logo

Personal Info

Known For

Acting

Known Credits

39

Gender

Male

Birthday

1970-08-23

Day of Death

1993-10-31 (23 years old)

Place of Birth

Metolius, Oregon USA

Also Known As

ریور فینیکس

River Jude Phoenix

Rio Jude Phoenix

River Jude Bottom

River Phoenix

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

Acting

Stand by Me

1986

Stand by Me

as

Chris Chambers

My Own Private Idaho

1991

My Own Private Idaho

as

Mike Waters

The Phoenix Portal

2005

The Phoenix Portal

as

Wolfgang Müller / Michael "Mike" Waters (archive footage)

I Love You to Death

1990

I Love You to Death

as

Devo Nod

Sneakers

1992

Sneakers

as

Carl

The Mosquito Coast

1986

The Mosquito Coast

as

Charlie Fox

Little Nikita

1988

Little Nikita

as

Jeff Grant

Explorers

1985

Explorers

as

Wolfgang Müller

The Thing Called Love

1993

The Thing Called Love

as

James Wright

Dogfight

1991

Dogfight

as

Eddie Birdlace

Running on Empty

1988

Running on Empty

as

Danny Pope

Silent Tongue

1993

Silent Tongue

as

Talbot Roe

This Road Will Never End

1996

This Road Will Never End

as

Self (archive footage)

Surviving

1985

Surviving

as

Philip Brogan

Joaquin Phoenix: An Actor of Extremes

2024

Joaquin Phoenix: An Actor of Extremes

as

Self - Actor (archive footage)

My Own Private River

2012

My Own Private River

as

Michael "Mike" Waters (archive footage)

Truth or Dairy

1994

Truth or Dairy

as

Self (archive footage)

Dark Blood

2012

Dark Blood

as

Boy

Final 24: River Phoenix

2006

Final 24: River Phoenix

as

Self (archive footage)

Indiana Jones: Making the Trilogy

2003

Indiana Jones: Making the Trilogy

as

Self (archive footage)

101 Most Shocking Moments in Entertainment

2003

101 Most Shocking Moments in Entertainment

as

Self (archive footage)

Family Ties

Family Ties

as

Eugene Forbes

Robert Kennedy & His Times

Robert Kennedy & His Times

as

Robert Kennedy Jr.

Celebrity

Celebrity

as

Jeffie - Age 11

Too Young to Die

Too Young to Die

as

Self (archive footage)

Production

Crew

Directing