He was born in Tarzana, California and raised in San Francisco. He entered the movie business in 1987 when he auditioned for the lead role in the movie Lord of the Flies after being spotted by a talent scout in his art class at school. During the course of the 1990s and early 2000s, Getty has participated in movies like Young Guns II, Natural Born Killers, Judge Dredd, White Squall, Lost Highway, Big City Blues, MacArthur Park, The Center of the World, Deuces Wild, Ladder 49, Feast and the television series Traffic.

He also has guest-starred on the television series Charmed as Richard Montoya a male witch who at one point is romantically linked with Paige Matthews. He appeared in the fifth season of the hit show Alias as Agent Thomas Grace. He currently stars, alongside Alias costar Ron Rifkin, in the ABC prime time drama Brothers & Sisters, which first aired in September 2006, playing the character Thomas Walker.

His great grandfather was Jean Paul Getty, founder of the Getty Oil Company. His father is John Paul Getty III.

He is a member of the band Ringside.

He is good friends with actor Jason Mewes.

The actor was once romantically linked with Drew Barrymore, Lala Sloatman, and model-actress Milla Jovovich, with whom he appeared in a Seventeen magazine photo shoot in 1989. . He is married to Rosetta Millington and has three children, Cassius, Grace and Violet. They are expecting their fourth child in the fall of 2007.

Best friend of actor Eric Dane.

Often mistaken for Charlie Sheen.