Joaquin Phoenix Via the Years

Joaquin Phoenix has lived by way of so much. Maybe that is a part of what makes him so adept at embodying characters in weird conditions and in moments of disaster — and few onscreen characters have ever suffered by way of so many crises, so rapidly, as Joaquin’s character in Ari Aster’s “Beau Is Afraid,” which premieres on April 21.

Within the movie, Joaquin performs the title character, Beau, a middle-aged man seemingly trapped in a perpetual adolescence. We instantly study he has a fancy relationship together with his mom and that he lives in a horrifically derelict condo constructing. However after he misses a flight to see his mom as a result of somebody stole his keys and suitcase, the world as he is aware of it begins to break down. First his constructing is overtaken by criminals, after which he learns his mom’s head was crushed by a lamp — and the horror solely escalates from there.

Joaquin’s efficiency ties the entire madcap journey collectively, and he performs the damaged, hypersensitive, and traumatized Beau expertly. Beau is much from his first spectacular efficiency, after all; he is been nominated for 4 Oscars, and took house finest actor for his position in Joker (2019). However “Beau Is Afraid” could also be certainly one of his most rigorous and spectacular performances but. In some ways, whereas removed from a typical movie, “Beau Is Afraid” could also be a typical Joaquin Phoenix challenge — one thing that, with its nonlinearity and underlying sense of random chaos, appears nearly as absurd as actual life can generally be.

Joaquin’s journey from childhood to Hollywood celebrity has definitely been a labyrinthine one. Joaquin was born on Oct. 28, 1974, and spent his earliest years in a cult referred to as Kids of God, per Britannica. He spent his childhood touring round South America together with his dad and mom, spreading the cult’s disturbing gospel, which included a heavy emphasis on intercourse, even for kids, per LA Weekly. He and his brothers, River and Rain, additionally spent a few of their childhoods begging for money and meals on the streets.

In 2014, the star defined that regardless of the trauma he endured, he would not blame his dad and mom for what occurred. “I feel my dad and mom thought they’d discovered a neighborhood that shared their beliefs,” he informed Playboy Interview, per Leisure Tonight. “Cults not often promote themselves as such. It is often somebody saying, ‘We’re like-minded folks. This can be a neighborhood,’ however I feel the second my dad and mom realized there was one thing extra to it, they bought out.”

In 1977, the household left the cult and moved to Southern California, altering their final names from Backside to Phoenix — a reputation that they adopted to represent their rebirth, per Digital Spy. To assist the household, River and Joaquin — who had adopted the identify Leaf on the time — started appearing. They each netted some roles, and River’s profession quickly took off with performances in “Stand by Me,” “My Personal Non-public Idaho,” and others.

However on Oct. 31, 1993, 23-year-old River died on the Viper Room in Los Angeles when a pal handed him a drink containing a dissolved speedball, which is a drug containing a stimulant like cocaine and a depressant like heroin. Joaquin, then 19, was with River on the time, however by the point he referred to as 911 it was too late, in accordance with Vainness Truthful.

The grieving course of was made harder by intense media scrutiny, Joaquin later revealed. “We had been so faraway from type of the leisure world. We did not watch leisure exhibits. We did not have the leisure magazines in our home,” Joaquin informed Anderson Cooper in 2020. “River was a very substantial actor and film star, and we did not actually comprehend it. And so throughout that point by which you are most weak, there are helicopters flying over. There are folks which can be attempting to sneak onto your land. Definitely, for me, it felt prefer it impeded on the mourning course of, proper?”

Joaquin continued to behave after his brother’s loss of life, and broke by way of with Roman emperor Commodus in “Gladiator” (2000). His star continued to rise with roles as Johnny Money in “Stroll the Line” (2005) and “We Personal the Evening” (2007). In 2008, although, Joaquin introduced he was retiring from appearing to pursue a hip-hop profession. He later was the topic of Casey Affleck‘s documentary “I am Nonetheless Right here” (2010), which he later revealed was a scripted mockumentary, not an precise documentation of his life.

Joaquin quickly formally returned to appearing with a efficiency in “The Grasp” (2012), enjoying an alcoholic character loosely based mostly on Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard, and went on to star in “Her” (2013) and a lot of different main titles. In 2019, he took on the position of the Joker, profitable finest actor for his efficiency, and he is set to reprise the position in “Joker 2: Folie à Deux” alongside Woman Gaga. He and fiancée Rooney Mara additionally welcomed a toddler, named River Lee Phoenix, in 2020.

Forward, see extra images of the star through the years.