RP
River Phoenix
Actor
Born August 23, 1970Died October 31, 1993 (23 years)
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.
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.
River Phoenix Filmography
| 2022 | King on Screen · as Chris Chambers |
| 2017 | The Green Fog · as Eddie Birdlace |
| 2012 | Dark Blood · as Boy |
| 2012 | My Own Private River · as Michael "mike" Waters (archive Footage) |
| 2007 | Here's Looking at You, Boy · as Mike Waters |
| 1993 | The Thing Called Love · as James Wright |
| 1993 | Silent Tongue · as Talbot Roe |
| 1992 | Sneakers · as Carl |
| 1991 | Dogfight · as Eddie Birdlace |
| 1991 | My Own Private Idaho · as Mike Waters |
| 1990 | I Love You to Death · as Devo Nod |
| 1989 | Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade · as Young Indy |
| 1988 | Running on Empty · as Danny Pope |
| 1988 | Little Nikita · as Jeff Grant |
| 1988 | A Night in the Life of Jimmy Reardon · as Jimmy Reardon |
| 1986 | The Mosquito Coast · as Charlie Fox |
| 1986 | Circle of Violence: A Family Drama · as Chris Benfield |
| 1986 | Stand by Me · as Chris Chambers |
| 1985 | Explorers · as Wolfgang Müller |
| 1985 | Surviving · as Philip Brogan |
| 1985 | Robert Kennedy and His Times (TV Series) · as Robert Kennedy Jr. |
| 1984 | It's Your Move (TV Series) |
| 1984 | Celebrity (1984) (TV Series) · as Jeffie - Age 11 |
| 1983 | Hotel (TV Series) |
| 1982 | Family Ties (TV Series) · as Eugene Forbes |
| 1982 | Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (TV Series) · as Guthrie Mcfadden |
| 1972 | The ABC Afterschool Special (TV Series) · as Brian Ellsworth |
| 2024 | Child Star · as Self - Former Child Actor |
| 2024 | Joaquin Phoenix - Schauspieler der Extreme · as Self - Actor (archive Footage) |
| 2023 | Timeless Heroes: Indiana Jones and Harrison Ford · as Self (archive Footage) |
| 2022 | Johnny Depp: The Love of the Bizarre · as Self |
| 2012 | Too Young To Die (TV Series) · as Self (archive Footage) |
| 2005 | The 77th Annual Academy Awards · as Self |
| 2003 | Indiana Jones: Making the Trilogy · as Self (archive Footage) |
| 2003 | |
| 2000 | Walking the Tracks: The Summer of Stand by Me · as Self (archive Footage) |
| 1994 | The 66th Annual Academy Awards · as Self - Memorial Tribute |
| 1993 | Canceled Lives: Letters from the Inside · as Self |
| 1991 | Teen Vid II · as Self |
| 1989 | The 61st Annual Academy Awards · as Self - Nominee |
| 1986 | At The Movies (TV Series) · as Self |
| 1952 | Today (TV Series) · as Self |