Joaquin Phoenix
Birthdate: Oct 28, 1974
Birthplace: San Juan, Puerto Rico
Joaquin Phoenix (birthname: Joaquin Rafael Phoenix) is one of his generation’s unique actors, combining a single-minded focus to his roles with a highly selective approach to projects and collaborations with such filmmakers as Woody Allen, Paul Thomas Anderson, Ari Aster, Jacques Audiard, James Gray, Spike Jonze, Philip Kaufman, James Mangold, Mike Mills, Todd Phillips, Lynne Ramsay, Ridley Scott, M. Night Shyamalan, Oliver Stone, Thomas Vinterberg, and Gus Van Sant. Phoenix’s first movies as a child actor in supporting roles were
Kids Don’t Tell (1985), directed by Sam O’Steen; SpaceCamp (1986); Russkies (1987), co-directed by sibling Leaf Phoenix; and the Ron Howard-directed Parenthood (1989), starring Steve Martin. After a break from acting, Joaquin Phoenix returned with To Die For (1995), directed by Van Sant, written by Buck Henry, and co-starring Nicole Kidman and Matt Dillon, which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival. Phoenix co-starred with Liv Tyler, Billy Crudup, Jennifer Connelly, and Joanna Going in the Pat O’Connor drama based on Sue Miller’s story, Inventing the Abbotts (1997).
In one of his first striking roles, Phoenix had a colorful supporting role in U Turn (1997), directed by Stone and written by John Ridley, and co-starring Sean Penn, Jennifer Lopez, Nick Nolte, Powers Boothe, Claire Danes, Billy Bob Thornton, and Jon Voight, and premiering at the Telluride film festival. Phoenix supported Vince Vaughn and Anne Heche in the thriller, Return to Paradise (1998), followed by Phoenix again co-starring with Vaughn in the black comedy, Clay Pigeons (1998). Phoenix again played support, this time opposite Nicolas Cage, James Gandolfini, Peter Stormare, and Anthony Heald, in 8mm (1999), directed by Joel Schumacher and grossing $97 million after a Berlin film festival premiere.
Joaquin Phoenix had his first of several collaborations with filmmaker James Gray—and in one of his first substantial starring roles—in the outstanding drama, The Yards (2000), with Mark Wahlberg, Charlize Theron, Faye Dunaway, Ellen Burstyn, and James Caan, for which Phoenix won the best supporting actor award from the National Board of Review. Phoenix’s breakthrough performance (and his first Oscar nomination) came with his role as the evil Commodus in Gladiator (2000), directed by Ridley Scott, and starring Russell Crowe, Connie Nielsen, Oliver Reed, Derek Jacobi, Djimon Hounsou, and Richard Harris, and earning over $503 million globally.
Phoenix stayed in period mode with Quills (2000), directed by Philip Kaufman, playing opposite Geoffrey Rush (as Marquis de Sade), Kate Winslet, and Michael Caine, and which premiered at the Telluride film festival to great acclaim. Joaquin Phoenix starred in the black military comedy, Buffalo Soldiers (2001), co-written and directed by Gregor Jordan and co-starring Ed Harris, Anna Paquin, Scott Glenn, and Dean Stockwell, which premiered at the Toronto Film Festival and released in limited pattern by Miramax Films.
Phoenix then co-starred with Mel Gibson in one of writer-director M. Night Shyamalan’s biggest hits, Signs (2002), with Rory Culkin, Abigail Breslin, and Cherry Jones, and grossing $408 million. Phoenix starred opposite Claire Danes and Sean Penn in Danish filmmaker Thomas Vinterberg’s widely disliked romance drama, It’s All About Love (2003), premiering at the Cannes Film Festival. Phoenix performed his only voice role in an animated movie in Disney’s musical fantasy, Brother Bear (2003), with the fellow voices of Rick Moranis, Dave Thomas, and D.B. Sweeney, and grossing over $250 million worldwide.
Joaquin Phoenix reunited with filmmaker M. Night Shyamalan in a co-starring role for his much-debated drama, The Village (2004), with Bryce Dallas Howard, Adrien Brody, William Hurt, Sigourney Weaver, and Brendan Gleeson, and earning over four times costs with $257 million gross. After Phoenix played support to star (and Oscar nominee) Don Cheadle in the Terry George-directed drama, Hotel Rwanda (2004), he co-starred with John Travolta as Baltimore firemen in Ladder 49 (2004), with Morris Chestnut, Robert Patrick, and Balthazar Getty, and turning in a good gross of $102 million globally for Touchstone Pictures.
Joaquin Phoenix won his first Best Actor Oscar nomination for his acclaimed turn as Johnny Cash in the biopic, Walk the Line (2005), co-written and directed by James Mangold, and co-starring Reese Witherspoon (who won the Best Actress Oscar), and earning a robust $187 million worldwide. Phoenix rejoined his frequent filmmaker collaborator, James Gray, as co-star and producer for the superb NYPD drama, We Own the Night (2007), co-starring Mark Wahlberg (also a producer), Eva Mendes, and Robert Duvall, premiering at the Cannes Film festival and grossing $55 million globally.
