Joaquin Phoenix Trivia | 50 facts about the actor

Joaquin Phoenix is an American actor, producer and activist. He has received various accolades, including an Academy Award and two Golden Globe Awards.

Let’s find out more about him!

1. On January 26, 2006, Phoenix was in a car accident on a winding canyon road that overturned his car. Shaken and confused, Phoenix heard a tapping on his window and a voice say, “Just relax”. Unable to see the man, Phoenix replied, “I’m fine. I am relaxed”. Then managed to see that the man was famed, eccentric German auteur Werner Herzog, and Herzog replied, “No, you’re not”. After helping Phoenix out of the wreckage, Herzog phoned in an ambulance and vanished. The crash reportedly was caused by brake failure.
2. He and River Phoenix are the first brothers to be nominated for acting Academy Awards.
3. Often brings his mother or any of his three sisters as his date to movie premieres or award shows.
4. He is a strict vegan.
5. He refuses to wear any costumes made out of animal skin. For the movie The Gladiator (2000), Quills (2000) and Walk the Line (2005), among others, he requested that his “leather” costumes be made from synthetic materials.
6. Phoenix has done his own vocals on the soundtrack for Walk the Line (2005).
7. He and actress Rooney Mara have a son together named River, after Phoenix’s late brother.
8. Claims to have watched Stepbrothers (2008) more times than any other film.
9. Close friends with Matt Damon, Vince Vaughn, Keanu Reeves and the late Heath Ledger.
10. Was born Joaquin Rafael, but at the age of four, he decided that he wanted a more earthy name, like his elder siblings River and Rain, so while he was raking leaves with his father he decided on Leaf.
11. In early roles, he was credited as Leaf Phoenix. In the early 1990s, he took back his birth name.
12. Checked himself into rehab to be treated for alcoholism. (April 2005)
13. Announced his retirement from acting in October 2008 and claimed he wanted to pursue a career as a rapper.
14. This announcement was followed by several bizarre appearances and musical performances by Phoenix, which made the shocked public wonder whether it was all just an act or if his behavior was for real. His retirement from acting and his “career” as a rapper turned out to be a hoax, which was part of his movie I’m Still Here (2010).
15. He doesn’t watch his own films and has said he’s only seen two: The Master (2012) and Her (2013).
16. He was personally chose by Johnny Cash to play him in Walk The Line (2005) after being impressed by his performance in Gladiator (2000).
17. Kate Winslet who worked with him on Quills(2000) calls him one of the best actors of his generation.
18. Once refused to wear shoes during a photo shoot for Prada because they were made out of leather.
19. Contrary to popular belief, the scar on his lip is not the result of a repaired cleft lip or palate. It is simply a birth mark. Phoenix has stated in interviews that, while pregnant with him, his mother felt a sharp pain one day, and he was born with a mark on his lip.
20. Began dating Rooney Mara when shooting Maria Magdalena (2018) together.
21. Joaquin Phoenix and Heath Ledger won an Academy Award for their performances as the Joker, becoming the second pair of actors to win Academy Awards for playing the same character – the other pair being Marlon Brando and Robert De Niro, who won Best Actor and Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor respectively, for their portrayals of Vito Corleone.
22. Brother of River Phoenix, Rain Phoenix, Liberty Phoenix, & Summer Phoenix.
23. His Joker (2019) co-star Robert DeNiro is his favorite actor.
24. Resides in New York City in the same apartment building as best friend Casey Affleck and sister Summer Phoenix and director Gus Van Sant.
25. He is the the second actor to win an Academy Award for playing the Joker. The first was Heath Ledger.
26. Two days after his 19th birthday, he was in the company of his brother River Phoenix, his sister Rain Phoenix and River’s girlfriend Samantha Mathis at The Viper Room in Hollywood, California when River Phoenix suffered an overdose of heroin and cocaine in the early hours of October 31, 1993. Phoenix called 911 from a call box located across the street from the club (co-owned by Johnny Depp who was performing on stage with his band at the time). A distraught Phoenix informed the 911 operator that his brother was “laying on the cement” had “taken a Valium” and was “having seizures”, adding “Please, [get here] because he’s dying”. River Phoenix was pronounced dead at Cedars-Sinai Medical Centre at 1:51am, he was 23. Phoenix immediately returned to his home in Florida with his sister and mother (who had flown out to collect him). The incident was a high-profile celebrity death, with Phoenix’s recorded 911 call released to the media and played repeatedly on news reports covering the story over the following weeks.
27. Announced his engagement to actress Rooney Mara on July 21, 2019.
28. Joaquin and his brother River both played the son of Richard Harris: Joaquin in The Gladiator (2000), and River in Silent Tongue(1993).
29. Spoke Spanish as a small child but forgot most of this as he got older.
30. Reportedly never reads his own press or reviews.
31. Rides a Ducati motorcycle and a yellow 1972 Le Mans.
32. Has one child: son River (born September 2020) with fiancée Rooney Mara. The boy is named after his late uncle, actor River Phoenix.
33. He turned down the role of Dirk Diggler in Boogie Nights (1997) which went to Mark Wahlberg.
34. He later went on to work with the film’s director Paul Thomas Anderson twice, playing lead roles in The Master (2012) and Inherent Vice (2014).
35. His first name is pronounced “Wha-keen”.
36. As of 2020, he has been in 3 films that were Oscar nominated for Best Picture: The Gladiator (2000), HER (2013), and Joker (2019). Of these, Gladiator is a winner in the category.
37. Is a celebrity spokesperson for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA).
38. He was considered for the role of Norman Bates in the remake Psycho (1998), before Vince Vaughn was cast.
39. Second actor born in Puerto Rico to have won the Academy Award for Best Actor. The first was José Ferrer.
40. Phoenix’s looks provided the inspiration for the design of the character Bill the Cat in The Freak Next Door (2012), most noticeably the darkened circles under his eyes.
41. Joaquin has been nominated for three categories in the Music Video Production Association Awards (2006), Directorial Debut, Direction of a New Artist, and Adult Contemporary.
42. He supported Bernie Sanders in the 2016 U.S. Presidential election
43. He is the fourth actor to receive an Academy Award nomination for his performance in a comic book adaptation, after Paul Newman for Road To Perdition (2002), William Hurt in A History of Violence (2005) and Heath Ledger in The Dark Knight (2008). All four actors were nominated for DC Comics adaptations.
44. The longest he has gone without an Oscar nomination is seven years, between Walk the Line (2005) and The Master (2012).
45. Became an uncle again after sister, Summer Phoenix, gave birth to Indiana Affleck (2004).
46. Prior to being cast as Batman’s arch enemy The Joker in Joker (2019), he had been Darren Aronofsky’s choice to play the role of Batman in a Batman: Year One adaptation that never got made.
47. Took his mother to the Academy Awards (2001).
48. Favorite authors include Tennessee Williams, Rainer Maria Rilke and Hubert Selby Jr..
49. Took his mother to the premiere of The Gladiator.
50. Donated $2,000 to Dennis Kucinich’s (DSA) campaign for president – along with such other famous contributors as Willie Nelson, Danny Glover and Edward Asner (2003).