He’s also known for a very distinct microform scar on his lip, which he says he was born with. Further, he’s been a well-known vegan, since he was three, and is an animal rights activist and a member of the PETA.
Phoenix’s father is John Lee Bottom, of Irish and Spanish descent, and his mother, Arlyn Sharon Dunetz, was born to Orthodox Jewish Hungarian and Russian immigrants. Botton and Dunetz were part of the Children of God cult. His older brother is the late actor River Phoenix, who died from a drug-induced heart failure in 1993 when he was only twenty-three.
The family moved from Puerto Rico to California when Phoenix was six, leaving the cult and changing their name from Bottom to Phoenix . The parents hired an agent to find acting work for their five children. Joaquin Phoenix then became a notable child actor, under the name "Leaf." He first of all acted with his brother River in the TV shows Seven Brides for Seven Brothers in 1982 and Backwards: The Riddle of Dyslexia in 1984, which also featured Madge Sinclair, Judy Farrell, and Stephanie Evans.
Phoenix ’s debut on the big screen was as Max in SpaceCamp in 1986, co-starring Kate Capshaw, Lea Thompson, Kelly Preston, Larry B. Scott, and Tate Donovan. He went on to appear in Ron Howard’s Parenthood in 1989, which starred Steve Martin. He then took a brief hiatus from acting, spending time with his dad, and then dealing with the aftermath of his brother’s tragic death.
He came back into the world of acting with a leading role in 1995’s To Die For, co-starring Nicole Kidman and Matt Dillon, and also went to act in Inventing the Abbotts in 1997, with Liv Tyler, Billy Crudup, and Jennifer Connelly; Gladiator in 2000, starring Russell Crowe; and in M Night Shyamalan’s Signs in 2002 and The Village in 2004.
But his biggest role was yet to come. He was cast as Johnny Cash in Walk the Line in 2005, opposite Reese Witherspoon, and spent years practicing guitar and singing in preparation. The film was a huge success with critics and fans alike, and Phoenix was nominated for the Best Actor Oscar and won a Golden Globe, and Witherspoon won the Oscar for Best Actress.
By 2009 Joaquin was to take a new path in his performing career and became a hip-hop rapper. Changing both his career path and his appearance, Phoenix shocked many people when he appeared on the David Letterman show in February 2009 and appeared to have morphed from the handsome star from Walk the Line into a homeless hobo and a somewhat incoherent wreck.
Some believed the change in Phoenix's appearance was a stunt as he went on the rounds promoting his 2009 movie Two Lovers which saw him starring as a broken hearted man in hot pursuit of Gwyneth Paltow's character, Michelle.
YUDDY
