tyler david ritter (born january 31, 1985) is an american actor best known as the star of "the mccarthys". ritter is the son of the late john ritter. he is also the brother of jason ritter. he grew up in los angeles. ritter acted in high school plays and student movies, but did not immediately pursue acting professionally. after graduating from the university of pennsylvania in 2007, he worked for three years as a teacher in argentina. there he married director lelia parma. he returned to los angeles and began a career as an actor at age 25. ritter has had guest roles on "hot in cleveland", "modern family", "grey's anatomy" and "ncis". he landed the starring role on the 2014 sitcom "the mccarthys", playing ronny mccarthy, the openly gay son in a family of six.