Biography
Early life, siblings
Phoenix's father, John Lee Bottom, is of Irish and Spanish descent; his mother, Arlyn Sharon Dunetz, was born in the Bronx, New York City to Orthodox Jewish (see [1], [2]) emigrants from Hungary and Russia.
Shortly after they met, the two joined the Children of God cult and began traveling throughout South America as missionaries. Joaquin was born in San Juan, Puerto Rico, and lived there until he was six years old; he speaks Spanish fluently.
Joaquin is the third of five children, the others are "River" (1970 - 1993), "Rain" (or "Rainbow Joan of Arc"; 1973), "Liberty Butterfly" (or "Libertad Mariposa"; 1976), and "Summer" (or "Summer Joy"; 1978); of these, River has died.
After leaving the Children of God and returning to the USA (upon which they adopted the surname "Phoenix"), the parents encouraged their children to develop their creative instincts. Since his siblings had nature-related names, Joaquin changed his name to "Leaf".
The family moved to Los Angeles, where his mother started working as a secretary for NBC, and his father became a landscaper. His parents hired an agent, who eventually got the five children acting work.
Film career
Joaquin's first acting jobs were guest appearances on two television shows with his brother River: Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (1982) and Backwards: The Riddle of Dyslexia (1984).
He made his big-screen debut in Space Camp (1986), playing the role of Max, and his first starring role was in Russkies (1987). He went on to establish himself as a child actor in Parenthood (1989), before deciding to withdraw from acting for a while and move to Mexico with his father.
Joaquin came back into public view under tragic circumstances — he was the person who dialed 9-1-1 when his brother River Phoenix suffered a fatal drug overdose outside Hollywood nightclub The Viper Room.
Joaquin was reluctant to re-enter the world of acting, but he did so at the insistence of his friends. He changed his name from "Leaf" back to "Joaquin."
He portrayed a troubled teen in Gus Van Sant's To Die For, and has earned positive reviews for adult roles as Commodus in Gladiator (for which he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor), a priest in Quills, the washed-up baseball player Merrill Hess in M. Night Shyamalan's Signs, and stoic Lucius Hunt in Shyamalan's The Village.
In 2006, Phoenix won the "Best Actor - Musical or Comedy" Golden Globe award for his role as Johnny Cash in Walk the Line. He was nominated for an Oscar for the performance.
On January 26, 2006, a few days after his Golden Globe win for Walk The Line, he and another person were involved in an auto accident in the Hollywood Hills suburb in Los Angeles when his SUV flipped over and skidded onto its side.
Fortunately, he suffered no serious injuries, and was pulled from his overturned car, in a bizarre detail, by German art film director Werner Herzog, whose home was located nearby. Phoenix appeared at the 2006 Screen Actors Guild Awards a few days later.
Phoenix was recently cast as John Kelly (aka John Clark) in the film verson of Tom Clancy's best selling novel, Without Remorse.
He has recently admitted himself into rehab to deal with his increasing alcohol problem. He is also a chain smoker.
Selected filmography
2005 - We Own the Night - Joseph
2005 - Walk The Line - Johnny Cash
2004 - Hotel Rwanda - Jack Daglish
2004 - The Village - Lucius Hunt
2004 - Ladder 49 - Jack Morrison
2003 - It's All About Love - John
2003 - Brother Bear - Kenai
2002 - Signs - Merrill Hess
2001 - Buffalo Soldiers - Ray Elwood
2000 - Gladiator - Commodus
2000 - Quills - The Abbe du Coulmier
2000 - The Yards - Willie Gutierrez
1998 - Return to Paradise - Lewis McBride
1998 - Clay Pigeons - Clay Bidwell
1998 - 8mm - Max California
1997 - Inventing the Abbotts - Doug Holt
1997 - U-Turn - Toby N. Tucker a.k.a. TNT
1995 - To Die For - Jimmy Emmett
1989 - Parenthood - Garry Buckman-Lampkin
1987 - Russkies - Danny
1986 - Space Camp - Max
See also
List of famous Puerto Ricans
Trivia
According to a March 5, 2006 interview with syndicated columnist James Brady for Parade (magazine) (page 20), Joaquin's "official bio said they [his family] went all over South America...[w]hen I asked about that, he laughed..."Cripes, you're in the business...[d]on't tell me you believe that stuff!".
