Krysten Ritter

The episode was a backdoor pilot for a proposed spin-off series, set in 1980s Los Angeles; intended to chronicle the teenage years of character Lily van der Woodsen.

Ritter described Carol, Lily's sister, as "the outcast" and "an '80s Sunset Strip rocker" to Access Hollywood.

Krysten Ritter (born December 16, 1981) is an American actress.

Ritter was born on December 16, 1981, in Pennsylvania, the daughter of Garry Ritter and Kathi Taylor.

She was raised in rural Shickshinny, Pennsylvania, where her mother, stepfather, and sister live; her father lives in nearby Benton.

She is of German, Scottish, and English descent.

She graduated from Northwest Area High School in 2000.

Ritter was scouted by a modeling agent at the age of 15 at her local shopping center, the Wyoming Valley Mall, during a modeling event.

In a Philadelphia Style magazine interview, Ritter said she was "tall, gawky, awkward, and really, really skinny."

While in high school, she traveled to New York City and Philadelphia to model, and signed with the Elite Model Management agency and Wilhelmina Models.

Ritter moved to New York and established an international modeling career, appearing in print ads and on television.

She did magazine, catalog, and runway work in Tokyo, New York City, Paris, and Milan.

An audition Wilhelmina had placed her in for a Wendy's television commercial helped Ritter transition into acting.

Her "outgoing and bubbly and funny" performance personality had entertained the casting people, she told Philadelphia Style.

She won bit parts in films starting in 2001, and played a 1950s art history student in Mona Lisa Smile in 2003.

Ritter also had roles in the UPN noir mystery series Veronica Mars (2005–2006) and its 2014 film continuation, the CW comedy drama series Gilmore Girls (2006–2007), and the HBO limited series Love & Death (2023).

In 2006, she appeared in All This Intimacy, a two-act, Off-Broadway play by Rajiv Joseph, at the Second Stage Theatre.

Ritter's early guest starring and recurring roles on television included Gia Goodman, the daughter of Mayor Woody Goodman (Steve Guttenberg) on the second season of Veronica Mars; Rory Gilmore's friend, Lucy, on Gilmore Girls for eight episodes in 2006-07; and the first iteration of Allison Stark on the Fox sitcom 'Til Death (a role eventually played by four different actresses through the show's run).

In film, Ritter appeared in the romantic comedies 27 Dresses (2007), What Happens in Vegas (2008), Confessions of a Shopaholic (2009), and She's Out of My League (2010).

After supporting roles in What Happens in Vegas and 27 Dresses (both 2008), she co-starred with Isla Fisher in Confessions of a Shopaholic.

For She's Out of My League, shot over three months in Pittsburgh in 2008, she played Patty, the cynical best friend of Alice Eve's character, Molly.

She came to prominence starring as Jane Margolis in the AMC drama series Breaking Bad (2009–2010), a role she reprised in the spinoff film El Camino (2019).

She was cast as a young Carol Rhodes in an episode of The CW's teen drama series Gossip Girl, titled "Valley Girls," broadcast May 11, 2009.

The series was not picked up by the network for the 2009–10 season, by which time Ritter appeared as Jane Margolis in the second season of Breaking Bad.

Ritter continued working in film, often cast in romantic comedies as the lead character's best friend.

Ritter also starred in How to Make Love to a Woman, based on the book by adult film star Jenna Jameson; and co-starred (with Jason Behr) in the 2009 independent film The Last International Playboy, as Ozzy, a drug addict.

Also in 2009, Ritter sold a television pilot she wrote based on her experiences as a model, titled Model Camp; and appeared in and directed the comedy web series Woke Up Dead, also featuring Jon Heder.

Ritter starred in 2010 as the sharp and quirky Lily in the Starz television series Gravity, alongside Ivan Sergei, Ving Rhames and Rachel Hunter.

The comedy-drama centers on a group of outpatient suicide survivors.

Beginning in January 2010, the film shoot lasted for six weeks in locations from Belfast to London.

She wrote, co-produced, and starred in the comedy Life Happens (2011), which was followed by roles in the horror comedy Vamps (2012), the comedy drama Listen Up Philip (2014), the biographical drama Big Eyes (2014), the comedy drama The Hero (2017), and the dark fantasy Nightbooks (2021).

(Ritter later starred in the 2011 premiere of Zach Braff's play All New People, also at Second Stage, co-starring Anna Camp, David Wilson Barnes and Justin Bartha and directed by Peter DuBois.)

She also played the manager of an Irish band in the 2011 comedy Killing Bono, a film directed by Nick Hamm and based on the book Killing Bono: I Was Bono's Doppleganger, about the early days of U2.

Ritter starred in and co-wrote (with director Kat Coiro) the 2011 independent comedy Life Happens, with Kate Bosworth and Rachel Bilson.

The film is about two best friends dealing with the pregnancy and subsequent motherhood of Ritter's character.

That same year, Ritter appeared alongside Alicia Silverstone and Sigourney Weaver in the comedy horror film Vamps, written and directed by Amy Heckerling.

She plays a Manhattan socialite turned into a vampire.

In February 2011, Ritter landed the lead role in the ABC situation comedy Don't Trust the B in Apartment 23.

She starred as Chloe, a New York City party girl and con artist who attempts to rip off her new roommates after they move in, but befriends and mentors one of the applicants.

She gained further recognition for her lead roles in the ABC sitcom Don't Trust the B in Apartment 23 (2012–2013) and as the title character in the Netflix superhero series Jessica Jones (2015–2019) and the Netflix miniseries The Defenders (2017).