Merrin Dungey’s Husband Kevin Ryder: Marriage, Family, and Her Acting Career

Merrin Dungey’s husband is Kevin Ryder, a longtime radio personality best known for his work on the Los Angeles morning show Kevin and Bean. Merrin keeps her personal life relatively private, so the details people search for most tend to be the basics: who she’s married to, what’s known about her family, and how her relationships fit alongside a busy acting career.

Who Is Merrin Dungey?

Merrin Dungey is an American actress known for playing sharp, memorable roles across major network and streaming series. Many viewers recognize her as Francie Calfo on Alias, but her résumé is much broader than one iconic part. She’s appeared in a wide range of popular shows, including The King of Queens, Malcolm in the Middle, Once Upon a Time, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, and Big Little Lies, often as the kind of character that instantly raises the energy of a scene.

What stands out about her career is consistency. She’s the type of performer who can shift between comedy and drama, blend naturally into an ensemble, and deliver a clean, confident performance without needing the spotlight all the time. That steady presence is why she keeps showing up in high-profile casts over multiple decades.

Who Is Merrin Dungey’s Husband?

Merrin Dungey is married to Kevin Ryder. Ryder is a well-known radio host and producer with a long history in Los Angeles radio, especially through Kevin and Bean. While Merrin is more recognizable to TV audiences, Kevin has his own established following in broadcast entertainment.

They became engaged in 2023, and Merrin later shared that they got married on December 31, 2023. Because she doesn’t constantly publicize her personal life, the engagement and wedding news stood out as rare, straightforward updates—quick confirmations rather than a long “celebrity relationship rollout.”

Merrin Dungey’s Previous Marriage

Before marrying Kevin Ryder, Merrin Dungey was married to Matthew Drake. Their relationship is frequently mentioned in biographical summaries because it lasted for many years and because they share children together. Merrin and Drake married in 2007, later separated in 2018, and finalized their divorce in 2021.

Matthew Drake is not a public celebrity figure in the same way Merrin is, so most available information about him stays limited to the relationship timeline rather than a detailed public biography. That’s common when one spouse is a public performer and the other is not seeking attention.

Does Merrin Dungey Have Children?

Yes. Merrin Dungey has two daughters from her previous marriage to Matthew Drake. Biographical reporting typically references their birth years (rather than names), reflecting how Merrin has generally chosen to keep her children out of the public spotlight.

That kind of privacy choice is especially common among working actors. When your career already places your face in front of millions of viewers, keeping your kids’ lives offline can be a way to protect them from unwanted attention and keep their day-to-day experience as normal as possible.

Who Is Kevin Ryder?

Kevin Ryder is best known for his long-running presence in radio, particularly as part of the influential Los Angeles show Kevin and Bean. In that world, he’s not “famous” in a red-carpet way, but he is a recognizable voice and personality to listeners who grew up with the show as part of their routine.

This difference in public visibility also helps explain why their relationship can stay quieter than many celebrity marriages. Their audiences don’t perfectly overlap, and Kevin’s career doesn’t depend on being photographed or turning his personal life into content. That tends to reduce the constant rumor cycle you see when two on-camera celebrities are paired together.