River Phoenix

Acting · Born 1970-08-23 in Metolius, Oregon USA

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…

Filmography

• Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade as Young Indy
• Stand by Me as Chris Chambers
• My Own Private Idaho as Mike Waters
• Running on Empty as Danny Pope
• I Love You to Death as Devo Nod
• Sneakers as Carl
• The Mosquito Coast as Charlie Fox
• Little Nikita as Jeff Grant
• Explorers as Wolfgang Müller
• The Thing Called Love as James Wright

TV

• Family Ties as Eugene Forbes
• Hotel
• It's Your Move as Brian
• Seven Brides for Seven Brothers as Guthrie McFadden
• Robert Kennedy & His Times as Robert Kennedy Jr.
• Celebrity as Jeffie - Age 11
• Too Young to Die as Self (archive footage)