Jason Ritter Biography

Jason Morgan Ritter (born February 17, 1980) is an American actor, and the son of actress Nancy Morgan and late actor John Ritter, known for his roles as Kevin Girardi in the television series Joan of Arcadia, as Sean Walker in the NBC series The Event, and as the voice of Dipper Pines in Gravity Falls. He also played the recurring role of Mark Cyr in the NBC television series Parenthood, for which he received an Emmy Award nomination.

Early life

Ritter was born on February 17, 1980 in Los Angeles, California, the son of actors Nancy Morgan and John Ritter (1948-2003), and the grandson of musician/actor, Tex Ritter and Dorothy Fay. His stepmother is actress Amy Yasbeck. He has three siblings, including actor Tyler Ritter.

Ritter first appeared in the opening credits of his father's show, Three's Company.

He attended middle and high school at the Crossroads School in Santa Monica, California, with Simon Helberg, who became his roommate at NYU. He then attended and graduated from New York University's Tisch School of the Arts, where he studied at the Atlantic Theater Company. He also studied at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London, UK.

Career

Ritter appeared in The Dreamer of Oz: The L. Frank Baum Story, co-starring as Baum's son alongside his own father. In 2002, he appeared in the movies PG and Swimfan. In 2003, Ritter had a major role in the slasher/horror film Freddy vs. Jason as Will Rollins. He appeared in Raise Your Voice and Happy Endings. He portrayed Jeb Bush in the Oliver Stone film W. In 2007, he also voiced substitute teacher, Mr. Fisk, in an episode of All Grown Up, the grown up version of Rugrats, a teacher whom Angelica falls in love with. In 2008, he released Good Dick, a movie which he produced and starred in along with his long term girlfriend at the time, Marianna Palka (with whom he began a relationship after meeting in Queens in October 1999), who also wrote and directed the film.

Among his theater credits are Wendy Wasserstein's Third at Lincoln Center, for which he won the Clarence Derwent Award and the Martin E. Segal Award for his portrayal of the title character; the Off Broadway production of The Beginning of August, and the role of Tim in the world premiere of Neil LaBute's play The Distance From Here at London's Almeida Theatre. Ritter has volunteered as an actor with the Young Storytellers Program.

Ritter has appeared in the MTV show Punk'd. Ritter also starred as Sean Walker in the season-long NBC drama series The Event, which premiered on September 20, 2010. Ritter will be seen alongside Kate French in the upcoming short film, Atlantis, a romance film centered on two strangers who fall in love during the preparation for the final launch of the NASA space shuttle Atlantis. He has a recurring role on NBC's Parenthood. His performance on the show earned him an Emmy Award nomination in 2012. It was confirmed in early March 2013 that he would play Gavin opposite Alexis Bledel's Stacey in Us & Them, FOX's sitcom pilot based on the British television show Gavin & Stacey.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1991	The Real Story Of Christmas Tree	Little Acorn	Voice; Animated short film
1999	Mumford	Martin Brockett
2001	Earth Day	Jack	Voice; Short film
2002	PG	Paul
2002	Swimfan	Randy
2003	Smash the Kitty	Josh	Short film
2003	Freddy vs. Jason	Will Rollins
2004	Raise Your Voice	Paul Fletcher
2005	Perceptions	Michael
2005	Happy Endings	Otis McKeen
2005	Our Very Own	Clancy Whitfield
2005	Placebo	Daniel	Short film
2006	Lenexa, 1 Mile	Sean Hickey
2006	The Wicker Man	Bar Guy #2
2007	The Education of Charlie Banks	Mick
2008	The Deal	Lionel Travitz
2008	Good Dick	The man
2008	W.	Jeb Bush
2009	The Perfect Age of Rock 'n' Roll	Eric Genson
2009	Peter and Vandy	Peter
2010	The Dry Land	Michael
2011	A Bag of Hammers	Ben "Benjamin" Platt
2011	The Perfect Family	Frank Cleary Jr.
2011	The Brooklyn Brothers Beat the Best	Kyle
2011	They're with Me	Isaac Solomon	Short film
2011	Atlantis	Ben	Short film
2011	The Five Stages of Grief	Orion	Short film
2012	The Break In	Larry	Short film
2012	Angel of Death	Victim 1	Short film
2012	Trying	Mark	Short film
2012	The Golden Age	Mitch	Short film
2012	Manhattan Mixup	Fritz	Short film
2012	Free Samples	Wally
2013	I Am I	Jonathan
2013	Teddy Bears	Own
2013	The Sidekick	Kid Loco	Short film
2013	The Goldfish	Yoni	Short film
2013	The East	Tim
2013	The End of Love	Jason
2014	Hits	Julian
2014	Wild Canaries	Damien
2014	There's Always Woodstock	Garret
2014	About Alex	Alex
2014	7 Minutes	Mike
2014	You're Not You	Will
2014	We'll Never Have Paris	Kurt
2015	The Steps	Jeff
2015	Embers	Guy
2015	The Meddler	Jacob
2016	The Intervention	Matt
2016	Carrie Pilby	Matt	Filming
2016	The Labyrinth	Usher	Completed

