River Phoenix

Personal Info

Known For

Acting

Known Credits

34

Gender

Male

Birthday

1970-08-23

Deathday

1993-10-31 (23 years old)

Place of Birth

Metolius, Oregon USA

River Phoenix

Biography

River Jude Phoenix (né Bottom; August 23, 1970 – October 31, 1993) was an American actor and musician.

Phoenix grew up in an itinerant family, as the older brother of Rain Phoenix, Joaquin Phoenix, Liberty Phoenix, and Summer Phoenix. He had no formal schooling, but showed an instinctive talent for the guitar. He began his acting career at age 10 in television commercials. He starred in the science fiction adventure film Explorers (1985) and had his first notable 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 died at age 23 from combined drug intoxication in West Hollywood in the early hours of Halloween, 1993, having overdosed on cocaine and heroin (a mixture commonly known as speedball) at The Viper Room.

Description above from the Wikipedia article River Phoenix, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.

Known For

Stand by Me
7.9%

Stand by Me

Aug 8, 1986

My Own Private Idaho
7.1%

My Own Private Idaho

Feb 1, 1991

Sneakers
6.9%

Sneakers

Sep 9, 1992

The Mosquito Coast
6.4%

The Mosquito Coast

Nov 26, 1986

Explorers
6.2%

Explorers

Jul 12, 1985

Running on Empty
7.5%

Running on Empty

Sep 9, 1988

I Love You to Death
6.4%

I Love You to Death

Apr 6, 1990

Family Ties
7.2%

Family Ties

Sep 22, 1982

The Thing Called Love
6.3%

The Thing Called Love

Aug 27, 1993

Dogfight
6.9%

Dogfight

Sep 13, 1991

Little Nikita
5.9%

Little Nikita

Mar 17, 1988

    • View by:
    • Media type:
    • Department:

Acting

2023
Timeless Heroes: Indiana Jones & Harrison Ford as Self (archive footage)
2020
Showbiz Kids as Self (archive footage)
2012
Dark Blood as Boy
2012
Too Young to Die as Self (archive footage)
2011
My Own Private River as Michael "Mike" Waters (archive footage)
2005
The Making of ‘My Own Private Idaho’
2005
The Phoenix Portal as Wolfgang Müller / Michael "Mike" Waters (archive footage)
2003
The Making of ‘Sneakers’ as Self
2000
Walking the Tracks: The Summer of Stand by Me as Self (archive footage)
1996
This Road Will Never End as Self (archive footage)
1994
Truth or Dairy as Self (archive footage)
1993
The Thing Called Love as James Wright
1993
Silent Tongue as Talbot Roe
1992
Sneakers as Carl
1992
Flea Master Session as Self
1991
Dogfight as Eddie Birdlace
1991
My Own Private Idaho as Michael "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
A Night in the Life of Jimmy Reardon as Jimmy Reardon
1988
Little Nikita as Jeff Grant
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 & His Times as Robert Kennedy Jr.
1984
It's Your Move
1984
Backwards: The Riddle of Dyslexia as Brian Ellsworth
1984
Celebrity as Jeffie - Age 11
1982
Family Ties as Eugene Forbes
1982
Seven Brides for Seven Brothers as Guthrie McFadden
1982
Hotel

Crew

1994
Interview with the Vampire as In Memory Of
Movies
TV Shows
People
Search