Jason Ritter openly admits to benefitting from nepotism early on in his acting career.
Ritter’s father John, who died in 2003 aged 54, was known for playing Jack Tripper on the popular ABC sitcom Three’s Company.
During an appearance on a recent episode of SiriusXM’s The Jess Cagle Show, the Parenthood actor admitted his first acting job as a child, voicing the Little Acorn in the 1991 cartoon The Real Story of O Christmas Tree, came as a result of his father’s connections.
“I will say, without any hesitation, this was like a full-on nepotism hire. I will admit that,” Ritter joked. “He [John] for sure got me the job. I did try to stay away from that later.”
John voiced Piney, the Little Acorn’s uncle in the cartoon.
Ritter went on to star in a number of roles across film and television, including The Tale, Frozen II and Netflix’s superhero drama Raising Dion.
The debate around nepotism in Hollywood and so-called “nepo-babies” (children of celebrities or industry professionals) has been especially prominent since Vulture released a definitive guide to the Hollywood “nepo-verse” in December last year.
Noel Gallagher, Tom Hanks and Zoë Kravitz are among the stars who have recently defended nepo babies.
In an interview with The Independent published last week, Ciarán Hinds insisted that he’d “never once behaved in a nepotistic way” with his daughter Aiofe who has followed him into acting.
Ritter is now a father himself, sharing a four-year-old daughter with his wife, Yellowjackets star Melanie Lynskey.
Ritter was recently forced to defend Lynskey on Twitter against former America’s Next Top Model winner Adrianne Curry who body-shamed her over her role in The Last of Us.
