as a writer, a musician, and in business. In 2006, she appeared in All This Intimacy, a two act Off Broadway play by Rajiv Joseph, at the Second Stage Theatre. Ritter played Gia Goodman, the mayor’s daughter, on the second season of Veronica Mars, and played Rory Gilmore’s friend, Lucy, for eight episodes in the television series Gilmore Girls from 2006 to 2007. She also played Allison Stark in the FOX sitcom ‘Til Death. She has been cast in a number of romantic comedies, including a supporting role in What Happens in Vegas (2008), co-starring with Isla Fisher in Confessions of a Shopaholic (2009) as Suze, and Ritter spent 3 months shooting She’s Out of My League (2009) in Pittsburgh.
She has been cast as Carol Rhodes in The CW’s Valley Girls series. The show, a spin-off of Gossip Girl, is a prequel set in 1980s Los Angeles, and will chronicle the teenage years of the character Lily van der Woodsen. Ritter described her character Carol, Lily’s sister, as “the outcast,” and “an ’80s Sunset Strip rocker” to Access Hollywood. Ritter co-starred on the second season of AMC’s television drama Breaking Bad, and finished the film How to Make Love to a Woman (2009), based on a best-selling book by adult film star Jenna Jameson. She also will co-star with Jason Behr in the independent filmThe Last International Playboy (2009). She sold a television pilot that she wrote named Model Camp, based on her experiences as a model, and is also writing a female-buddy comedy film.
Ritter lives in Los Angeles, where she moved in 2007 from Brooklyn. She bought what she describes as a “pimped-out” Prius. As of November 2008, she is renting an apartment in a house in Silver Lake with her roommate, interior designer Lauren Bratman. She did tell Philadelphia Style that she misses “the climate and the seasons of Pennsylvania”. She has naturally black hair, and sings and plays guitar in a band named Ex Vivian in her spare time. She describes her personal style as “thrown-together rock ’n’ roll nineties grunge”, and told Seventeen magazine, “I would wear my combat boots on every [red] carpet if I could!” As of 2009, her boyfriend is Scott Culver, a music video director.
• Her favorite place to eat in L.A. is… Nozowa! Actually there are a few — in addition to Nozowa, I go crazy for the godmother sandwich at Bay City Bakery and the el pastor burrito at El Taurino.
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