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1990	The Dreamer of Oz: The L. Frank Baum Story	Harry Neal Baum	Television film
1999	Days of Our Lives	Toddy	Supporting role (Season 34)
1999	Undressed	Allan	Main role (Season 3)
2001	Law & Order	Nick Simms	"Teenage Wasteland" (Season 11, Episode 12)
2002	Hack	Teddy Griffin	"My Brother's Keeper" (Season 1, Episode 5)
2003	Law & Order: Special Victims Unit	Billy Baker	"Dominance" (Season 4, Episode 20)
2003	Players	Tim	"Players Halloweenie Televizzie" (Season 2, Episode 16)
2003-05	Joan of Arcadia	Kevin Girardi	Main role
2006-07	The Class	Ethan Haas	Lead role
2007	Punk'd	Himself	"#8.6" (Season 8, Episode 6)
2009	WWII in HD	Jack Yusen (USN)	Main role
2009	Mercy	Gabe Tyler	"Some of Us Have Been to the Desert" (Season 1, Episode 9)
2010-11	The Event	Sean Walker	Main role
2010-2015	Parenthood	Mark Cyr	Recurring role
2012	County	Jack Malloy	Pilot
2012	The High Fructose Adventures of Annoying Orange	Mario
2012-2016	Gravity Falls	Dipper Pines	Voice; Lead role
2013	Robot Chicken	Reindeer / Sergeant	"Born Again Virgin Christmas Special" (Season 6, Episode 21)
2013	Modern Family	Mitchell's co-worker	"Larry's Wife" (Season 5, Episode 3)
2013	Call Me Crazy: A Five Film	Bruce	Television film
2013-15	Drunk History	Stetson Kennedy / Art Heist Investigator / Rufus Griswold / Robert Woodrow Wilson / Elisha Gray	"Atlanta" (Season 1, Episode 3) "Boston" (Season 1, Episode 4) "Baltimore" (Season 2, Episode 4) "New Jersey" (Season 3, Episode 1) "Inventors" (Season 3, Episode 11)
2014	Us & Them	Gavin	Lead role; Unaired
2014	Person of Interest	Simon Lee	"Prophets" (Season 4, Episode 5)
2014	Key & Peele	Customer	"Concussion Quarterback" (Season 4, Episode 5)
2014	Garfunkel and Oates	Jason	"Maturity" (Season 1, Episode 8)
2015	Girls	Scott	Recurring role
2015-present	Another Period	Lord Frederick Bellacourt	Main role
2016	Wander Over Yonder	Skipper	"The Cartoon" (Season 2, Episode 13)

Web

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2008	T Takes	The Guest in Room 23	"Lobby" (Season 1, Episode 1)
2012	Weasel Town	Haunches	Voice; Main role
2012	Sketchy	Tom	"You Got Retweeted" (Season 1, Episode 18)
2013	Ghost Ghirls	William / Brad Wojciehowicz	"Home Is Where the Haunt Is" (Season 1, Episode 1) "Comedy Of Terrors" (Season 1, Episode 7)

Awards and nominations

Year	Title	Category	Work	Result	Ref.
2012	Parenthood	Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series	Mark Cyr