Click here to subscribe today or Login.
First Posted: 4/8/2012
She once cut her roommate’s hair and sold it for wigs. She told the parents of yet another roommate that he was kidnapped, then used the ransom money to take a trip to Paris. She has been described as opinionated, deceitful and downright terrifying.
She grew up in Shickshinny.
OK, so only one of those things is actually true of Hollywood starlet Krysten Ritter. Her birthplace was indeed Shickshinny.
All the other stuff is true only of the latest character the 30-year-old actress plays on television: a (rhymes with witch) who runs through roommates faster than a Kardashian through husbands.
“Don’t Trust the B—- in Apartment 23” will debut at 9:30 p.m. Wednesday on ABC.
“It’s like the role of a lifetime,” Ritter said during a phone interview from Los Angeles. “I feel really lucky. I’ve never seen a character like this on TV, and I’m happy I get to play” her.
“Apartment 23” centers on New York party girl Chloe. Her newest roommate is June, and Chloe wastes no time in causing trouble for her.
“I think that the reason Chloe gets away with what she does is because she has what she believes are the best intentions, which is what makes the character work,” Ritter explained.
“As an actress it’s really fun to play a character that’s so well written, has such a great point of view,” she said. “You can get inside her head, and you know exactly how she’d approach every line, every scene, every situation. There’s really nothing that is going too far.”
Ritter also has a project making a limited debut on April 13, a movie titled “Life Happens.” She and close friend Kat Coiro wrote and produced the film, in which Ritter is also the main character.
“It’s about two fabulous, young, modern women hell-bent on having it all, and my character gets pregnant, which changes the dynamic and ruins their fabulous plans.”
Ritter will then step behind the camera for “Cassandra French’s Finishing School For Boys,” an MTV pilot she is producing about a young woman in search of the perfect guy who eventually decides to lock one up in her basement to train him to become the perfect gentlemen.
“I’ve been acting on the other side of the camera for so long that I’ve learned a lot, and you can bring that to the other side. It was a natural progression for me.
“Acting is what I do and what I love, but I also love producing. For me it’s all creative. … It’s all character work at the end of the day.”
Ritter, daughter of Garry Ritter of Benton and Kathi and Ron Taylor of Shickshinny, grew up on a farm in Shickshinny and graduated from Northwest High School in 2000. Her ascent to stardom began with an Elite Model Management search at the Wyoming Valley Mall when she was 15. She modeled off and on, then moved to New York City at the age of 18 to continue her career.
She has been in several television series, including “Breaking Bad,” “Gilmore Girls,” “Veronica Mars” and ” ‘Til Death” as well as the movies “She’s Out of My League,” “Confessions of a Shopaholic” and “27 Dresses.”
She believes persistence got her where she is today.
“It is hard for young people, because they may feel like they don’t have a lot of direction. I know I did.”
“If you want something and you work really hard at it, it’s going to happen. You’re going to get rejected and be told no, no matter what you do, over and over and over again. I really believe every no is one step closer to a yes.”
What: “Don’t Trust The B—- in Apartment 23”
Starring: Shickshinny native Krysten Ritter
When: 9:30 p.m. Wednesday on ABC