Giovanni Ribisi
About
Biography
Filmography
Family & Companions
Notes
"I don't want to bite the hand that feeds me, but I don't even have an antenna for my TV set." --Ribisi quoted in New York, February 24, 1997.
"For me, acting is all about the aesthetic. I just want to keep honing my craft. Not that I'm taking myself too seriously, but every artist should consider himself Picasso. Otherwise, you're doing yourself an injustice" --Giovanni Ribisi in Biography Magazine, September 1998.
Biography
Known for his quirky characterizations, actor Giovanni Ribisi amassed an impressive list of credits early in his career. After building a solid reputation with guest spots on various popular series, Ribisi first made an impact with his portrayal of the bizarre yet lovable Frank, Jr. in several episodes of the hit sitcom "Friends" (NBC, 1994-2004). Supporting work in director Tom Hanks' dramedy "That Thing You Do!" (1996) and the lead role in Richard Linklater's indie offering, "SubUrbia" (1996) quickly made him a young talent to watch. Ribisi stuck with the winning formula when he appeared alongside Hanks in Steven Spielberg's harrowing "Saving Private Ryan" (1999) then garnered acclaim as the star of the stock market drama, "Boiler Room" (2000). He frequently delivered unnerving performances as disturbed or outright unlikable characters in high-profile projects like "The Gift" (2000) and "Cold Mountain" (2003). And despite appearing in his fair share of big budget flops like "Flight of the Phoenix" (2004) and "Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow" (2004), Ribisi could always be depended upon to bring something just left-of-center to each character he played. By the turn of the decade, he had become one of the more sought after character actors, appearing in mainstream features like "Avatar" (2009), "The Rum Diary" (2011) and "Contraband" (2012). The talented Ribisi never failed to surprise audiences with characters that combined a mix of the better and baser elements of human nature, though not always in equal measure.
Ribisi was born one of a pair of show business twins into a show business family in Los Angeles on Dec. 12, 1974. His father was a musician and his mother's career as a talent manager helped facilitate the launch of Ribisi's career and that of his twin sister Marissa, who also became an actress. Billed as Vonni, Ribisi landed in a two-part episode of "Highway to Heaven" (NBC, 1984-89) playing a boy stricken with cancer. From 1987 to 1990, he had a recurring role on "My Two Dads" (NBC, 1987-1990) playing the boyfriend of Staci Keanan's paternally confused Nicole Bradford. Ribisi was featured in a recurring role on "The Wonder Years" (ABC, 1988-1993), and with guest roles on "Chicago Hope" (CBS, 1994-2000) and "The X-Files" (Fox, 1993-2002), he transitioned from boy-next-door to more demanding characters. On "Chicago Hope," the actor gave a powerful and disturbing performance as a skinhead in need of a heart transplant, whose only hope lies with a non-white organ donor. On "The X-Files," he showcased his strength at making bizarre characters sympathetic by playing a weird teenager who receives electric powers after being struck by lightning. In 1996, he snared his first career-boosting role on "Friends" (NBC, 1994-2004) as Phoebe's obtuse yet oddly endearing brother, Frank Junior, whose ecstatic hospital room proclamation - "My sister's having my baby!" - provided the show with not only one of its biggest audience laughs, but noticeably cracked up the veteran cast as well.
The 22-year-old actor's career turned a corner with his film debut as the injured and ousted drummer of fictional pop group The Wonders in Tom Hanks' comedy "That Thing You Do!" (1996). By the following year, he was taking the lead as sensitive and disenchanted youth Jeff in Richard Linklater's film adaptation of Eric Bogosian's play, "subUrbia" (1997). Small roles in "Lost Highway" and "The Postman" that same year further boosted his promising film career. In 1998, Ribisi starred opposite Natasha Gregson Wagner in the dark teen romance "First Love, Last Rites" and appeared alongside Tom Hanks in the blockbuster "Saving Private Ryan," where he offered a critically acclaimed turn as the medic who functions as the conscience of a group sent behind enemy lines to save the last surviving member (Matt Damon) of four Ryan brothers serving in the European theater. Ribisi seemed on the verge of a breakout into leading man stardom, earning the title of ShoWest's Newcomer of the Year and landing on the cover of the Hollywood edition of Vanity Fair. However, his next releases, "The Other Sister" (1999) and the big screen version of the 1960s TV series "The Mod Squad" (1999) failed to attract the attention of moviegoers or the acclaim of critics.
Ribisi recovered somewhat with a lauded leading role in the 2000 drama "Boiler Room," as a young ne'er-do-well who hits the big time as a broker for a fraudulent financial firm. He capably handled his character's ethical struggles and also served as the film's narrator, perfectly setting the mood with the quiet, matter-of-fact delivery he had employed to similar effect as the voice of the author in 1999's "The Virgin Suicides." In 2000, Ribisi took more high-profile supporting turns, playing Nicolas Cage's brother in the forgettable actioner "Gone in 60 Seconds" and a young man seeking advice from a psychic (Cate Blanchett) in the more impressive thriller "The Gift," for which he earned a Best Supporting Actor nomination from the Independent Spirit Awards. He returned to the small screen, where he was nominated for an American Film Institute TV Award for his compelling turn as famed serial killer Gary Gilmore's journalist brother in the HBO original film, "Shot in the Heart" (2001). Reuniting with Blanchett in German director Tom Tykwer's "Heaven" (2002), Ribisi gave a riveting performance (in Italian, no less) as a young cop who falls in love with a terrorism suspect (Blanchett) held at his station. The beautiful film only reached limited theaters, however.
