Tyson Jay Ritter (born April 24, 1984) is an American musician and actor. He is the lead vocalist, bassist, pianist, and songwriter of the
rock band
The All-American Rejects. As an actor, Ritter appeared as himself on the seventeenth episode of season three in the
Fox drama series ''
House
A house is a single-unit residential building. It may range in complexity from a rudimentary hut to a complex structure of wood, masonry, concrete or other material, outfitted with plumbing, electrical, and heating, ventilation, and air c ...
'' which aired in April 2007, he appeared as Dane on
Amazon Video
Amazon Prime Video, known simply as Prime Video, is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming television service owned by Amazon. The service primarily distributes films and television series produced or co-produced by ...
's ''
Betas'', recurred as rock musician Oliver Rome in the
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...
drama series ''
Parenthood'', and has had supporting roles in films, including ''
The House Bunny'' (2008) and ''
Miss You Already'' (2015). In 2018, Ritter played recurring characters on two television series on
AMC
AMC may refer to:
Film and television
* AMC Theatres, an American movie theater chain
* AMC Networks, an American entertainment company
** AMC (TV channel)
** AMC+, streaming service
** AMC Networks International, an entertainment company
*** ...
, ''
Preacher
A preacher is a person who delivers sermons or homilies on religious topics to an assembly of people. Less common are preachers who Open-air preaching, preach on the street, or those whose message is not necessarily religious, but who preach com ...
'' and ''
Lodge 49''. Ritter joined the main cast of ''Preacher'' for its final season in 2019.
Early life
Ritter was born on April 24, 1984, in
Stillwater, Oklahoma
Stillwater is the tenth-largest city in the U.S. state of Oklahoma, and the county seat of Payne County, Oklahoma, Payne County. It is located in north-central Oklahoma at the intersection of U.S. Route 177#Oklahoma, U.S. Route 177 and Oklahoma S ...
, to Tim and Tracy Ritter (
née
The birth name is the name of the person given upon their birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name or to the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a births registe ...
Lyons), his mother is an employee at
Stillwater Public Schools. He graduated from
Stillwater High School.
Career

Ritter met his bandmates while he was at a party in high school. After Jesse Tabish quit the band, and with the additions of Mike Kennerty and Chris Gaylor,
The All-American Rejects were picked up by
Doghouse Records
Doghouse Records is an American record label currently based in New York City.Alan O'Connor, ''Punk Record Labels and the Struggle for Autonomy''. Lexington Books, 2008, p. 41Google Books/ref> The company was founded by Dirk Hemsath in late 1987 ...
, and later
DreamWorks Records
DreamWorks Records (often referred in copyright notices as SKG Music, LLC) was an American record label founded in 1996 by David Geffen, Mo Ostin, his son Michael Ostin and Lenny Waronker as a subsidiary of DreamWorks Pictures. The label opera ...
, and subsequently signed with the major label
Interscope Records
Interscope Records is an American record label based in Santa Monica, California, owned by Universal Music Group through its Interscope Geffen A&M imprint. Founded in late 1990 by Jimmy Iovine and Ted Field as a $20 million joint venture ...
. In early 2018, the band left Interscope. As of July 2019, they are signed to
Epitaph Records
Epitaph Records is an American independent record label owned by Bad Religion guitarist Brett Gurewitz. A large portion of the record label, known as Hellcat Records, is owned by Tim Armstrong, frontman of the punk rock band Rancid. Several ...
. The All-American Rejects have released four albums, and have sold over 10 million albums worldwide and 4 million singles.
Ritter has appeared in television series and films such as ''
House
A house is a single-unit residential building. It may range in complexity from a rudimentary hut to a complex structure of wood, masonry, concrete or other material, outfitted with plumbing, electrical, and heating, ventilation, and air c ...
'' (2007), ''
The House Bunny'' (2008), ''
Betas'' (2013–14), and ''
Parenthood'' (2013–15).
On November 5, 2013, Ritter released the song "
Air
An atmosphere () is a layer of gases that envelop an astronomical object, held in place by the gravity of the object. A planet retains an atmosphere when the gravity is great and the temperature of the atmosphere is low. A stellar atmosph ...
" as a solo song to help "ride between the Rejects' next record", which was featured on ''Parenthood''.
Shortly after the release of "Air", Ritter wrote the song "Collide", which was also featured on ''Parenthood''. The song has not been released.
