May we all be lucky enough to have a partner who hypes us up like Jason Ritter does for Melanie Lynskey.
“Melanie is just so fun to work with,” Ritter, 46 — who’s shared the screen with Lynskey, 48, on multiple occasions — revealed exclusively in the latest issue of Us Weekly, on newsstands now. “She’s so brilliant. She is so funny. Every take is different. She’s the kind of actor who makes your job easier, because you just have to watch her and listen to her and react off of her, because she’s just so in the moment and [will] make anything better.”
He continued: “She’s been doing it for so many years, and it’s so exciting to see her in her career with Yellowjackets and all these other amazing projects that she’s been involved in to introduce her to a whole new generation of people. It’s exciting because a lot of us have been fans of hers for many years.”
The couple met while costarring in the 2013 dramedy The Big Ask, sharing the screen twice more in 2014’s We’ll Never Have Paris and 2016’s The Intervention before welcoming a daughter in 2018 and saying “I do” in 2020.
“Any chance I get to work with Melanie, I will do it because, obviously, I love her very much, but she’s also just such a fun scene partner,” the Matlock actor added. “It’s just a dream.”
Ritter also made a cameo on Lynskey’s show The Last of Us in 2023. The actress joked to Jimmy Fallon at the time that the moment was “so romantic,” telling The Tonight Show host, “He was a stunt person. He trained with the stunt people, and he just did all these amazing stunts. It’s like his lifelong dream … I shot him once.”
Meanwhile, Lynskey made an appearance in season 2 of her husband’s show Matlock, reprising her character for the penultimate episode last month.
Jason Ritter and Melanie Lynskey at the 2025 Vanity Fair Oscar Party Amy Sussman/Getty Images
While the life of a beloved Hollywood couple may seem like all red carpet dates and glamour, the pair recently celebrated their sixth wedding anniversary with a simple parents’ night out at their favorite restaurant.
“Everything becomes so much about getting your kid to school and the afterschool events and playdates and all these things,” he said. “It’s so nice to be like, ‘Oh, hey — how are you doing?’”
Ritter gave fans an inside look into one of the couple’s date nights in December 2025, sharing a photo of Lynskey at dinner via Instagram with a heartwarming caption.
“We got to have a little impromptu date night last night which was really nice, and made me feel so lucky to have the privilege of sitting across from (or next to) this absolutely incredible person, who is as kind as she is brilliant, as intuitive, empathetic and insightful as you would ever dream a person could be, and the most wonderful mother to our daughter,” he wrote. “I cannot imagine a better role model to her than she is. I learn from her every day, and just by being herself she helps me shine a light on all the dark corners of my psyche so I can do some spring cleaning, and endeavor to be the kind of person who could ever imagine deserving a love like hers.”
CBS’ Matlock season 2 is out now.
