AceShowbiz -

Coming late into the lineup, Giovanni Ribisi has been confirmed to board "Avatar", the James Cameron-directed highly anticipated sci-fi action thriller.

The Los Angeles native reportedly is billed to play a passive-aggressive character named Selfridge, who is also the supervisor of Hell's Gate, the colony station on planet Pandora. Sam Worthington has already been cast as the lead character Jake Sully, a paralyzed former marine undergoing an experiment to exist as an avatar, another version of himself.

Slated for a release on May 22, 2009, "Avatar" is made under approximately $190 million budget and features a blend of live-action photography and new virtual photo-realistic production techniques invented by Cameron's team. Production is currently underway in Los Angeles before moving to Weta Digital in New Zealand next month.

Ribisi, recently nominated at the 2007 Emmy Awards for his guest performance in NBC's sitcom "My Name Is Earl", initially built his acting career through a number of recurring and guest roles on small screen, notably as Frank Jr. in "Friends." Besides "Avatar", his future film credits include "Gardener of Eden", "Poor Things", and "The Other Side", which also stars Jason Lee, Tim Roth, and Lili Taylor, among others.