Joaquin Phoenix

Joaquin Phoenix (birthname: Joaquin Rafael Phoenix) is one of his generation’s unique actors, combining a single-minded focus to his roles with a highly selective approach to projects and collaborations with such filmmakers as Woody Allen, Paul Thomas Anderson, Ari Aster, Jacques Audiard, James Gray, Spike Jonze, Philip Kaufman, James Mangold, Mike Mills, Todd Phillips, Lynne Ramsay, Ridley Scott, M. Night Shyamalan, Oliver Stone, Thomas Vinterberg, and Gus Van Sant. Phoenix’s first movies as a child actor in supporting roles were

Kids Don’t Tell (1985), directed by Sam O’Steen; SpaceCamp (1986); Russkies (1987), co-directed by sibling Leaf Phoenix; and the Ron Howard-directed Parenthood (1989), starring Steve Martin. After a break from acting, Joaquin Phoenix returned with To Die For (1995), directed by Van Sant, written by Buck Henry, and co-starring Nicole Kidman and Matt Dillon, which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival. Phoenix then co-starred with Liv Tyler, Billy Crudup, Jennifer Connelly, and Joanna Going in the Pat O’Connor drama based on Sue Miller’s story, Inventing the Abbotts (1997).

In one of his first striking roles, Phoenix had a colorful supporting role in U Turn (1997), directed by Stone and written by John Ridley, and co-starring Sean Penn, Jennifer Lopez, Nick Nolte, Powers Boothe, Claire Danes, Billy Bob Thornton, and Jon Voight, and premiering at the Telluride film festival. Phoenix played major support to Vince Vaughn and Anne Heche in the thriller, Return to Paradise (1998), followed by Phoenix again co-starring with Vaughn in the black comedy, Clay Pigeons (1998). Phoenix again played support, this time opposite Nicolas Cage, James Gandolfini, Peter Stormare, and Anthony Heald, in 8mm (1999), directed by Joel Schumacher and grossing $97 million after a Berlin film festival premiere.

Joaquin Phoenix had his first of several collaborations with filmmaker James Gray—and in one of his first substantial starring roles—in the outstanding drama, The Yards (2000), with Mark Wahlberg, Charlize Theron, Faye Dunaway, Ellen Burstyn, and James Caan, for which Phoenix won the best supporting actor award from the National Board of Review. Phoenix’s breakthrough performance (and his first Oscar nomination) came with his role as the evil Commodus in Gladiator (2000), directed by Ridley Scott, and starring Russell Crowe, Connie Nielsen, Oliver Reed, Derek Jacobi, Djimon Hounsou, and Richard Harris, and earning over $503 million globally.

Phoenix stayed in period mode with Quills (2000), directed by Philip Kaufman, playing opposite Geoffrey Rush (as Marquis de Sade), Kate Winslet, and Michael Caine, and which premiered at the Telluride film festival to great acclaim. Joaquin Phoenix starred in the black military comedy, Buffalo Soldiers (2001), co-written and directed by Gregor Jordan and co-starring Ed Harris, Anna Paquin, Scott Glenn, and Dean Stockwell, which premiered at the Toronto Film Festival and released in limited pattern by Miramax Films.

Phoenix then co-starred with Mel Gibson in one of writer-director M. Night Shyamalan’s biggest hits, Signs (2002), with Rory Culkin, Abigail Breslin, and Cherry Jones, and grossing $408 million. Phoenix starred opposite Claire Danes and Sean Penn in Danish filmmaker Thomas Vinterberg’s widely disliked romance drama, It’s All About Love (2003), premiering at the Cannes Film Festival. Phoenix performed his only voice role in an animated movie in Disney’s musical fantasy, Brother Bear (2003), with the fellow voices of Rick Moranis, Dave Thomas, and D.B. Sweeney, and grossing over $250 million worldwide.

Joaquin Phoenix reunited with filmmaker M. Night Shyamalan in a co-starring role for his much-debated drama, The Village (2004), with Bryce Dallas Howard, Adrien Brody, William Hurt, Sigourney Weaver, and Brendan Gleeson, and earning over four times costs with $257 million gross. After Phoenix played support to star (and Oscar nominee) Don Cheadle in the Terry George-directed drama, Hotel Rwanda (2004), he co-starred with John Travolta as Baltimore firemen in Ladder 49 (2004), with Morris Chestnut, Robert Patrick, and Balthazar Getty, and turning in a good gross of $102 million globally for Touchstone Pictures.

Joaquin Phoenix won his first Best Actor Oscar nomination for his acclaimed turn as Johnny Cash in the biopic, Walk the Line (2005), co-written and directed by James Mangold, and co-starring Reese Witherspoon (who won the Best Actress Oscar), and earning a robust $187 million worldwide. Phoenix rejoined his frequent filmmaker collaborator, James Gray, as co-star and producer for the superb NYPD drama, We Own the Night (2007), co-starring Mark Wahlberg (also a producer), Eva Mendes, and Robert Duvall, premiering at the Cannes Film festival and grossing $55 million globally.

