Tyler Ritter

Descended from comedy royalty, actor Tyler Ritter did not always plan to follow in the footsteps of his famous father, John Ritter. Growing up in California, Ritter enjoyed bonding with his dad through their shared love of sports, especially baseball. He was prepared to explore his full range of options when he enrolled at the University of Pennsylvania at the age of 18, but he received a terrible shock when just a week after arriving there, his father died suddenly of an aortic dissection at the young age of 54. The death was a terrible loss, but the young Ritter continued his studies, eventually graduating in 2007.

Though he'd tried his hand acting in a few plays and student films, as well as in the independent drama "Good Dick" (2008), Ritter wasn't sure about his career path yet, and he spent the next few years teaching English in Argentina. It was there that he met his wife, director Lelia Parm, before finally deciding on his own terms to pursue acting. He and Parm returned to the United States, and Ritter made a few appearances on TV series like "Grey's Anatomy" (ABC 2005- ) and "Modern Family" (ABC 2009- ) before landing the starring role on his own sitcom, "The McCarthys" (CBS 2014-15), about a fractious Boston working-class family.