Getty began his acting career at age 14 in 1989. He auditioned for the lead role in the movie Lord of the Flies after being spotted by a casting Director, Robin Joy Allan, in his art class at school. During the 1990s and early 2000s, he appeared in the films Young Guns II, Natural Born Killers, Judge Dredd, Mr. Holland's Opus, White Squall, Lost Highway, Big City Blues, The Center of the World, Deuces Wild, Ladder 49, Feast, and the television miniseries Traffic.