Jason Ritter Jokes His First Hollywood Job Was a “Full-on Nepotism Hire” Thanks to His Dad John Ritter

Jason Ritter is getting candid about being a nepotism baby.

While appearing on Thursday’s episode of SiriusXM’s The Jess Cagle Show, the Parenthood actor credits his first acting job as a child, voicing the Little Acorn in the cartoon The Real Story of O Christmas Tree, to his father, the late John Ritter.

“I will say, without any hesitation, this was like a full-on nepotism hire. I will admit that,” he joked. “He [John] for sure got me the job. I did try to stay away from that later.”

The 8 Simple Rules star, who died of an aortic dissection in 2003 at the age of 54, voiced Piney, the Little Acorn’s uncle in the cartoon.

Jason said that when he grew up, he later found a recording of the video and gave it a watch again. “I went, ‘Oh, they must have sped up my voice to make it that high,’” The Tale actor recalled, laughing. “Both my mom and dad were like, ‘No, it [his voice] was pretty high.’”

The You’re Not You actor, who went on to have a successful career in the industry, explained that seeing his dad on set was “always a special experience,” remembering his first visit to one of John’s sets at around 8 years old.

He continued, “I remember the first time I went, I don’t even know what he was shooting, but it was a night shoot … So like the idea of staying up all night was so exciting and so crazy to me.”