Phoenix then teamed up again with director Terry George for a starring role in the poorly performing drama, Reservation Road (2007), with Jennifer Connelly, Mark Ruffalo, and Mira Sorvino. Phoenix again worked with Gray on the fine romantic drama, Two Lovers (2008), based on Dostoevsky’s 1848 short story, White Nights, co-starring Gwyneth Paltrow and Vinessa Shaw and premiering at the Cannes Film Festival, and earning a $16.3 million gross. After publicly announcing his “retirement” from acting, Phoenix delivered an Andy Kaufman-like meta-performance as a supposed “rap artist” in the staged film, I’m Still Here (2010), directed by Casey Affleck, and premiering at the Venice Film Festival.
Joaquin Phoenix returned properly to acting after a four-year break in a magnificent performance Paul Thomas Anderson’s brilliant drama, The Master (2012), loosely based on the parts of the life of L. Ron Hubbard as well as portions of Thomas Pynchon’s novel, V., as well as life passages of actor Jason Robards and novelist John Steinbeck, and with the cast of Philip Seymour Hoffman, Amy Adams, Laura Dern, Rami Malek, and Jesse Plemons, and premiering at the Venice film festival.
Phoenix again matched up with James Gray for the atmospheric period drama, The Immigrant (2013), starring Marion Cotillard and Jeremy Renner, and released by The Weinstein Company. Joaquin Phoenix delivered one of his most unique performances—playing the titular voice of Scarlett Johansson—in Spike Jonze’s sci-fi drama, Her (2013), with Amy Adams, Rooney Mara, and Olivia Wilde, and winning the Best Screenplay Oscar for Jonze and grossing over $48 million worldwide.
Phoenix continued a fascinating run of performances as a scraggly gumshoe in Paul Thomas Anderson’s adaptation of Pynchon’s novel, Inherent Vice (2014), with Josh Brolin, Owen Wilson, Katherine Waterston, Reese Witherspoon, Benicio del Toro, Martin Short, Jena Malone, and Joanna Newsom, and earning $14.7 million globally. Phoenix was cast in the lead for his only film with writer-director Woody Allen, Irrational Man (2015), co-starring Emma Stone, Parker Posey, and Jamie Blackley, and grossing a fair $27.4 million.
Phoenix won Best Actor at the Cannes Film Festival for his intense star turn in Lynne Ramsay’s dark drama, You Were Never Really Here (2017), with Judith Roberts and Alessandro Nivola, earning nearly $10 million theatrically before streaming on Amazon Prime. After a 23-year break, Phoenix reteamed with filmmaker Gus Van Sant for the comic biopic, Don’t Worry, He Won’t Get Far on Foot (2018), in which Phoenix portrays paralyzed Portland, Ore. cartoonist John Calahan, with Jonah Hill, Rooney Mara, and Jack Black, and receiving a combined theatrical and streaming release on Amazon after a Sundance film festival premiere.
Joaquin Phoenix then played Jesus in the Garth Davis-directed Biblical drama, Mary Magdalene (2018), with Rooney Mara in the title role with Chiwetel Ejiofor and Tahar Rahim, earning $12 million globally. In his first Western, Phoenix starred opposite John C. Reilly in the amusing feature version of Patrick DeWitt’s novel, The Sisters Brothers (2018), co-written and directed by Jacques Audiard, featuring Jake Gyllenhaal, Riz Ahmed, and Rutger Hauer, earning good reviews but poor box office after a Venice film festival premiere.
Joaquin Phoenix won the Best Actor Oscar for his bold performance as Joker (2019), co-written and directed by Todd Phillips in what is certainly the most radical and darkest of all DC Comics Universe movies, with Robert De Niro, Zazie Beetz, and Frances Conroy, and turning a phenomenal profit for Warner Bros. with a $1.07 billion return after winning the Golden Lion at the Venice film festival. Phoenix shifted to a lighter mode for indie filmmaker Mike Mills for his family comedy-drama, C’mon C’mon (2021), with Gaby Hoffmann and Jaboukie Young-White, released by A24.
Phoenix then starred in one of his few all-out horror movies with the surreal Beau Is Afraid (2023), from writer-director Ari Aster, with Nathan Lane, Amy Ryan, Hayley Squires, Parker Posey, and Patti LuPone, but proving a box-office disappointment for distributor A24. In a major shift, Phoenix tackled the immense title role of Ridley Scott’s epic, Napoleon (2023), co-starring Vanessa Kirby, Rahim, Ben Miles, and Ludivine Sagnier, and produced for $200 million.
