River Phoenix
Known for: 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.
Filmography
Series
Hotel
1982
Series
Family Ties
Eugene Forbes
1982
Film
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
Young Indy
1989
Film
Stand by Me
Chris Chambers
1986
Film
Sneakers
Carl
1992
Film
Explorers
Wolfgang Müller
1985
Series
It's Your Move
Brian
1984
Film
My Own Private Idaho
Mike Waters
1991
Series
Seven Brides for Seven Brothers
Guthrie McFadden
1982
Series
Too Young to Die
Self (archive footage)
2012
Series
Celebrity
Young Jeffie Crawford
1984
Film
Dogfight
Eddie Birdlace
1991
Film
I Love You to Death
Devo Nod
1990
Film
Running on Empty
Danny Pope
1988
Film
Timeless Heroes: Indiana Jones and Harrison Ford
Self (archive footage)
2023
Film
The Mosquito Coast
Charlie Fox
1986
Film
The Thing Called Love
James Wright
1993
Film
Little Nikita
Jeff Grant
1988
Series
Robert Kennedy & His Times
Robert Kennedy Jr.
1985
Film
A Night in the Life of Jimmy Reardon
Jimmy Reardon
1988
Film
Indiana Jones: Making the Trilogy
Self (archive footage)
2003
Film
Circle of Violence: A Family Drama
Chris Benfield
1986
Film
Surviving
Philip Brogan
1985
Film
Silent Tongue
Talbot Roe
1994
Film
Backwards: The Riddle of Dyslexia
Brian Ellsworth
1984
Film
Dark Blood
Boy
2012
Film
The Making of ‘Sneakers’
Self
2003
Film
Final 24: River Phoenix
Self (archive footage)
2006
Film
Joaquin Phoenix: An Actor of Extremes
Self - Actor (archive footage)
2024
Film
101 Most Shocking Moments in Entertainment
Self (archive footage)
2003
Film
My Own Private River
Michael "Mike" Waters (archive footage)
2012
Film
Walking the Tracks: The Summer of Stand by Me
Self (archive footage)
2000
Film
The Making of ‘My Own Private Idaho’
Self
2005
Film
Truth or Dairy
Self (archive footage)
1994
Film
The Phoenix Portal
Wolfgang Müller / Michael "Mike" Waters (archive footage)
2005
Film
This Road Will Never End
Self (archive footage)
1996
Film
Evolution's End?
Self
1991
Film
Flea Master Session
Self
1992