River Phoenix
Acting
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.
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
as Young Indy
Age 18 (now 23)
A Night in the Life of Jimmy Reardon
as Jimmy Reardon
Age 17 (now 23)
My Own Private River
as Michael "Mike" Waters (archive footage)
Age 41 (now 23)
Circle of Violence: A Family Drama
as Chris Benfield
Age 16 (now 23)
Joaquin Phoenix: An Actor of Extremes
as Self - Actor (archive footage)
Age 53 (now 23)
Timeless Heroes: Indiana Jones and Harrison Ford
as Self (archive footage)
Age 53 (now 23) My Own Private River
as Michael "Mike" Waters (archive footage)
Age 41 (now 23)
The Making of ‘My Own Private Idaho’
as Self
Age 34 (now 23)
The Phoenix Portal
as Wolfgang Müller / Michael "Mike" Waters (archive footage)
Age 34 (now 23)
Indiana Jones: Making the Trilogy
as Self (archive footage)
Age 33 (now 23)
101 Most Shocking Moments in Entertainment
as Self (archive footage)
Age 32 (now 23)
Walking the Tracks: The Summer of Stand by Me
as Self (archive footage)
Age 30 (now 23)
This Road Will Never End
as Self (archive footage)
Age 26 (now 23)
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
as Young Indy
Age 18 (now 23) A Night in the Life of Jimmy Reardon
as Jimmy Reardon
Age 17 (now 23) Circle of Violence: A Family Drama
as Chris Benfield
Age 16 (now 23)
Backwards: The Riddle of Dyslexia
as Brian Ellsworth
Age 13 (now 23)
Robert Kennedy & His Times
as Robert Kennedy Jr.
Age 14 (now 23)
Seven Brides for Seven Brothers
as Guthrie McFadden
Age 12 (now 23)
Gathering insights...
Also Known As
River Jude Phoenix, Rio Jude Phoenix, River Jude Bottom
IMDB
nm0000203