Ritter's next projects included a role in the
John Cusack
John Paul Cusack ( ; born June 28, 1966)(28 June 1996)Today's birthdays ''Santa Cruz Sentinel'', ("Actors John Cusack is 30") is an American actor. With a career spanning over four decades, he has appeared in over 80 films. He began acting in f ...
film ''
Love and Mercy'' (2014). He had also been cast in the lead role of singer
Gregg Allman
Gregory LeNoir Allman (December 8, 1947 – May 27, 2017) was an American musician, singer and songwriter. He was known for performing in the Allman Brothers Band. Allman grew up with an interest in rhythm and blues music, and the Allman B ...
in the biopic ''
Midnight Rider
"Midnight Rider" is a song by the American rock band the Allman Brothers Band. It was the second Single (music), single from their second studio album, ''Idlewild South'' (1970), released on Capricorn Records. The song was primarily written by v ...
'', directed by
Randall Miller
Randall Miller (born July 24, 1962) is an American film director, producer, screenwriter, editor, and occasional actor.
At the American Film Institute (AFI), Miller received acclaim for his 1990 short film ''Marilyn Hotchkiss Ballroom Dancing & ...
, but the film was halted in production, and ultimately cancelled, due to the death of camera assistant Sarah Jones. The following year, Ritter had a supporting role in the comedy-drama film ''
Miss You Already''.
On August 6, 2021, Ritter released was featured on the
Lil Huddy single "Don't Freak Out", additionally featuring
Iann Dior and
Travis Barker
Travis Landon Barker (born November 14, 1975) is an American musician, songwriter, and music producer who is the drummer for the rock band Blink-182. He has collaborated with hip hop artists, is a member of the rap rock group Transplants ...
, co-written by All American Rejects bandmate Nick Wheeler.
Ritter starred in the 2022 family drama film ''
Prisoner's Daughter''.
In October 2022, Ritter formed the band Now More Than Ever with guitarist
Izzy Fontaine and keyboardist
Scott Chesak. Their debut album, ''Creatrix'', was released in March 2023.
Personal life
Ritter and actress
Elena Satine were engaged in April 2013 and married on
New Year's Eve
In the Gregorian calendar, New Year's Eve refers to the evening, or commonly the entire day, of the last day of the year, 31 December, also known as Old Year's Day. In many countries, New Year's Eve is celebrated with dancing, eating, drinkin ...
that year. Satine gave birth to their son in 2021. Ritter lived in
New Zealand
New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...
during the
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...
. Ritter announced that he and his family were moving to Tulsa, Oklahoma, in 2023.
Ritter joined
OnlyFans as a content creator in June 2025. He told ''
GQ'' that "
ey can expect full-frontal rock and roll with all access", and assured he had the support of his bandmates in joining the platform.
Equipment
Ritter likes to use Fender bass guitars. He had previously used Epiphone Flying V or Epiphone Explorer basses during the era of
''The All-American Rejects'', until he started to favor a
Fender Precision Bass
The Fender Precision Bass (or "P-Bass") is a model of bass guitar, electric bass guitar manufactured by Fender Musical Instruments Corporation. In its standard, post-1957 configuration, the Precision Bass is a solid body, four-stringed instrument ...
and started using them more often in his songs. Ritter was also seen using a
Gibson Thunderbird bass on their early tours for ''
Move Along
''Move Along'' is the second studio album by the American rock band the All-American Rejects, released on July 12, 2005, by Interscope Records. It spawned three top 15 singles, which helped the album ship 3 million units to be certified triple ...
'' and also with a rare
Jackson Guitars
Jackson is a brand of guitars sold by the Fender Musical Instruments Corporation. Jackson was originally an independent manufacturer of electric guitars and electric bass guitars named after its founder, the American luthier Grover Jackson. Th ...
V Bass. He then later used
Fender Jaguar Bass guitars for later tours before switching back to Fender Precision Basses.
Filmography
Film
Television
References
External links
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ritter, Tyson
Living people
1984 births
American male singer-songwriters
Male models from Oklahoma
American rock singers
American rock bass guitarists
American tenors
American male bass guitarists
People from Stillwater, Oklahoma
Singer-songwriters from Oklahoma
Male actors from Oklahoma
Guitarists from Oklahoma
Interscope Records artists
DGC Records artists
Epitaph Records artists
American expatriates in New Zealand
21st-century American singer-songwriters
21st-century American bass guitarists
21st-century American male singers