Ribisi's next string of films were much more widely seen, beginning with the thriller "Basic" (2003), starring John Travolta and Samuel L. Jackson. In Sofia Coppola's meditative "Lost In Translation" (2003), Ribisi had a small but entertaining role as a workaholic photographer and absentee husband to a bored but pampered woman (Scarlett Johansson) looking for excitement - a role rumored to be inspired by Coppola's then-real-life husband, director Spike Jonez. Ribisi had an amusing turn in the blockbuster drama "Cold Mountain" (2003) starring Nicole Kidman, as a backwoods hick whose generosity with food, moonshine and the women of his hillbilly clan turns out to be less benevolent than it first appears. He headlined the ensemble cast of the lackluster indie celeb satire "I Love Your Work" (2003), and returned to the multiplex as co-star to Dennis Quaid in "Flight of the Phoenix" (2004). His performance as a skittish oddball who hatches a wacky plan to save a group of plane crash survivors stranded in the Mongolian desert amused some but irritated others; ultimately the movie crashed at the box office. After playing a determined insurance investigator who rejects the get-rich-quick scheme of a destitute Alaskan travel agent (Robin Williams) in "The Big White" (2005), Ribisi earned an Emmy nomination in 2007 for a three-episode stint on "My Name is Earl" (NBC, 2005-09) as Earl's (Jason Lee) ex-con buddy who unsuccessfully tries to follow in Earl's footsteps by going legit.
Continuing to build a resume of odd and troubled characters, Ribisi played a mischievous and amusingly morbid supermarket clerk who helps a grieving mother (Toni Collette) find her daughter's killer in "The Dead Girl" (2006), then played a hard-edged mobster in the little-seen crime thriller "10th and Wolf" (2006). Ribisi next played a resourceful computer hacker in "Perfect Stranger" (2007), a dull thriller about an investigative reporter (Halle Berry) who poses as a temp at an advertising agency in order to unravel the murder of a friend connected to a powerful ad executive (Bruce Willis). Sticking close to below-the-radar indies for a spell, Ribisi made a charming showing in the festival-screened "The Dog Problem" (2007), written and directed by Scott Caan, and offered a supporting turn in the slacker comedy "The Gardener of Eden" (2008). Ribisi made an about-face turn to big budget extravaganzas with a supporting role in James Cameron's futuristic adventure "Avatar" (2009) and Michael Mann's period crime drama "Public Enemies" (2009), which found him portraying Alvin Karpis, one of the more formidable career criminals of the 1930s.
In a return to his offbeat indie roots, Ribisi next appeared opposite Luke Wilson and Gabriel Macht as a late-1990s Internet entrepreneur who runs afoul of the Russian mob while making millions on website porn in the comedy-drama, "Middle Men" (2010). The following year, he teamed with star Johnny Depp to play a drunken, deadbeat reporter stationed in Puerto Rico for the big screen adaptation of Hunter S. Thompson's early novel, "The Rum Diary" (2011). He then channeled his inner villain to play a ruthless mobster in the Mark Wahlberg action-drama, "Contraband" (2012), prior to reteaming with his co-star for Seth MacFarland's comedic fantasy, "Ted" (2012), about a man (Wahlberg) whose best friend is a living, breathing, foul-mouthed teddy bear (voiced by MacFarlane). Following a supporting role in the ill-fated film noir thriller "Gangster Squad" (2013), Ribisi reteamed with MacFarlane, who was executive producer of the sitcom "Dads" (Fox 2013-14). A vehicle for Ribisi and Seth Green as business partners whose politically incorrect fathers (Martin Mull and Peter Riegert) move in with them, the show was a lightning rod for controversy before the series even aired, due to jokes that preview audiences found racist and sexist. Poorly reviewed and garnering mediocre ratings, the series was canceled after one season. Nevertheless, Ribisi stuck with MacFarlane, playing a key supporting role in the writer-director's second feature, "A Million Ways To Die in the West" (2014). Ribisi returned to the big screen in Ava DuVernay's Martin Luther King Jr. biopic "Selma" (2014), playing President Lyndon B. Johnson's advisor Lee C. White. The following year, Ribisi co-starred in Andrew Bujalski's indie comedy "Results" (2015) and in the Olivia Wilde drama "Meadowland" (2015), along with reprising his role as Donny in "Ted 2" (2015).
