Giovanni Ribisi

Born: 31st March 1974
Where: San Francisco, California

The versatile actor made his breakthrough as medic Wade in Stephen Spielberg's WWII drama Saving Private Ryan.

As well as attracting the attention of critics and public alike, it also landed him the cover of Vanity Fair magazine.

Ribisi began acting aged nine and appeared in Highway to Heaven before a recurring role in My Two Dads as well as The Wonder Years.

He joined the cast of Friends in 1996 as Phoebe's dim-witted brother Frank Jr. then made his film debut in Tom Hanks' music comedy That Thing You Do!

He followed it up with a starring role in the 1997 film SubUrbia, but his most significant role was alongside Tom Hanks in Saving Private Ryan.

The same year, Ribisi and twin sister Marissa worked with Juliette Lewis on Some Girl, which was co-produced by their mother.

He narrated The Virgin Suicides and subsequently landed the lead role in Wall Street drama The Boiler Room and the action caper Gone In Sixty Seconds.

In 2000, he starred in the thriller The Gift and Tom Tykwer's surreal drama Heaven, both opposite Cate Blanchett.

Subsequent appearances included the lacklustre action thriller Basic and the critically lauded romantic drama Lost In Translation.

In 2003, he starred alongside Jude Law and Renee Zellwegger in American Civil War drama Cold Mountain and re-teamed with Law for futuristic sci-fi thriller Sky Captain and The World of Tomorrow.

Recently, director John Moore cast him as the oddball aeroplane designer in the remake of Flight of the Phoenix in 2005.