Jason Ritter (“A Million Little Things”) turned down acting jobs so his actress wife Melanie Lynskey could join the cast of “The Last of Us.”
“He was like, ‘There’s no way you’re not going to do ‘The Last of Us.’ You have to do it,’” Lynskey said in an interview with People, calling her husband the “most supportive person in the world.”
She added: “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 prioritize the one that was going to help move the person’s career forward.”
Their first priority, Lynskey said, is the wellbeing of their 5-year-old daughter, which the pair take turns handling primarily when the other is busy with a gig. Lynskey said lately her booked and busy career has resulted in Ritter having to push back his own job offers in order to support his wife.
“It’s like genuinely sacrificing,” she explained.
Nevertheless, Ritter stands behind Lynskey and has always supported the momentum in her career. Lynskey reflected Ritter’s reaction to her nabbing a role on “The Last of Us.”
“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,” Lynskey said.
Ritter and Lynskey have been together since the two met as costars in the dramedy “The Big Ask” in 2013. After shipping up, they went on to star in two more movies together — “We’ll Never Have Paris” and “The Intervention” — and got hitched in 2020.
Lynskey stars in “The Tattooist of Auschwitz,” debuting on Peacock next week, and continues to be a lead cast member on “Yellowjackets.” Ritter was most recently seen in a small role playing a version of himself on last year’s “Gen V.”
You can read Melanie Lynskey’s full interview with People here.
