Joaquin Phoenix was born in San Juan, Puerto Rico on October 28, 1974. His parents were part of the religious cult the Children of God, which they left in 1978 and they returned to the U.S. Growing up the kids performed on the streets and in L.A. he was discovered, together with his siblings, after which he started appearing on TV shows (his first in 1982), initially under the name Leaf Phoenix. He has since starred in To Die For, U Turn and Inventing the Abbotts. It was his role in The Gladiator as Roman emperor Commodus which made him famous and he has since appeared in many other movies, including Hotel Rwanda, Sings, The Village, Walk the Line. He surprised everyone when he retired and stated he was focussing on a rap career. It eventually lead to the “documentary” I’m Still Here. He returned to acting in The Master.
What’s your favorite Joaquin Phoenix role?
Right now, it’s The Master. It’s a truly mesmerizing performance in the way he explores a man who is just absolutely broken. I also loved him in To Die For and Walk the Line. I do remember him as a kid when he was Leaf in those not-so-memorable 80s movies like Russkies and Space Camp. I bet he wants to forget some of those films.
He’s amazing in that film indeed. Also loved Walk the Line.
I’ve always enjoyed Phoenix’s work but there’s no doubt that The Master is his most outstanding performance. It’s one of the finest pieces of acting I’ve seen.
Very memorable…
Joaquin Phoenix is, in my opinion, a very underrated actor. I would have to say my favorite is his performance in The Master, and I’ve recently heard he’s planning to work with Paul Thomas Anderson again.
A lot of people are naming that performance and rightly so. Anderson would be an interesting cooperation.
I think i might be one of the few people that really liked I’m Still Here. I also was hoping that he would release his hip hop album. 🙂
Yeah, I didn’t enjoy it and really didn’t like the music in it either…
I haven’t seen The Master yet, but love him as an actor. His performance in Gladiator was the best one, IMO and in every film I’ve seen of his I have been impressed.
He’s a great actor and gives great performances.
It’s gotta be The Master. Easily my favorite performance from last year.
It was stunning indeed.
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