Joaquin Phoenix

Joaquin Rafael Phoenix (; né Bottom; born October 28, 1974) is an American actor. He is known for playing dark and unconventional characters in independent films. He has received various accolades, including an Academy Award, a British Academy Film Award, a Grammy Award, and two Golden Globe Awards. In 2020, ''The New York Times'' named him one of the greatest actors of the 21st century.

Phoenix began his career by appearing in television series in the early 1980s with his brother River. His first major film roles were in '' SpaceCamp'' (1986) and '' Parenthood'' (1989). During this period, he was credited as Leaf Phoenix, a name he gave himself. He took back his birth name in the early 1990s and received critical acclaim for his supporting roles in the comedy-drama ''To Die For'' (1995) and the period film '' Quills'' (2000). Phoenix received further critical acclaim and a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his portrayal of Commodus in the historical drama '' Gladiator'' (2000). He had success with the horror films '' Signs'' (2002) and '' The Village'' (2004), the historical drama '' Hotel Rwanda'' (2004), and won a Grammy Award, a Golden Globe Award and a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actor for his portrayal of musician Johnny Cash in the biopic ''Walk the Line'' (2005).

Following a brief sabbatical, Phoenix starred in the psychological drama '' The Master'' (2012), winning the Volpi Cup for Best Actor and earning his third Academy Award nomination. He received Golden Globe Award nominations for his roles in the romantic drama '' Her'' (2013) and the crime satire ''Inherent Vice'' (2014), and won the Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actor for the psychological thriller ''You Were Never Really Here'' (2017). Phoenix won the Academy Award for Best Actor for playing the title character in '' Joker'' (2019).

Phoenix is an animal rights activist. He has been vegan since the age of three and regularly supports charitable causes and has produced several documentaries on global meat consumption and its impact on the environment. He is in a relationship with actress Rooney Mara, with whom he has a son.

Early life

Joaquin Rafael Bottom was born on October 28, 1974, in the Río Piedras district of San Juan, Puerto Rico, to John Lee Bottom, the founder of a landscape gardening company, and Arlyn "Heart" Bottom (née Dunetz), who was an executive secretary at NBC and whose connection to an agent provided her children with acting work. He is the third of five children, following River (1970–1993) and Rain (born 1972), and preceding Liberty (born 1976) and Summer (born 1978), all of whom have been involved in acting. He also has a half-sister named Jodean (born 1964) from his father's previous relationship. His father was a Catholic from Fontana, California, and was of English, German and French ancestry. His maternal grandfather, Meyer Dunetz, was Russian Jewish and his maternal grandmother, Margit Lefkowitz, was Hungarian Jewish; they were both Ashkenazi Jews who resided in New York City. Phoenix's parents met when his mother was hitchhiking in California and got married less than a year after meeting.

Soon after the second child was born, they joined the religious cult called Children of God and started traveling throughout South America and Puerto Rico in the Caribbean as missionaries for the cult, where the next two children were born. They eventually grew disillusioned with Children of God and left in 1977, being opposed to the cult's increasingly distorted rules, particularly the practice of flirty fishing. The fifth child was born in Florida where the family settled for a while. It was also around this time they legally adopted the surname Phoenix, inspired by the mythical bird that rises from its own ashes, symbolizing a new beginning. When Phoenix was three, he and his older siblings witnessed fish being stunned as "they were throwing them against the side of the boat." This act made the whole family convert to veganism. He also began calling himself "Leaf", having been inspired by spending time outdoors raking leaves and desiring to have a nature-related name like his siblings. Leaf became the name he used before changing it back to his birth name Joaquin at the age of fifteen.

Career

1980–1993: Early work and family tragedy

In 1979, after Phoenix's father had to stop working because of an old spinal injury, the whole family moved to Los Angeles where the mother met a high-profile child agent named Iris Burton, who got the children into commercials and bit parts on TV. He made his acting debut alongside his brother in the television series ''Seven Brides for Seven Brothers'' in the 1982 episode "Christmas Song". He has said of his first time acting:
In 1984, Phoenix starred opposite his brother River in the '' ABC Afterschool Special'' entitled '' Backwards: The Riddle of Dyslexia'', for which they shared a nomination for Best Young Actor in a Family Film Made for Television at the 6th Youth in Film Awards. He also made guest appearances in the '' Murder, She Wrote'' episode "We're Off to Kill the Wizard" and individual episodes of ''The Fall Guy'' and ''Hill Street Blues''. A year later, Phoenix appeared in the television film ''Kids Don't Tell''. To supplement their income, the kids sang their original songs like "Gonna Make It", written by River, and busked for money in matching yellow shirts and shorts. They also studied dance; Phoenix became an avid break dancer. Phoenix dropped out of high school when he was sent a dead frog in the mail to dissect for his biology studies, which prompted him to discontinue his studies. Dissatisfied with life in Los Angeles, the Phoenixes moved back to Florida, settling in Gainesville.

