River Phoenix
- Known for
- Acting
- Born
- August 23, 1970
- Died
- October 31, 1993 (aged 23)
- Birthplace
- Metolius, Oregon USA
Biography
River Jude Phoenix (née Bottom; August 23, 1970 – October 31, 1993) was an American actor, musician, and activist. Phoenix grew up in an itinerant family, as the oldest brother of Rain Phoenix, Joaquin Phoenix, Liberty Phoenix, and Summer Phoenix. He had no formal schooling, but he showed an instinctive talent for the guitar, and he played and sang on the streets for money. He began his acting career at age 10 in a handful of television commercials. He starred in the science fiction adventure film Explorers (1985) and had his breakthrough role in 1986's Stand by Me, a coming-of-age film based on the novella The Body by Stephen King. Phoenix made a transition into more adult-oriented roles with Running on Empty (1988), playing Danny Pope, the son of fugitive parents in a well-received performance that earned him a nomination for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor (at age 18, he became the sixth-youngest nominee in the category), and My Own Private Idaho (1991), playing Michael Waters, a gay hustler in search of his estranged mother. For his performance in the latter, Phoenix garnered enormous praise and won a Volpi Cup for Best Actor at the 1991 Venice Film Festival as well as Independent Spirit Award for Best Male Lead and National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Actor, becoming the second-youngest winner of the former. Phoenix fought heroin addiction and died at age 23 from combined drug intoxication in West Hollywood in the early hours of Halloween, 1993, after unknowingly ingesting cocaine and heroin (a mixture commonly known as a speedball) at The Viper Room.
Known For
Photos
Filmography
Butthole Surfers: The Hole Truth and Nothing Butt
Movie · as Self (archive footage)
Joaquin Phoenix: An Actor of Extremes
Movie · as Self - Actor (archive footage)
Timeless Heroes: Indiana Jones and Harrison Ford
Movie · as Self (archive footage)
Showbiz Kids
Movie · as Self
My Own Private River
Movie · as Michael "Mike" Waters (archive footage)
Dark Blood
Movie · as Boy
Too Young to Die
TV · as Self (archive footage) · 1 ep
Final 24: River Phoenix
Movie · as Self (archive footage)
The Phoenix Portal
Movie · as Wolfgang Müller / Michael "Mike" Waters (archive footage)
The Making of ‘Sneakers’
Movie · as Self
Indiana Jones: Making the Trilogy
Movie · as Self (archive footage)
101 Most Shocking Moments in Entertainment
Movie · as Self (archive footage)
Walking the Tracks: The Summer of Stand by Me
Movie · as Self (archive footage)
This Road Will Never End
Movie · as Self (archive footage)
Silent Tongue
Movie · as Talbot Roe
Truth or Dairy
Movie · as Self (archive footage)
The Thing Called Love
Movie · as James Wright
Sneakers
Movie · as Carl
Flea Master Session
Movie · as Self
My Own Private Idaho
Movie · as Mike Waters
Dogfight
Movie · as Eddie Birdlace
Evolution's End?
Movie · as Self
I Love You to Death
Movie · as Devo Nod
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
Movie · as Young Indy
Little Nikita
Movie · as Jeff Grant
A Night in the Life of Jimmy Reardon
Movie · as Jimmy Reardon
Running on Empty
Movie · as Danny Pope
Stand by Me
Movie · as Chris Chambers
The Mosquito Coast
Movie · as Charlie Fox
Circle of Violence: A Family Drama
Movie · as Chris Benfield
Explorers
Movie · as Wolfgang Müller
Surviving
Movie · as Philip Brogan
Robert Kennedy & His Times
TV · as Robert Kennedy Jr. · 3 eps
Backwards: The Riddle of Dyslexia
Movie · as Brian Ellsworth
It's Your Move
TV · as Brian · 1 ep
Celebrity
TV · as Young Jeffie Crawford · 3 eps
Family Ties
TV · as Eugene Forbes · 1 ep
Hotel
TV · 1 ep
Seven Brides for Seven Brothers
TV · as Guthrie McFadden · 22 eps