Krysten Ritter

Krysten Ritter (birthname: Krysten Alyce Ritter) is best known for her recurring roles as Gia in the Veronica Mars TV series (2005-2006) and Veronica Mars the movie (2014), as well as her career breakthrough turn as Jane Margolis in both the hit AMC series Breaking Bad (2009-2010) and the series’ feature film spinoff, El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie (2019).

Ritter debuted as an actor in feature movies in 2001 but landed her first notable supporting role two years later in Mona Lisa Smile (2003), starring Julia Roberts, Kirsten Dunst, Julia Stiles, and Maggie Gyllenhaal under Mike Newell’s direction, and grossing $141.3 million for distributor Sony Releasing and producers Columbia Pictures/Revolution Studios/Red Om Films Productions.

Ritter’s next significant supporting role arrived with the hit rom-com, What Happens in Vegas (2008), starring Cameron Diaz and Ashton Kutcher under Tom Vaughan’s direction, earning $219.3 million against $35 million costs. Ritter then went on a run of similar supporting turns in rom-coms, including 27 Dresses (2008), Confessions of a Shopaholic (2008), and She’s Out of My League (2008).

Krysten Ritter had the lead female role in director/producer Nick Hamm’s British-Irish comedy in the early years of U2, Killing Bono (2011), based on Neil McCormick’s memoir of the same title, with Ben Barnes, Robert Sheehan, Martin McCann, Pete Postlethwaite, and Luke Treadaway, and released by Paramount Pictures. Ritter for the first time stepped into the triple roles of lead, co-writer, and producer of director/co-writer Kat Coiro’s comedy, Life Happens (2011), with Kate Bosworth, Rachel Bilson, Kristen Johnson, Justin Kirk, Seymour Cassel, and Jason Biggs, and released by Lionsgate.

Ritter landed a small role in Kenneth Lonergan’s extraordinary American drama, Margaret (2011), and then was cast in a co-starring role opposite Alicia Silverstone as two female vampires in director/writer Amy Heckerling’s Vamps (2012), with Sigourney Weaver, Dan Stevens, Richard Lewis, Wallace Shawn, Justin Kirk, Kirsten Johnson, and Malcolm McDowell, and released by Anchor Bay Films.

Ritter was selected by director/writer Alex Ross Perry’s dark comedy-drama, Listen Up Philip (2014), co-starring Jason Schwartzman, Elisabeth Moss, Josephine de la Baume, and Jonathan Pryce, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and won a Special Jury Prize in its European premiere at the Locarno Film Festival before a US release by distributor Tribeca Films.

Ritter revived her role as Gia in director/producer Rob Thomas’ feature version of Veronica Mars (2014), starring Kristen Bell as Veronica with Jason Dohring, Francis Capra, and Percy Diggs III, premiering at the South by Southwest Film Festival before a release by Warner Bros. Ritter joined the cast of director/producer Tim Burton’s biographical drama, Big Eyes (2014), written by Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski and co-starring Amy Adams, Christoph Waltz, Danny Huston, Jon Polito, Jason Schwartzman and Terence Stamp, returning $29.3 million for distributor The Weinstein Company.

Krysten Ritter co-starred with Sam Elliott and Laura Prepon in director/co-writer/editor Brett Haley’s comedy-drama, The Hero (2017), with Nick Offerman and Katharine Ross, which premiered in the Sundance Film Festival before a release by The Orchard. Ritter—for the second time—revived a character she had first played on TV (in this case, Jesse Pinkman’s ill-fated girlfriend Jane) in director/writer/producer Vince Gilligan’s Breaking Bad spinoff, El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie (2019), starring Aaron Paul, Jesse Plemons, Robert Forster, Jonathan Banks, and Bryan Cranston, and released by Sony Pictures Releasing and Netflix.

Ritter was a new leading live-action cast member in the Sega/Paramount animated/live-action sequel, Sonic the Hedgehog 3 (2024), with Ben Schwartz, Colleen O’Shaughnessy, Idris Elba, Keanu Reeves, Jim Carrey, and James Marsden under Jeff Fowler’s direction. Ritter co-starred with Kiernan Shipka in director/co-writer/producer Sophie Tabet’s 1980s-set thriller, Stone Cold Fox (date to be announced), with Keefer Sutherland and Lorenza Izzo and produced by Bee-Hive and The Wonder Company.