Giovanni Ribisi began acting at the age of nine and was a familiar presence on television before making the move to the big screen. Born on December 12, 1974 in Los Angeles, CA, Ribisi—billed early in his career as Vonni—landed in 1985 a two-part episode of "Highway to Heaven" (NBC, 1984-89), playing a boy stricken with cancer. From 1987 to 1990, the young actor could be seen in a recurring role on NBC's "My Two Dads" playing Cory Kupkus, the boyfriend of Staci Keanan's paternally confused Nicole Bradford. Ribisi joined the cast of "Davis Rules" for the 1991-1992 season, and was featured the next season in a recurring role on "The Wonder Years" (both ABC). He followed this up with a regular role on the short-lived sitcom "Family Album" (CBS, 1993).
Ribisi's most significant television work may have been in guest roles, like his impressive 1995 performances on "Chicago Hope" (CBS, 1994-2000) and "The X-Files" (Fox, 1993-2002). These marked his transition from boy-next-door to more demanding troubled characters. In "Chicago Hope,” the actor gave a powerful and disturbing performance as a skinhead in need of a heart transplant who learns that his only hope lies with a non-white organ donor. Equally memorable was his work on "The X-Files" (Fox), playing Darren Oswald, a weird teenager that receives electric powers after being struck by lightning, a role that allowed Ribisi to show his strength at making bizarre characters sympathetic. He next joined the cast of NBC's "Friends" in 1996 in a recurring role as Phoebe's obtuse yet oddly endearing brother Frank Junior.
In 1996, Ribisi turned a career corner when he made his film debut playing the injured and ousted drummer of The Wonders (of one-hit fame) in Tom Hanks' music-themed comedy "That Thing You Do!" He followed with a starring role in Richard Linklater's film adaptation of Eric Bogosian's play "subUrbia" (1997), playing Jeff, a sensitive and disenchanted youth. That same year, he also acted small roles in "Lost Highway" and "The Postman.” In 1998 the actor starred opposite Natasha Gregson Wagner in the dark teen romance "First Love, Last Rites" and appeared alongside Tom Hanks in "Saving Private Ryan,” offering a critically acclaimed turn as Wade, 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.
With his big screen presence on the rise, Ribisi joined Juliette Lewis to play a mentally challenged couple in "The Other Sister" and was tapped to play Pete Cochran in the big screen version of the 60s TV series "The Mod Squad" (both 1999). While those efforts failed to attract the attention of moviegoers or the acclaim of critics, Ribisi recovered with a lauded leading role in the 2000 drama "Boiler Room,” playing a young ne'er-do-well who hits the big time as a broker for a fraudulent financial firm. He more-than-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 previously 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.” Ribisi returned to the small screen with a compelling turn as famed serial killer Gary Gilmore's journalist brother Mikal in the HBO original "Shot in the Heart" (2001).
After reuniting with Blanchett in German director Tom Tykwer's English-language debut "Heaven" (2002), Ribisi was next seen in the thriller "Basic" (2003), starring John Travolta and Samuel L. Jackson. Ribisi had a small, but entertaining role in Sofia Coppola's meditative "Lost In Translation" (2003), playing a workaholic photographer and absentee husband to a bored 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 "Cold Mountain" (2003) 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 appeared. He gave a sparkling performance in “I Love Your Work” (2003), playing a successful actor with a beautiful movie star wife (Franka Potente) whose fantasy of living a regular life leads him to lure a video clerk and aspiring screenwriter (Joshua Jackson) into his web of delusion as a means to get close to the clerk’s beautiful wife (Marisa Coughlin).
In “Flight of the Phoenix” (2004), Ribisi was a skittish oddball who hatches a wacky plan to save a group of plane crash survivors stranded in the Mongolian desert – build a new, smaller plane out of parts from the old one. Ribisi’s twitchy performance amused some, but irritated others – nevertheless, it went essentially unnoticed in a movie that crashed at the box office and landed in the video store dustbin. 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 was seen in three episodes of “My Name is Earl” (NBC, 2005- ) as Earl’s (Jason Lee) lifelong friend, Ralph Mariano. A shady pinheaded ex-con, Ribisi’s Ralph tried to follow in his friend Earl’s footsteps by trying to go legit, but quickly grew bored with it and returned to his thieving ways. A lingering (but funny) thorn in the side of the ever-loyal Earl, Ralph eventually wound back up the river. On July 19, 2007, Ribisi received an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series for his role.
Continuing to build a resume of odd and troubled characters, he was a mischievous and amusingly morbid supermarket clerk who helps a grieving, but determined 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 then played a resourceful computer hacker in “Perfect Stranger” (2007), a dull and lifeless 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).