Phoenix did his only sequel in his reunion with filmmaker Phillips for Joker: Folie à Deux (2024), with Lady Gaga as Harley Quinn, Zazie Beetz, Brendan Gleeson, Catherine Keener, Jacob Lofland, and Harry Lawley. Phoenix reunited with writer-director Lynne Ramsay for the supernatural drama set in 1890s Alaska, Polaris (date to be announced), with Rooney Mara.
Joaquin Phoenix co-starred as a sinister New Mexico town sheriff in director/writer Ari Aster’s pandemic-set Western for A24, Eddington (date to be announced), co-starring Emma Stone, Austin Butler, Pedro Pascal, Luke Grimes, Clifton Collins Jr. and Deirdre O’Connell. Phoenix co-starred again with Rooney Mara in director/writer Pawel Pawlikowski’s desert island thriller, The Island (date to be announced), produced via Apocalypso Pictures/Brightstar/Extreme Emotions.
Gallery
Personal Details
Joaquin Phoenix was born in San Juan, Puerto Rico, and was raised in various places in Puerto Rico, South America, and Florida by parents John Lee Bottom (landscape gardener) and Arlyn “Heart” Bottom (NBC executive secretary). His four siblings are his late acting brother River, acting sister Rain, and younger acting sisters Liberty and Summer, as well as paternal half-sister Jodean. Phoenix’s family heritage is a mix of Catholic and Jewish. His family belonged for a period to the cult Children of God but left the group in 1977.
In 1978, his parents adopted the family name of Phoenix, symbolizing a new beginning for them and their children. Joaquin changed his name to “Leaf” when he adopted vegetarianism as a child but reverted to his birthname Joaquin when he was 15. By 1979, his family relocated to Los Angeles, where his mother found her children agents and acting work in commercials and TV; Phoenix was eight years old when he started acting. Phoenix dropped out of high school, and his family moved to Gainesville, Florida. In a notorious and sad episode, brother River—a gifted and acclaimed actor who had just begun to emerge as a movie star—died of an overdose in West Hollywood’s The Viper Room, where Joaquin had attempted to revive him. The fallout and media impact sent the family to retreat to Costa Rica for a period before Phoenix returned to acting.
Phoenix identifies as a secular Jew and has a vegan lifestyle. Phoenix was in a relationship with Liv Tyler from 1995 to 1998; he was then in a relationship with model Topaz Page-Green from 2001 to 2005; Phoenix had a friendship with Rooney Mara starting in 2012, which evolved into a relationship in 2019; the couple had a son in 2020 and live in the Hollywood Hills. Phoenix’s height is 5’ 8”. Phoenix’s estimated net worth is $60 million.
Filmography
actor
Previous (10)
- 2024 | Joker: Folie à DeuxasArthur Fleck
Joker: Folie à Deux
Failed comedian Arthur Fleck meets the love of his life, Harley Quinn, while in Arkham State Hospital. Upon release, the pair embark on a doomed romantic misadventure.
- 2023 |
- 2021 | C’mon C’mon
C’mon C’mon
When his sister asks him to look after her son, a radio journalist embarks on a cross-country trip with his energetic nephew to show him life away from Los Angeles.
- 2019 |
- 2019 | Mary Magdalene: 2019 Re-releaseasJesus
Mary Magdalene: 2019 Re-release
Twelve men heard and spread the message of Jesus. Only one woman understood it.
- 2018 | The Sisters BrothersasCharlie Sisters
The Sisters Brothers
Eli and Charlie Sisters, an infamous duo of gunslinging assassins, chase a gold prospector and his unexpected ally in 1850s Oregon.
- 2018 | Don’t Worry, He Won’t Get Far on FootasJohn Callahan
Don’t Worry, He Won’t Get Far on Foot
On the rocky path to sobriety after a life-changing accident, John Callahan discovers the healing power of art, willing his injured hands into drawing hilarious, often controversial cartoons, which bring him a new lease on life.
- 2018 | You Were Never Really HereasJoe
You Were Never Really Here
A traumatized veteran unafraid of violence tracks down missing girls for a living. When a job spins out of control, Joe's nightmares overtake him as a conspiracy is uncovered leading to what could be his death trip or his awakening.
- 2013 |
- 2000 |
Some Facts About Joaquin Phoenix
Accident: Joaquin Phoenix was rescued from a potentially fatal accident on a hillside Los Angeles road in 2006 by legendary German filmmaker Werner Herzog.
Veganism: Phoenix takes his veganism all the way to the nature of his film role costumes, which he won’t wear if they’re derived from animal sources.
Few and Far Between: Joaquin Phoenix has claimed that he has watched only two of his movies—The Master and Her.
Scar: Phoenix’s lip scar is a birthmark, not the result of a surgically repaired cleft palate or lip.
Cash’s Choice: Johnny Cash personally selected Joaquin Phoenix to portray him in Walk the Line.
:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc():focal(745x191:747x193)/Gladiator-2-Paul-Mescal-Wicket-Cynthia-Enrivo-Ariana-Grande-Tout-112024-70c2ca8941c3453484c72cf60a393c28.jpg)