Phoenix then teamed up again with director Terry George for a starring role in the poorly performing drama, Reservation Road (2007), with Jennifer Connelly, Mark Ruffalo, and Mira Sorvino. Phoenix again worked with Gray on the fine romantic drama, Two Lovers (2008), based on Dostoevsky’s 1848 short story, White Nights, co-starring Gwyneth Paltrow and Vinessa Shaw and premiering at the Cannes Film Festival, and earning a $16.3 million gross. After publicly announcing his “retirement” from acting, Phoenix delivered an Andy Kaufman-like meta-performance as a supposed “rap artist” in the staged film, I’m Still Here (2010), directed by Casey Affleck, and premiering at the Venice Film Festival.

Joaquin Phoenix returned properly to acting after a four-year break in a magnificent performance Paul Thomas Anderson’s brilliant drama, The Master (2012), loosely based on the parts of the life of L. Ron Hubbard as well as portions of Thomas Pynchon’s novel, V., as well as life passages of actor Jason Robards and novelist John Steinbeck, and with the cast of Philip Seymour Hoffman, Amy Adams, Laura Dern, Rami Malek, and Jesse Plemons, and premiering at the Venice film festival.

Phoenix again matched up with James Gray for the atmospheric period drama, The Immigrant (2013), starring Marion Cotillard and Jeremy Renner, and released by The Weinstein Company. Joaquin Phoenix delivered one of his most unique performances—playing the titular voice of Scarlett Johansson—in Spike Jonze’s sci-fi drama, Her (2013), with Amy Adams, Rooney Mara, and Olivia Wilde, and winning the Best Screenplay Oscar for Jonze and grossing over $48 million worldwide.

Phoenix continued a fascinating run of performances as a scraggly gumshoe in Paul Thomas Anderson’s adaptation of Pynchon’s novel, Inherent Vice (2014), with Josh Brolin, Owen Wilson, Katherine Waterston, Reese Witherspoon, Benicio del Toro, Martin Short, Jena Malone, and Joanna Newsom, and earning $14.7 million globally. Phoenix was cast in the lead for his only film with writer-director Woody Allen, Irrational Man (2015), co-starring Emma Stone, Parker Posey, and Jamie Blackley, and grossing a fair $27.4 million.

Phoenix won Best Actor at the Cannes Film Festival for his intense star turn in Lynne Ramsay’s dark drama, You Were Never Really Here (2017), with Judith Roberts and Alessandro Nivola, earning nearly $10 million theatrically before streaming on Amazon Prime. After a 23-year break, Phoenix reteamed with filmmaker  Gus Van Sant for the comic biopic, Don’t Worry, He Won’t Get Far on Foot (2018), in which Phoenix portrays paralyzed Portland, Ore. cartoonist John Calahan, with Jonah Hill, Rooney Mara, and Jack Black, and receiving a combined theatrical and streaming release on Amazon after a Sundance film festival premiere.

Joaquin Phoenix then played Jesus in the Garth Davis-directed Biblical drama, Mary Magdalene (2018), with Rooney Mara in the title role with Chiwetel Ejiofor and Tahar Rahim, earning $12 million globally. In his first Western, Phoenix starred opposite John C. Reilly in the amusing feature version of Patrick DeWitt’s novel, The Sisters Brothers (2018), co-written and directed by Jacques Audiard, featuring Jake Gyllenhaal, Riz Ahmed, and Rutger Hauer, earning good reviews but poor box office after a Venice film festival premiere.

Joaquin Phoenix won the Best Actor Oscar for his bold performance as Joker (2019), co-written and directed by Todd Phillips in what is certainly the most radical and darkest of all DC Comics Universe movies, with Robert De Niro, Zazie Beetz, and Frances Conroy, and turning a phenomenal profit for Warner Bros. with a $1.07 billion return after winning the Golden Lion at the Venice film festival. Phoenix shifted to a lighter mode for indie filmmaker Mike Mills for his family comedy-drama, C’mon C’mon (2021), with Gaby Hoffmann and Jaboukie Young-White, released by A24.

Phoenix then starred in one of his few all-out horror movies with the surreal Beau Is Afraid (2023), from writer-director Ari Aster, with Nathan Lane, Amy Ryan, Hayley Squires, Parker Posey, and Patti LuPone, but proving a box-office disappointment for distributor A24. In a major shift, Phoenix tackled the immense title role of Ridley Scott’s epic, Napoleon (2023), co-starring Vanessa Kirby, Rahim, Ben Miles, and Ludivine Sagnier, and produced for $200 million.

Phoenix did his only sequel in his reunion with filmmaker Phillips for Joker: Folie à Deux (2024), with Lady Gaga as Harley Quinn, Zazie Beetz, Brendan Gleeson, Catherine Keener, Jacob Lofland, and Harry Lawley. Phoenix reunited with writer-director Lynne Ramsay for the supernatural drama set in 1890s Alaska, Polaris (date to be announced), with Rooney Mara.