
River Phoenix
Acting • Born 1970-08-23 – Died 1993-10-31
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.
Filmography
38 credits
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
Movie • 1989
Young Indy

Stand by Me
Movie • 1986
Chris Chambers

My Own Private Idaho
Movie • 1991
Mike Waters

The Phoenix Portal
Movie • 2005
Wolfgang Müller / Michael "Mike" Waters (archive footage)

I Love You to Death
Movie • 1990
Devo Nod

Sneakers
Movie • 1992
Carl

The Mosquito Coast
Movie • 1986
Charlie Fox

Little Nikita
Movie • 1988
Jeff Grant

Explorers
Movie • 1985
Wolfgang Müller

The Thing Called Love
Movie • 1993
James Wright

Dogfight
Movie • 1991
Eddie Birdlace

A Night in the Life of Jimmy Reardon
Movie • 1988
Jimmy Reardon

Running on Empty
Movie • 1988
Danny Pope

Silent Tongue
Movie • 1993
Talbot Roe

This Road Will Never End
Movie • 1996
Self (archive footage)

Walking the Tracks: The Summer of Stand by Me
Movie • 2000
Self (archive footage)

The Making of ‘Sneakers’
Movie • 2003
Self

Surviving
Movie • 1985
Philip Brogan

Timeless Heroes: Indiana Jones and Harrison Ford
Movie • 2023
Self (archive footage)

Circle of Violence: A Family Drama
Movie • 1986
Chris Benfield

Backwards: The Riddle of Dyslexia
Movie • 1984
Brian Ellsworth

Joaquin Phoenix: An Actor of Extremes
Movie • 2024
Self - Actor (archive footage)

My Own Private River
Movie • 2012
Michael "Mike" Waters (archive footage)

The Making of ‘My Own Private Idaho’
Movie • 2005
Self

Truth or Dairy
Movie • 1994
Self (archive footage)

Flea Master Session
Movie • 1992
Self

Dark Blood
Movie • 2012
Boy

Evolution's End?
Movie • 1991
Self

Final 24: River Phoenix
Movie • 2006
Self (archive footage)

Indiana Jones: Making the Trilogy
Movie • 2003
Self (archive footage)

101 Most Shocking Moments in Entertainment
Movie • 2003
Self (archive footage)

Family Ties
TV • 1982
Eugene Forbes

Hotel
TV • 1982

It's Your Move
TV • 1984
Brian

Seven Brides for Seven Brothers
TV • 1982
Guthrie McFadden

Robert Kennedy & His Times
TV • 1985
Robert Kennedy Jr.

Celebrity
TV • 1984
Jeffie - Age 11

Too Young to Die
TV • 2012
Self (archive footage)