Krysten Ritter

Krysten Ritter is an American actress and novelist whose career spans network comedy, psychological drama, and superhero television. Born on December 16, 1981, in Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania, she grew up near Shickshinny. Her entertainment career began with modeling as a teenager before she moved into acting. Early screen appearances included the film Mona Lisa Smile and a recurring role as Gia Goodman on Veronica Mars. She later reprised Gia in the series’ 2014 film continuation.

Ritter gained wider recognition as Jane Margolis in Breaking Bad. Appearing in the second season, Jane is Jesse Pinkman’s landlord and girlfriend, a tattoo artist whose recovery from addiction collapses after their relationship develops. Her death becomes a pivotal event in the series, linking Jesse’s grief with Walter White’s moral deterioration. Ritter returned as Jane in a flashback in El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie, released in 2019. That appearance revisits the relationship rather than undoing the character’s fate.

Her comic breakthrough came with Don’t Trust the B---- in Apartment 23, which aired on ABC from 2012 to 2013. Ritter played Chloe, an unscrupulous Manhattan party girl, opposite Dreama Walker as her more conventional roommate, June. The sitcom also featured James Van Der Beek playing a fictionalized version of himself. Ritter’s film comedy credits include 27 Dresses, Confessions of a Shopaholic, and She’s Out of My League. In Tim Burton’s Big Eyes, she played DeeAnn, a friend of painter Margaret Keane.

In 2015, Ritter began starring as Jessica Jones in the Netflix series based on the Marvel character. Her Jessica is a private investigator with superhuman strength whose life is shaped by abuse inflicted by Kilgrave, played by David Tennant. The first season centers on her confrontation with his ability to control other people’s actions. Ritter also played Jessica in the crossover miniseries The Defenders in 2017. Jessica Jones ran for three seasons, concluding in 2019. Ritter made her directing debut with the third season episode “A.K.A You’re Welcome.”

Ritter published her debut novel, Bonfire, in 2017. The thriller follows environmental lawyer Abby Williams, who returns to her Indiana hometown to investigate suspected industrial pollution and confronts unresolved events from adolescence. In 2024, Ritter starred as Lucy in AMC’s Orphan Black: Echoes, a science fiction series connected to the original Orphan Black. Set in 2052, the story explores manufactured human identities and memory. Through these projects, Ritter has worked across acting, television directing, and published fiction.