Melanie Lynskey apparently never has to nag Jason Ritter to take out the garbage.
Lynskey had recent starring roles in Candy, The Last of Us and Yellowjackets. She credits Ritter with taking care of her and their 5-year-old daughter while she focuses on work.
“He’s the most supportive person in the world,” Lynskey tells People in this week’s issue. “The last few years we’ve had this role of like, whoever’s job makes the most sense, whether it’s the most exciting career wise or it’s more money, we would prioritize the one that was going to help move the person’s career forward.”
That comes at the expense of Ritter’s career, as he’s been “getting offered stuff all the time” and has been passing on those offers to support Lynskey.
“It’s like genuinely sacrificing,” she says.
Ritter is apparently happy to do so, cheerleading on social media about Lynskey. She does the same, saluting him on Instagram for “being the best dad our sweet daughter could possibly have” and giving him a mention when she won a Critics Choice Award in 2022.
Ritter’s support was a key when Lynskey received the offer to appear in The Last of Us after filming Candy and Yellowjackets back to back.
“He was like, ‘There’s no way you’re not going to do The Last of Us. You have to do it,’” Lynskey says. “So it was months and months and months that he was just being a dad and hanging out with me, and I’m so, so, so grateful to him. I think a lot of men don’t have that kind of self-esteem and that respect for their partner. I’m grateful that I have someone who does.”
The Last of Us earned three Golden Globe nominations and 24 Emmy nods, including one for Lynskey for outstanding guest actress.
Lynskey also she stars in The Tattooist of Auschwitz as author Heather Morris, who interviews Holocaust survivor Lali Sokolov (Harvey Keitel) about his experience serving as one of the tätowierer (tattooists) in charge of applying ink identification numbers onto fellow prisoners’ arms at Auschwitz-Birkenau.
“To make a living as an actor was all I ever dreamed of,” she says. “So once it got to a point where I was like, OK, I’m steadily paying the bills through this job, I felt like my dreams had come true.”