Giovanni Ribisi, (born Antonio Giovanni Ribisi on December 17, 1974) is an American actor. He best known for his television roles on My Two Dads, Friends and Sneaky Pete, as well as movie appearances in Saving Private Ryan, Boiler Room, and Avatar.
On Married... with Children, he had a recurring role as Teddy, a schoolfriend of Bud's during Season 1 (1987) and Season 3 (1988/89).
Career[]
Television[]
Giovanni began his career on television shows as a child, using the name Vonni Ribisi, with recurring and guest roles on a number of shows, including The New Leave It to Beaver, Highway to Heaven and The Wonder Years. One of his more well known roles during the 1980s was on the sitcom, My Two Dads. On the show, he played Cory Kupkus, a wholesome and innocent teenager who competed for Nicole Bradford's affections.
In the 1990s, he entered the public eye with a prominent performance in The X-Files episode "D.P.O." (an episode that also starred Jack Black), as well as with his recurring role as Frank, Jr., the brother of Phoebe Buffay (Lisa Kudrow) on NBC-TV's Friends, but also appeared as an extra earlier on in season 2 "The One with the Baby on the Bus". He also appeared on Ellen, Davis Rules, NYPD Blue, and Walker, Texas Ranger.
Between 2005 and 2008, Giovanni appeared in multiple episodes of NBC's My Name Is Earl as the recurring character Ralph, earning a 2007 Emmy nomination for his performance on the series.
In September 2008, he appeared twice on the HBO comedy series Entourage. In 2013, he starred on the FOX sitcom, Dads, which was cancelled after one season. He has worked with his Dads co-star, Seth Green on other projects including Family Guy and Robot Chicken.
From 2015 to 2019, he starred in and produced the Amazon series, Sneaky Pete.
More recently, he appeared in the miniseries The Offer and Waco: The Aftermath.
Film[]
In the mid 1990s, he began appearing in films such as That Thing You Do, Lost Highway, The Postman, and The Mod Squad. One of his more notable roles at this time was in the 1998 World War II film, Saving Private Ryan as Army Medic Irwin Wade.
In the early 2000s, he starred in the crime drama film, Boiler Room, and continued to appear in other popular film at this time including Gone in Sixty Seconds, Lost in Translation, Flight of the Phoenix, Cold Mountain, Public Enemy, and Avatar.
During the 2010s, he appeared in films such as Contraband, Ted and its sequel, Ted 2, A Million Ways to Die in the West, and Selma.
In more recent years, he appeared in the sequel films to Avatar, 2022's Avatar: The Way of Water and Avatar: Fire and Ash in 2025
Music Videos[]
Ribisi has appeared on the video of British band Keane's single "Crystal Ball", which was released worldwide on August 21, 2006. He appeared with Winona Ryder and John C. Reilly in Jon Spencer Blues Explosion's music video "Talk About the Blues".
In 2016, Ribisi directed a music video for "Siberian Nights", the third single from Ash & Ice by The Kills
Cinematography[]
In more recently years, Ribisi has been involved in cinematography. Ribisi's interest in filmmaking dates back to his early days in Hollywood as a child actor. In the early 2000s he began learning about it after buying a digital camcorder and studying from directors and cinematographers while onset. [1]
He made his debut as a director of photography in the 2023 film, Strange Darling.
In 2025, he was given a special thanks mention during the ending credits for the film, One Battle After Another. The film was recorded VistaVision, an older format that produces amazing results but requires older and heavier film cameras. Ribisi collects and restores these types of older film cameras as a personal hobby.[2]
Personal Life[]
Ribisi married actress Mariah O'Brien in 1997 and together they have a daughter, artist Lucia Santina Ribisi, born that year. The couple divorced in 2001. In 2007, he began a relationship with indie rock singer-songwriter Cat Power. The couple lived together for five years before ending their relationship in 2012.
Ribisi married English model Agyness Deyn on June 16, 2012, and filed for divorce in January 2015. He announced the birth of his fraternal twins with girlfriend Emily Ward in December 2018.
Through his twin sister's marriage, he was the brother-in-law of musician Beck from 2004 until 2021.