Filmography
Cast (Feature Film)
Producer (Feature Film)
Cast (Special)
Cast (TV Mini-Series)
Life Events
1987
Landed first recurring role on TV, "My Two Dads" (NBC)
1988
Made TV-movie debut, "Promised a Miracle" (CBS)
1992
Had recurring role on the "The Wonder Years" (ABC)
1993
Starred on the short-lived CBS sitcom "Family Album"
1995
Had a memorable guest spot on "Chicago Hope" (CBS) as a skinhead in need of a heart transplant faced with an organ donation from another race
1995
Played the recurring role of Frank Junior, the goofy half-brother of Lisa Kudrow's Phoebe on the hit NBC sitcom "Friends"
1996
Played the band's drummer who is replaced after an accident in "That Thing You Do!"; directed by Tom Hanks
1997
Played a supporting role in Kevin Costner's "The Postman"
1997
Starred as Jeff, one of the slackers who hang out in the parking lot of a mini-mart in "subUrbia"
1998
Appeared opposite Natasha Gregson Wagner as a young couple in the throes of a teen romance in "First Love, Last Rites"
1998
Made cameo appearance in "Some Girls"; written by and co-starring his twin sister Marisa
1998
Cast in Steven Spielberg's "Saving Private Ryan"
1999
Co-starred with Omar Epps and Claire Danes in the screen version of the 1960s TV show "The Mod Squad"
1999
Narrated Sofia Coppola's debut feature, "The Virgin Suicides"
1999
Starred opposite Juliette Lewis as half of a mentally challenged couple fighting to get married in the drama "The Other Sister"
2000
Cast as a troubled young man who seeks guidance from a local psychic (Cate Blanchett) in "The Gift"
2000
Had leading role in "Boiler Room"
2000
Portrayed Nicolas Cage's brother in the remake of "Gone in 60 Seconds"
2001
Portrayed journalist Mikal Gilmore, the brother of killer Gary Gilmore in the HBO drama "Shot in the Heart"
2002
Re-teamed with Cate Blanchett in "Heaven," the English-language directorial debut of Tom Tykwer
2003
Seen in Anthony Minghella's war epic "Cold Mountain"
2003
Had a small role as the photographer husband of Scarlett Johannson's character in Sofia Coppola's "Lost In Translation"
2004
Cast as Dex Dearborn opposite Jude Law and Gwyneth Paltrow in "Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow"
2004
Starred opposite Dennis Quaid in the remake of the 1965 film "The Flight of the Phoenix"
2005
Played an ambitious insurance agent opposite Robin Williams and Holly Hunter in the dark comedy "The Big White"
2006
Landed a recurring role as Ralph Mariano, a lifelong friend of Earl's on the NBC comedy, "My Name is Earl"
2006
Starred in "10th and Wolf," an indie film based on a story by Bobby Moresco and Chazz Palminteri
2007
Co-starred as an IT wiz and hacker in the thriller "Perfect Stranger"
2009
Co-starred in Michael Mann's adaptation of Bryan Burrough's non-fiction book "Public Enemies"
2009
Cast in James Cameron's 3-D science fiction epic film "Avatar"
2010
Cast opposite Luke Wilson in the crime film "Middle Men"
2011
Acted opposite Johnny Depp in "The Rum Diary," the big screen adaptation of Hunter S. Thompson's novel
2012
Played a ruthless drug boss in "Contraband" opposite Mark Wahlberg and Kate Beckinsale
2012
Reteamed with Mark Wahlberg in the comedy "Ted," directed by Seth MacFarlane
2013
Cast alongside Sean Penn and Ryan Gosling in crime drama "Gangster Squad"
2014
Had small role as Presidential advisor Lee White in "Selma"
2014
Reteamed with Seth MacFarlane for western comedy "A Million Ways to Die in the West"
2015
Co-starred in Andrew Bujalski's indie romantic comedy "Results"
2015
Co-starred opposite Olivia Wilde in drama "Meadowland"
2015
Reprised supporting role as Donny in "Ted 2"
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Family
Companions
Bibliography
Notes
"I don't want to bite the hand that feeds me, but I don't even have an antenna for my TV set." --Ribisi quoted in New York, February 24, 1997.
"For me, acting is all about the aesthetic. I just want to keep honing my craft. Not that I'm taking myself too seriously, but every artist should consider himself Picasso. Otherwise, you're doing yourself an injustice" --Giovanni Ribisi in Biography Magazine, September 1998.
"The Mod Squad" director Scott Silver on Ribisi: "He's fucking nuts, and you can quote me on that. But in a good way. I just saw him because we had to do re-shoots. He was doing a movie called All the Rage, playing a street hustler or junkie, and he lost maybe 20 pounds -- and he's scrawny as it is. When he showed up for our re-shoots, he was so emaciated he could hardly stand. No one will know the two shots in the movie that were done as re-shoots, but I can point them out and it's insane. When an actor is that committed to what he's doing, it can't help but rub off and affect everyone else on the set." --quoted in Detour, March 1999.
Ribisi on playing medic Wade in "Saving Private Ryan": "A simple, honest character is sometimes harder to do than a maniac." --to Vanity Fair, April 1999.
"It was extremely useful to grow up in front of the camera. It gives the camera no significance. I think it helped me have persepective on things. The attraction that Hollywood can have, I feel like I'm over that. Instead I just concentrate on acting." --Ribisi to Salon, February 18, 2000.
