The X-Files Episode With Two Huge Stars Before Anyone Knew Who They Were
You can find a lot of stars who appeared in The X-Files long before they became household names. Ryan Reynolds, Lucy Liu, and Shia LaBeouf all enjoyed small roles in the show before reaching higher levels of fame. One episode in particular–Season 3’s “D.P.O.”–features not one, but two future stars early in their careers: Giovanni Ribisi and Jack Black.
The Cold Open
It won’t take you long to spot the future Hollywood heavyweights in The X-Files episode. Both Giovanni Ribisi and Jack Black appear prominently in the 1995 cold open of “D.P.O.,” set in a video arcade in Oklahoma.
Ribisi’s character, Darin, is not happy when he finds a local pizza delivery guy playing his favorite game, Virtua Fighter 2. Jack Black’s Zero–the only employee at the arcade–warns the delivery guy to step aside and let Darin back at his game, but the pizza guy nevertheless starts shoving Ribisi’s character around.
Things go sideways in perfect The X-Files fashion once the delivery guy gets violent. While the pizza guy escapes the arcade, he doesn’t survive long enough to leave the parking lot.
The Monster Of That Week
“D.P.O.” is the first monster of the week episode of Season 3, with Giovanni Ribisi playing the monster in question. After being struck by lightning before the events of The X-Files episode, Darin develops electrical powers.
He can summon lightning at will, he can channel it through his own body, and he can manipulate unseen electrical currents–which is how he murders the pizza delivery man in the cold open. We learn he can even control the electricity in the bodies of other living things.
The death of the delivery man is what draws the attention of The X-Files mainstays FBI Special Agents Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) and Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson), but once they arrive in Oklahoma, Giovanni Ribisi’s character gives them plenty of reason to stay.
Darin is A Super Powered Stalker
Playing Virtua Fighter 2 is Darin’s favorite pastime, and his only other passion is his boss’ wife Sharon (Karen Lorre), who doesn’t reciprocate his interest at all.
While at first we see Darin using his powers out of spite or for fun, in the case of Sharon, the X-Files villain uses his abilities to manipulate events so that the older woman will have no choice (he thinks) but to fall for him.
As Darin and Jack Black’s Zero hang out atop a billboard, Darin manipulates the traffic signal at a nearby intersection to cause an accident, knowing his boss Frank (Steve Makaj)–a mechanic and tow truck driver–will show up.
Once Frank shows up, Darin uses his abilities to incapacitate Frank and then–using his hands as defibrillators–to revive him. He thinks the gesture will impress Sharon, but he’s wrong.
Ribisi’s Future
These days Giovanni Ribisi is perhaps best known as the star of Amazon Prime Video’s crime drama Sneaky Pete, and one of the stars of the Fox sitcom Dads.
But it didn’t take too long after his appearance on The X-Files for the actor to enjoy bigger and better roles, including those on the big screen. Ribisi enjoyed screen time in That Thing You Do!, Saving Private Ryan, The Virgin Suicides, Boiler Room, and Lost in Translation, among many other projects.
Jack Black
Ironically while he had the smaller role in The X-Files episode he shared with Giovanni Ribisi, Jack Black would go on to eclipse Ribisi in the name recognition department. Along with adding his voice to hit animated movies like the Kung-Fu Panda franchise and The Super Mario Bros. Movie, he struck live-action gold with films like Tropic Thunder, The School of Rock, and the revived Jumanji films.