Phoenix made his feature film debut in the adventure film '' SpaceCamp'' (1986) as a young boy who goes to Kennedy Space Center to learn about the NASA space program and undergoes amateur astronaut training. He guest starred in the anthology series '' Alfred Hitchcock Presents'' episode "A Very Happy Ending" in the same year, playing a child who blackmails a hitman into killing his father. Phoenix's first starring role was in the film '' Russkies'' (1987), about a group of friends who unknowingly befriend a Russian soldier during the Cold War.

In 1989, Phoenix co-starred as Garry, the withdrawn teenage nephew of Steve Martin's character in Ron Howard's comedy-drama '' Parenthood''. The film was a box office success, grossing $126 million worldwide against its $20 million budget. Critics praised the film, with '' IndieWire'' reviewers highlighting the film's cast and their performances for possessing "genuinely likable, and occasionally insightful, heart" calling Phoenix a "terrifically believable angsty adolescent", in a performance which garnered him a nomination for the Young Artist Award for Best Leading Young Actor in a Feature Film. The role of Garry was reprised in the series based on the film by Leonardo DiCaprio, who studied Phoenix's performance in order to get it right. After establishing himself as a child actor, Phoenix felt that he wasn't getting any appealing offers and decided to take a break from acting and traveled to Mexico with his father, learning Spanish. When he returned to the States, his brother River Phoenix suggested that Phoenix changed his name back to Joaquin and encouraged him to start acting again.

On October 31, 1993, River died of a drug overdose outside The Viper Room in West Hollywood. Phoenix, who had accompanied his brother and older sister Rain to the club, called 911 to seek help for his dying brother. After the death, the phone call was repeatedly broadcast on TV and radio shows. The family retreated to Costa Rica to escape the media glare as the event came to be depicted as a cautionary tale of young Hollywood surrounded by mythology and conspiracy.

1994–1999: Return to acting

Phoenix returned to acting in Gus Van Sant's 1995 black comedy ''To Die For'', based on the novel of the same name by Joyce Maynard, which in turn was inspired by the Pamela Smart murder case. Phoenix starred as Jimmy Emmett, a disturbed young man who is seduced by a woman (Nicole Kidman) to commit murder. The film premiered at the 1995 Cannes Film Festival and became a financial and critical success, with ''New York Times'' critic Janet Maslin praising Phoenix's performance, writing "So pity poor Jimmy. Rivetingly played by Mr Phoenix with a raw, anguished expressiveness that makes him an actor to watch for, Jimmy is both tempted and terrified by Suzanne's slick amorality. In that, he speaks for us all."

In 1997, Phoenix played a small-town troublemaker in Oliver Stone's ''U Turn'', and a poor man in love with a rich woman in ''Inventing the Abbotts''. The films were received with mostly mixed and negative reviews, respectively, and neither performed well at the box office. The following year, Phoenix starred in ''Clay Pigeons'' as a young man in a small town who befriends a serial killer. The film was released to a dismal box office performance and was not well received by critics. In his next film, '' 8mm'' (1999), Phoenix co-starred as an adult video store employee who helps Tom Welles (Nicolas Cage) investigate the underworld of illegal pornography. The film turned out to be a box office success, grossing $96 million worldwide, but found few admirers among critics.

2000–2010: Critical acclaim and commercial success

In 2000, Phoenix co-starred in three films. In the first of these, he portrayed a fictionalized version of Roman Emperor Commodus in Ridley Scott's historical epic film '' Gladiator''. The film received positive reviews and grossed $457 million worldwide, making it the second highest-grossing film of 2000. Chris Nashawaty of ''Entertainment Weekly'' called Phoenix's work "a more nuanced star-making performance" when comparing him to the lead Russell Crowe, writing "Phoenix turns what could have easily been a cartoonish villain into a richly layered study of pathology." Phoenix earned his first nominations for an Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award and a BAFTA Award in the Best Supporting Actor category. He and his late brother River became the first brothers to be nominated for acting Academy Awards. To this date, they are the only brothers to hold this distinction.

His next film marked his first collaboration with director James Gray in '' The Yards''. The crime film follows the corruption in the rail yards of Queens. Although failing to perform well at the box office, ''The Yards'' received positive reviews from critics with many considering Phoenix's performance as the villain a stand out. The third release of 2000 was Philip Kaufman's '' Quills'', a satirical thriller inspired by the life and work of the Marquis de Sade. Phoenix portrayed the conflicted priest Abbé de Coulmier opposite Kate Winslet. The film premiered at the Telluride Film Festival and was a modest art house success grossing a total of $17 million at the box office. It was received with critical praise with Peter Travers of ''Rolling Stone'' praising Phoenix and his chemistry with Winslet, stating "Phoenix, on a roll this year with Gladiator and The Yards, excels at making the priest a seductive figure — a neat trick considering the real Abbe was a four-foot hunchback. Winslet and Phoenix generate real fire, notably when Abbe dreams of ravishing Madeleine on the altar." For his combined roles of that year, Phoenix was awarded the Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actor and the National Board of Review Award for Best Supporting Actor.

The following year, Phoenix starred in the satirical film '' Buffalo Soldiers'' as a U.S. Army soldier. The world premiere was held at the 2001 Toronto International Film Festival in early September. However, because the film was a satire of the US military, its wider theatrical run was delayed by approximately two years because of the September 11 attacks; it was finally released on July 25, 2003. ''BBC
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