Biography
Date of Birth
16 December 1981, Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania, USA
Birth Name
Krysten Alyce Ritter
Height
5' 9" (1.75 m)
Mini Biography
Krysten Ritter stars as Jessica Jones in the Peabody, Hugo, and Emmy Award-winning Netflix original series, Marvel's Jessica Jones (2015). Her performance, which earned her a prestigious Critics Choice nomination, a Saturn nomination, a Webby Award and a Glamour Best International TV Actress Award, has received rave reviews with the show being celebrated by critics and audiences alike for its groundbreaking depiction of a reluctant anti-super-heroine with an alcohol problem and a wicked case of PTSD who will not let a sexual assault from her past define her. She will also play Jessica Jones in The Defenders (2017) and the second season of Marvel's "Jessica Jones".
Additional acting roles include her critically acclaimed turn as Jane Margolis on AMC's hit series, Breaking Bad (2008), the titular character in the cult favorite Don't Trust the B---- in Apartment 23 (2012), Big Eyes (2014) directed by Tim Burton, indie darling Listen Up Philip (2014), Life Happens (2011) which she co-wrote and co-produced, as well as roles in Veronica Mars (2014), The Blacklist (2013), Confessions of a Shopaholic (2009), and She's Out of My League (2010).
Growing up in a small-town farm in rural Pennsylvania, Ritter started her career in front of the camera as a model at 15-years-old. Her body of work has subsequently spanned film, television, theatre, writing, producing, music, and fashion design.
In 2012, Ritter launched her production company Silent Machine where she juggles many projects in various stages of development, always with the objective of highlighting complex female protagonists.
Ritter and her dog Mikey split their time between New York and Los Angeles.
Trivia
Raised on a farm in Shickshinny, Pennsylvania. Was not allowed to ride a horse, so she rode a cow named "Jake".
Trained as an actor in NYC.
Plays guitar.
Writes songs, sings, and plays guitar in the New York City band Ex Vivian.
Her acting coach is Marjorie Ballentine.
An "Ex-Vivian" song will be used in her film, The Last International Playboy (2008).
Wrote, recorded, and performed a song for BuzzKill (2012), a film in which she stars.
Was discovered at a young age at a shopping mall, where she and her mother were shopping.
Her debut novel, Bonfire, was published in 2017. It's a psychological thriller about an environmental lawyer who returns to her hometown on a case and is drawn into a deepening mystery.
Krysten is an avid knitter and collaborated with We Are Knitters to create her own collection of knitting kits.
Mother with boyfriend Adam Granduciel, son Bruce Julian Knight Granofsky (b. July 29, 2019).
In a relationship with musician Adam Granduciel since August 2014. They have a son together.
Trademarks:
Often plays characters with questionable morality
Full lips
Long black hair
Quotes
I started studying acting, got commercials, and here we are 100 years later. I'm acting and writing and I have a pool and a dog.
I was totally picked on, but look at me now! I was definitely picked on by boys and girls. I was really lanky and skinny and the boys would say, 'Turn sideways and stick out your tongue, you look like a zipper.'
I am sarcastic and dry, but I also have a pretty huge zest for life.
I like to be stylish and edgy, but also low maintenance.
I'm currently single, so I want to have fun! As for what guys need to do to date out of their league, it's all about the swagger. If you have confidence, you can get pretty much any girl.
My parents actually wanted me to join the service.
I've watched Clueless (1995) as many times as humanly possible. Like, I would run home from school to watch it. Like, I can quote it backwards.
I'm the only person in the entire world who has never seen Dawson's Creek (1998).
I'm a weirdo. I don't leave the house unless I have to.
I was always loud and obnoxious and giggly and funny.
I'm having a great time. I get to travel and see the world. And yeah, I'll have a family, because I don't want to miss out on that amazing experience, but it's not defining who I am.
I used Vamps (2012) as a casting couch! I pretty much did, because I was casting Life Happens (2011) while I was on the set of 'Vamps,' and anybody I had ever worked with, I asked to be in this movie.
I have a new little stray dog that I've had for about a month now. His name is Mikey Mohawk - he's this little terrier with a natural Mohawk. My friend found him hit by a car on Pico Boulevard.
I don't normally do shoots in bikinis - I'm just not that kind of girl. But for 'Maxim' I was like, 'Bring it on!' I wanted to wear the higher heels and the skimpier bathing suit. I figured I'd go for it!
I've always lived out of a suitcase. I was in a new city every three months. When I was a model, I traveled the world, and as an actor you're traveling from movie set to movie set. So I've never been in one place long enough for anything super-bad to happen.
When I was 15, I was scouted at the mall by Elite Model Management. I started to go to New York on the bus in high school, which was about four hours door-to-door from my hometown, until I moved to New York and lived in models' apartments all over.
When I go home to Pennsylvania, my cousins who live in small towns and are twenty-three with kids are like 'Krysten, when are you getting married?' 'When are you having a kid?' Honestly, those aren't the most important things to me right now.
On the farm, I had chores. I had a calf. We had a herd of cattle in the pasture. We'd go and get me a calf at a cow auction with Amish people, which I would raise. I gave it a bottle every day, in this cute little coop, like a giant dog coop almost. I've always been a big animal person.
I've never been a fearful person. When I was growing up, I wanted to be an actress, a writer, and a musician and I never really processed that those are the three hardest jobs - I just never even processed it.
Anything bad that's happened to me, I try to put it in my work. And afterward, I feel lighter. It's like spring cleaning. I think that's what all artists do-it's a way to communicate their feelings, a way to use their heart and get things out.
After I've knitted for a while, I feel like I just woke up from a nap. And what's awesome is that then you have a product! You have something you made with your hands!
I think it's important to be flexible and free, and you can't be free and spontaneous if you don't know what you're doing.
Marvel and Netflix have proven they know what they're doing.
Marvel is obviously a giant, global super-brand, so being a part of that is exciting because of the huge built-in audience and the appetite for it.
I don't fight for much, but when I fight for something, it's usually because I think I'm going to be right.
When you go to Marvel, they lock you in a room with the scripts; they really are that secretive.
[Looking back at her role on "Breaking Bad"]: Talk about cult status. This show really is the gift that keeps on giving.
