Background and career
Joaquin Rafael Phoenix ( whah-KEEN; né Bottom; October 28, 1974) is an American actor. Widely described as one of the preeminent actors of his generation and known for his roles as dark, unconventional and eccentric characters in independent film, he has received various accolades, including an Academy Award, an Actor Award, a BAFTA Award, a Grammy Award, a Volpi Cup, and two Golden Globes. Phoenix began his career by appearing in television series in the early 1980s with his brother River. His first major film roles were in SpaceCamp (1986) and Parenthood (1989). During this period, he was credited as Leaf Phoenix, a name he gave himself. He took back his birth name in the early 1990s and received critical acclaim for his supporting roles in To Die For (1995) and Quills (2000). Phoenix received further critical acclaim and a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his portrayal of Commodus in the historical drama Gladiator (2000).
He had success with the horror films Signs (2002) and The Village (2004), the historical drama Hotel Rwanda (2004), and won a Grammy Award, a Golden Globe Award, and a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actor for his portrayal of musician Johnny Cash in the biopic Walk the Line (2005). Following a brief sabbatical, Phoenix starred in the psychological drama The Master (2012), winning the Volpi Cup for Best Actor and earning his third Academy Award nomination. He gained praise for his roles in the romantic drama Her (2013) and the crime satire Inherent Vice (2014), and won the Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actor for the psychological thriller You Were Never Really Here (2017). For his performance as the titular character of Joker (2019), Phoenix won the Academy Award for Best Actor. He reprised his role in the 2024 sequel Joker: Folie à Deux. He has since starred in the independent films C'mon C'mon (2021), Beau Is Afraid (2023) and Eddington (2025), and portrayed the title role in the historical drama Napoleon (2023).
Outside acting, Phoenix is an animal rights activist. A vegan, he regularly supports charitable causes and has produced several documentaries on global meat consumption and its impact on the environment.
Joaquin Rafael Bottom was born on October 28, 1974, at the Hospital Metropolitano San Francisco in Río Piedras, San Juan, Puerto Rico, to Arlyn Sharon "Heart" (née Dunetz), an executive secretary at NBC whose connection to an agent provided her children with acting work, and John Lee Bottom, the founder of a landscape gardening company. He is the middle child of five, following River and Rain, and preceding Liberty and Summer, all of whom have been involved in acting. They also have an older paternal half-sister, Jodean. Their father was a Catholic from Fontana, California, and was of English, German and French ancestry. Bottom's maternal grandparents were Ashkenazi Jews originally from Hungary and Russia. Soon after Rain was born, Bottom's parents joined the religious cult Children of God, traveling as missionaries throughout the Caribbean and South America, where he and Liberty were born. They eventually became disillusioned with the cult and left in 1977, being opposed to the latter's increasingly questionable rules, particularly the practice of flirty fishing.
How Joaquin Phoenix makes money
It was a box office success, grossing $126 million worldwide against its $20 million budget. The film turned out to be a box office success, grossing $96 million worldwide, but found few admirers among critics.
Sources
Net-worth figure: Celebrity Net Worth (2026-10-07), in USD. Biography and career facts: the person's Wikipedia article and linked reporting. Snapshot date for all StarWorth figures: 28 October 2026.
