Jack Ritter

Jack Ritter began acting as a baby when he booked an Anne Geddes-style national print ad campaign for Disney. He was the Tigger sippy cup baby. At the time, he had wild strawberry blonde curls and huge blue eyes that matched well with the Tigger look. Soon thereafter, Ritter was featured in film and television roles including the boy eating ice cream on "King of Queens," shocked schoolboy on "Chocolate News," Christmas visitor on "Seventh Heaven," stuck hotel guest at Christmastime on "The Suite Life of Zack and Cody," baseball player on "Yours, Mine and Ours," the boy in the pool on the opening credits of "Sleeper Cell," and one of Santa's elves on "Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause." Ritter's elf role was featured on the coming attractions for "Santa Clause 3" and in the Disney Channel commercial for the movie. In the meantime, Jack was starring in student films at Emerson, Chapman, LMU, USC, and AFI. Two of those won film festival awards. "The Fabulous Felix McCabe" was nominated for one of five MTVU Student Filmmaker Awards. Jack played a small boy who idolizes a celebrity assassin in a dystopian society obsessed with punishment and torture for the smallest of mistakes in "Transgressions." The film won top awards at the Stony Brook Film Festival, the BAFTA/LA Student Film Awards, and the Seattle Science-Fiction Short Film Festival. Although he was a child actor, student film directors and crews gladly let Ritter participate in their behind-the-camera work, too. Ritter especially liked going into the dark tents as students loaded and unloaded film. It wasn't long before Ritter caught the filmmaking bug. He and his brother Brian Ritter, sister Lauren Ritter, and all of their friends turned their home and garage into a movie studio during every spare moment they had. Once somebody called 911 to report a dead body had been shoved into the back of their family car. It was not rare for a robot, a zombie, and a mad scientist to show up for dinner on the same night. They taught the dog to swim and turned the pool into an ocean. It was Disney again that gave Ritter his big break on television. Although the role called for a "Children of the Corn"-type child, Ritter played the role for laughs and impressed the casting director with his choice. He earned a two-day speaking role with Calista Flockhart and Sally Field on the show "Brothers and Sisters." Ritter's voiceover debut earned a top award at the Nikon European Film Festival. David Alan Grier once told Ritter that he was going to be the next Sean Penn. He had the look and the acting ability. That wasn't the first time somebody had made that comparison to Ritter. But, Ritter also has a knack for quick-witted comedy. Ritter had a live audience laughing as the boy who drank "bleach" on a late night talk show starring Spike Feresten. Currently, Ritter is majoring in film and television production at the Loyola Marymount University School of Film and Television. The prestigious film school consistently ranks one of the top film schools in the nation by "USA Today," "The Hollywood Reported," and others. As a freshman at LMU, Ritter produced a science-fiction comedy television pilot "Repossessed." He was the school's first producer of a 21-minute television pilot. Ritter also has starred in over 30 student-directed films during his time earning his undergraduate degree at LMU. He takes improv classes at The Groundlings Theater, LMU, and Upright Citizens Brigade. Ritter's directing debut film "Powerless" won the top award for technical excellence at the Nikon European Film Festival. His junior thesis film at LMU, "Dr. Verne's Body," is currently in post-production. With his formal education nearly complete, Ritter looks forward to a long career behind and in front of the camera.