Often known for playing acerbic, abrasive, and candid characters, Krysten Ritter has made her presence felt in television and films over the last two decades. Initially starting her career playing snarky brunette best friend types to bubbly blondes, Ritter has carved her own path thanks to her ability to convey a lot of personality with even a few lines of dialogue.

When she isn’t being a foul-mouthed socialite in Don’t Trust The B—- In Apartment 23, or a churlish survivor in Jessica Jones, she can be found playing thoughtful and insightful characters in films like Big Eyes. She most recently reprised her scene-stealing Breaking Bad role in El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie. Here are Krysten Ritter’s 10 best roles, according to IMDb.

10 SHE’S OUT OF MY LEAGUE (6.4)

A screwball comedy about mismatched love, She’s Out Of My League explores what happens when a 10 and a 5 try to make things work in a society plagued by standards of attractiveness. It focuses on the fledgling relationship between Molly (Alice Eve), a beautiful events planner, and Kirk, a TSA agent at Pittsburgh International Airport.

None of their friends believe that they can last as a couple because of the disparity in their physical appearance. Krysten Ritter plays Patty, Molly’s best friend who explains that because she’s a 10, she could do so much better than a 5 (Kirk). Ultimately, Patty has to eat her words when she realizes that for them, love is blind (though she does, however, have some of the funniest lines in the film).

9 THE HERO (6.5)

In a film where art imitates life, Sam Elliott stars as Lee Hayden, an aging actor whose greatest role was in a celebrated Western released decades prior. Having lived on the success of that film’s central protagonist for decades, he’s turned to lending his sonorous baritone to voice-over work in between meeting with his weed dealer (Nick Offerman).

Krysten Ritter plays Lee’s daughter with whom he has a fractured relationship, always endeavoring to get the attention of her emotionally elusive father. Although her character is woefully underwritten, Ritter holds her own in scenes with the veteran character actor.

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8 GRAVITY (6.6)

Gravity was a short-lived dramedy on Starz that focused on a suicide support group’s colorful members, showcasing their many differences while highlighting the singular bond that brought them together. A construction worker, a housewife, or an aging supermodel can all have their reasons for wanting to leave this life.

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Among the cohort sharing their stories of attempted suicide is Lily Champagne (Krysten Ritter), a shy woman who works at a department store selling makeup and enjoys sketching. She had planned to go out by eating a piece of poison-laced chocolate cake, but life had other plans. Through the group, she meets Robert, her second chance at life.

7 BIG EYES (7.0)

In the Tim Burton film Big Eyes, Parisian street-scene painter Walter Keane (Christoph Waltz), who later became known in the ’50s and ’60s for drawing delicate young women with large saucer eyes, vaulted to stardom on the merits of his artist wife Margaret (Amy Adams). The controversial story revealed it was his wife Margaret who created the beguiling waifs but never once got any credit.

Margaret only finds out later that her husband has been passing her artwork off as his own, but she’s too passive to protest. Krysten Ritter plays Margaret’s devoted best friend DeeAnn who stands by her side throughout her unraveling marriage and a subsequent lawsuit, which ultimately provides Margaret the freedom to take credit for her work.

6 DON’T TRUST THE B—-IN APARTMENT 23 (7.3)

In this fish out of water series, a Midwesterner’s plans for making her dreams come true in the Big Apple are ruined almost before they begin. As soon as June secures her dream job in Manhattan and a coveted apartment, the company she’s about to work for folds and lets her go.

Chloe (Krysten Ritter) saves the day, providing the penniless young woman with an apartment in exchange for being her roommate. Chloe tries to take advantage of June’s naive Midwestern ways but soon learns that her new roommate isn’t one to be trifled with. Chloe soon invites her into her inner circle (including James Van Der Beek as himself) and changes her life forever.

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5 JESSICA JONES (8.0)

Krysten Ritter’s most well-known role to date is as the lead in Jessica Jones, the Marvel superhero series that premiered on Netflix and ran for three seasons. As the titular hero, Ritter played a woman with superhuman abilities whose interest once lay in saving the world, until a villain named Kilgrave caused her to kill an innocent person.

Jones became a cynical alcoholic, throwing away her life as a superhero in favor of making ends meet as a private detective. Often called in to investigate cases dealing with superhuman individuals, Jones battles her PTSD while struggling to find a reason to wake up.

4 THE BLACKLIST (8.1)

Starring James Spader as an ex-government agent known as Raymond “Red” Reddington who became one of the world’s most wanted criminals, the popular thriller series The Blacklist is still going strong since it debuted in 2013. He agreed to help the FBI catch the contents of his “blacklist,” a list of the most notorious terrorists, spies, and gangsters provided he only work with profiler Elizabeth Keen.

As Red helped Keen continue to “see the bigger picture” and “think like a criminal,” Krysten Ritter debuted in the season 2 two-part premiere as Rowan Mills, an analyst at a data security firm with a troubled past and even more tumultuous future.

3 GILMORE GIRLS (8.1)

The wildly popular Gilmore Girls, which ran on the WB for seven seasons, focused on Lorelai Gilmore and her daughter Rory as they tended to their bed-and-breakfast the Dragonfly Inn in a colorful little town in Connecticut. The town’s inhabitants are an eccentric mix of people that provide the Gilmore girls with nonstop entertainment and cheer.

In the seventh season, Rory graduated high school and attended Yale University, where she met Lucy (Krysten Ritter). Though there is some unpleasantness between them initially surrounding Rory’s friend Marty, they remain close friends until Lucy moves to New York to pursue acting.

2 VERONICA MARS (8.3)

A series that treated its teenage cast with intelligence and sensitivity, Veronica Mars was ahead of its time in many ways, resulting in little recognition when it aired for three seasons beginning in 2004. It focused on a once-popular girl Veronica Mars who, after a series of personal problems, becomes an outcast and an amateur detective helping her father investigate crime in Neptune, California.

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The series was Krysten Ritter’s first big acting gig, and the role of Gia Goodman was a standout as the quirky and candid daughter of the town mayor. She would later reprise the role in the one-off Veronica Mars film that was released in 2014, and again in the surprise fourth season that debuted in 2019.

1 BREAKING BAD (9.5)

Despite having one of the most unlikely premises and heroes in the history of television, Breaking Bad became a cult classic when it premiered in 2006. It focused on high school chemistry teacher Walter White (Bryan Cranston) who, after finding out he has a terminal illness, decides to convert his RV into a meth lab to set up his family financially after his inevitable passing.

Though Krysten Ritter only appeared in a few episodes as Jesse Pinkman’s drug-addicted girlfriend, Jane, she made a tremendous impact on the series. Her story arc became a turning point in an already tense show, driving Walter White further into the mouth of madness.

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About The Author


Kayleena Pierce-Bohen
(1343 Articles Published)

Kayleena has been raised on Star Wars and Indiana Jones from the crib. A film buff, she has a Western collection of 250+ titles and counting that she’s particularly proud of. When she isn’t writing for ScreenRant, CBR, or The Gamer, she’s working on her fiction novel, lifting weights, going to synthwave concerts, or cosplaying. With degrees in anthropology and archaeology, she plans to continue pretending to be Lara Croft as long as she can.

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