Jason Ritter on His and Wife Melanie Lynskey's Child Becoming an Actor: 'Already Showing Signs'

Jason Ritter has thoughts about his and wife Melanie Lynskey's child going into the acting business.

The Emmy Award nominee, 43, revealed whether he could see his daughter following in her parents' footsteps on SiriusXM's The Jess Cagle Show Thursday.

"She is watching her parents"— Lynskey, 45, is also an actor — "and she's already showing signs," Ritter said of his child, 4, who was born in December 2018.

However, he added, "I think you want to help your child be as fully who they are as they want to be. And you know, as we all know, the more you try to like control someone's life, the more they rebel."

As the son of actors Nancy Morgan and the late John Ritter, the Parenthood alum shared that his parents were supportive of his dreams to act after watching The Wonder Years, and made sure he took lessons to perfect his skills.

Ritter also opened up about his first acting gig and said his father is the reason he landed the role.

"Oh, as a little kid, when I was maybe 6 or something like that, my dad was doing this cartoon called The Real Story of O Christmas Tree," he explained. "I will say, without any hesitation, this was like a full-on nepotism hire. I will admit that. He for sure got me the job. I did try to stay away from that later."

Sharing a funny memory of the animated special, Ritter said, "I got to play Little Acorn in The Real Story of O Christmas Tree, and he played my Uncle Piney. It was funny because, as I grew up and I found that recording again, I went, 'Oh, they must have sped up my voice to make it that high.' Both my mom and dad were like, 'No, no...Jason, that was your voice.' "

When he wasn't getting in front of the camera himself, Ritter was proudly traveling with his father — who died from an aortic dissection in 2003 — to sets.

"It was always a special experience," he said. "I remember the first time I went, I don't even know what he was shooting, but it was a night shoot. And so like the idea of staying up all night was so exciting and so crazy to me."

"It was all very exciting. So yeah, I mean, you know, it was fun to go visit and see where he worked, and it was always different," added Jason. "I always really loved it. It was fun to see my dad dressed in all kinds of bizarre costumes."