Melanie Lynskey says husband Jason Ritter is ‘sacrificing’ his acting career so hers can thrive
Melanie Lynskey has said that her husband, fellow actor Jason Ritter, is “genuinely sacrificing” his acting career so that hers can flourish.
“He’s the most supportive person in the world,” Lynskey told People in a new interview. “The last few years we’ve had this role of like, whoever’s job makes the most sense, whether it’s the most exciting career-wise or it’s more money, we would prioritise the one that was going to help move the person’s career forward.”
Lynskey, 46, said that while Ritter, 44, whom she’s been married to since 2020, is “getting offered stuff all the time”, he’s turned down several roles because hers were bigger.
“It’s like genuinely sacrificing,” she said. In fact, she revealed that it was Ritter who pushed her to take the guest starring role in HBO’s The Last of Us, the streamer’s highly acclaimed video game adaptation.
“He was like, ‘There’s no way you’re not going to do The Last of Us. You have to do it,’” Lynskey said. “So it was months and months and months that he was just being a dad and hanging out with me, and I’m so, so, so grateful to him. I think a lot of men don’t have that kind of self-esteem and that respect for their partner. I’m grateful that I have someone who does.”
The pair welcomed their five-year-old daughter in December 2018.
Lynskey was previously married to actor Jimmi Simpson from 2007 to 2014.
Ritter has appeared alongside Lynskey in two of her projects: The Last of Us, where he played an uncredited zombie-like “clicker”, and Candy, Hulu’s Jessica Biel-led minidrama about real-life killer Candy Montgomery, in which he portrayed a police officer.
He was expected to join Lynskey for season two of Showtime’s survival thriller Yellowjackets. His cameo, however, did not make the final cut. ET confirmed last May that Ritter will eventually appear in the show, which has been renewed for a third season.
“It was not my idea. It was not his idea,” Lynskey previously told ET of his cameo. “[Co-creator and showrunner] Ashley [Lyle], in fact, came to him and said, would you want to do this particular thing, and he was really excited.”
“Jason is the greatest human being,” Lynskey gushed. “I love our daughter. I love the show. Like, everything’s coming together in a way that feels very – I feel so fortunate.”
She next stars in the The Tattooist of Auschwitz, based on Heather Morris’s 2017 novel of the same name.
The six-episode series premieres on 2 May on Sky Atlantic in the UK and on Peacock in the US.
