"Not that I'm taking myself too seriously, but every artist should consider himself Picasso. Otherwise, you're doing yourself an injustice."
Antonino Giovanni Ribisi (born December 17, 1974 in Los Angeles, California) is an American actor who — despite only appearing in nine episodes and having a bucket-load of other credits — is still probably best remembered for his role as Phoebe's half-brother Frank Jr. on Friends. But as already said he's got a very impressive list of credits and appearances in addition to his Friends cred - including Avatar, Saving Private Ryan, Lost in Translation, Cold Mountain, Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow and many more.
His twin sister is Marissa Ribisi.
Selected Filmography:
- My Two Dads (1987-1990) - Cory Kupkus (as 'Vonni Ribisi')
- Ellen (1994) - Mort Morgan
- Friends (1996-2003) - Frank Buffay Jr.
- Sub Urbia (1996) - Jeff
- Saving Private Ryan (1998) - Wade
- The Other Sister (1999) - Daniel McMann
- The Mod Squad (1999) - Pete Cochran
- The Virgin Suicides (1999) - Narrator
- Gone In Sixty Seconds (2000) - Kip Raines
- The Gift (2000) - Buddy Cole
- According to Spencer (2001) - Louis
- Heaven (2002) - Filippo
- Cold Mountain (2002) - Junior
- Basic (2003) - Kendall
- Lost in Translation (2003) - John
- Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow (2004) - Dexter "Dex" Dearborn
- The Flight of the Phoenix (2004) - Elliott
- My Name Is Earl (2006-2008) - Ralph Mariano
- Perfect Stranger (2007) - Miles Heady
- Public Enemies (2009) - Alvin Karpis
- Avatar (2009) - Parker Selfridge
- Avatar: The Way of Water (2022)
- Ted (2012) - Donny
- Ted 2 (2015)
- A Million Ways to Die in the West (2014) - Edward
- Selma (2014) - Lee C. White
- Sneaky Pete (2015-2019) - Pete/Marius
- The Bad Batch (2016) as Bobby
- The Offer (2022) as Joe Colombo
Tropes associated with his work.
- Actor-Inspired Element: The famous funny dance in Ted was his idea.
- Dawson Casting:
- Frank Jr is eighteen when he first appears on Friends. Giovanni was twenty-two.
- In Public Enemies Giovanni is thirty-four playing a twenty-seven-year-old.
- Embarrassing Nickname: As a child he was nicknamed 'Vanni' by his peers.
- Enforced Method Acting:
- He and the rest of the actors playing the soldiers in Saving Private Ryan were put through a strenuous boot camp, that Matt Damon was excluded from. This drummed up feelings of resentment between him and the unit.
- He didn't take a bath for a week while filming Basic to properly get into character.
- Fake Nationality: As an Italian in Heaven, though he does have Italian ancestry.
- Production Posse:
- He's worked with Seth MacFarlane on the two Ted films and A Million Ways to Die in the West. He also lent his voice to an episode of Family Guy.
- He collaborated with Tom Hanks on Saving Private Ryan and That Thing You Do!.
- Those Two Actors:
- Himself and Steve Zahn in Sub Urbia and That Thing You Do!.
- Himself and Cate Blanchett in The Gift and Heaven.
- You Look Familiar: He first appeared on Friends as a boy who accidentally dropped a condom in Phoebe's bag.
Fanon says this was Frank Jr anyway (despite him saying he'd never been to New York when he visits). - What Could Have Been:
- Giovanni was reluctant to appear nude in Sub Urbia, but Richard Linklater convinced him that it was "in his Moya character" and he agreed.
- He replaced Casey Affleck as Dex on Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow.
