Krysten Ritter

b. 1981 · American actress and former model

Biography

Krysten Ritter (born in Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania, in 1981) is an American actress who became known through television drama and the Marvel Cinematic Universe, after a start as a fashion model. She is also a singer and guitarist, a novelist, and an advocate for animal welfare.

Raised on a livestock farm near Shickshinny, Pennsylvania, she was spotted by a modeling agent at fifteen at a shopping mall in her hometown. After moving to New York at eighteen, she worked in print advertising, catalogs and runway shows in cities including Milan, Paris and Tokyo. Her move into acting began with an audition for a television commercial, and in the early 2000s she won small film roles. Her first notable part was as an art history student in Mona Lisa Smile (2003), opposite Julia Roberts.

On television she had guest and recurring parts in Veronica Mars, Gilmore Girls and Til Death, before her role as Jane Margolis in Breaking Bad brought wider recognition. On film she often played the lead character's best friend in romantic comedies such as 27 Dresses and What Happens in Vegas, both from 2008, and Confessions of a Shopaholic (2009). In 2011 she starred in Killing Bono and wrote and starred in Life Happens, which she co-wrote with director Kat Coiro.

Her breakthrough as a lead came with the Netflix series Jessica Jones (2015), in which she played a former superhero turned private investigator. She reprised the role in The Defenders (2017) and across later seasons of the show, and she directed an episode in its third season. She has returned to the character in Daredevil: Born Again (2026). Her recent work includes El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie (2019) and Sonic the Hedgehog 3 (2024). Alongside acting, she published the psychological thriller Bonfire (2017), her debut novel.

Key films

Mona Lisa Smile (2003): an art history student in the 1950s, opposite Julia Roberts.
27 Dresses (2008): the lead's best friend in a wedding romantic comedy.
Confessions of a Shopaholic (2009): Suze, best friend of the character played by Isla Fisher.
Killing Bono (2011): manager of an Irish band, in a comedy about the early days of U2.
El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie (2019): returning as Jane Margolis.
Sonic the Hedgehog 3 (2024): part of the cast of the third installment of the franchise.