Ronald Joseph Livingston was born on June 5, 1967, in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, to Linda Rinas, a Lutheran pastor, and Kurt Livingston, an aerospace engineer. He is the middle child of three siblings, with an older brother Nick and a younger brother John Livingston, also an actor, and a younger sister Jennifer Livingston, a TV news personality at CBS/WKBT in La Crosse, Wisconsin. His ancestry is predominantly German, with smaller amounts of Welsh, Scottish, and English.
Livingston graduated from Marion High School and then attended Yale University, where he earned his B.A. degree in Theatre Studies and English Literature. During his time at Yale, he shared a class with notable actors Paul Giamatti and Edward Norton. He began his acting career while still an undergraduate, gaining stage credits with the Williamstown Theatre Festival and Manhattan Class Company.
After graduating from Yale in 1989, Livingston moved to Chicago, where he acted in various stage productions, including shows at the Goodman Theatre and other venues. His film debut was in Dolly Parton's Straight Talk in 1992. He accelerated his film career by moving to Los Angeles in 1993, gaining attention for his role as one of the buddies in the popular hit Swingers in 1996.
Livingston's acting credits include the cult hit Office Space in 1999, in which he starred opposite Jennifer Aniston, the mini-series Band of Brothers in 2001, where he co-starred with Damian Lewis, eight episodes of Sex and the City from 1998 to 2003, where he starred opposite Sarah Jessica Parker, and the Oscar-winning Adaptation in 2002, among his other works. He was nominated for a Golden Globe in 2002 for his performance in Band of Brothers.
In addition to his film and television work, Livingston has also appeared in various commercials, including a 2006 campaign for Sprint Nextel telecommunications company. He has also starred as Matt Flannery, the FBI senior negotiator, in the FOX television series Standoff since its premiere in September 2006.
Livingston resides in Los Angeles, California, with his wife, actress Rosemarie DeWitt, whom he married in 2009. The couple has two children together.
