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Joaquin Phoenix was born in Puerto Rico and began his acting career as a small child. He has since demonstrated to audiences all over the world his ability to portray very diverse characters. In 1986, at age ten, he appeared in Spacecamp and in 1987, he starred in Russkies with sister Summer and Carole King. In 1989, he landed the role of Dianne Weist's teenage son in the Ron Howard directed film Parenthood for Universal Pictures.

In 1995, after taking a long hiatus from making films, Phoenix gave a stunning and critically-acclaimed performance opposite Nicole Kidman in Gus Van Sant's To Die For. New York Times film critic Janet Maslin hailed the young man as an actor to watch for. He followed that film by co-starring with Liv Tyler, Billy Crudup and Jennifer Connelly in Inventing the Abbotts in 1997. Also in 1997 he co-starred opposite Claire Danes, Sean Penn and Jennifer Lopez in Oliver Stone's U-Turn. Working non-stop, the actor starred in two films in 1998, Return to Paradise with Anne Heche and Vince Vaughn, and Clay Pigeons which reteamed him with Vaughn. The following year he starred opposite Nicolas Cage in Joel Schumacher's 8MM.

The year 2000 was a banner one for Joaquin. The actor starred in three very different films. He co-starred opposite Russell Crowe as Commodus in Gladiator for director Ridley Scott, receiving honors from the National Board of Review, The Broadcast Films Critics Award, and a Blockbuster Award. He was also nominated for an Academy Award as well as a Golden Globe. That same year he starred opposite Mark Wahlberg, James Caan, Faye Dunaway, Ellen Burstyn and Charlize Theron in The Yards.

He next appeared in Quills opposite Kate Winslet and Geoffrey Rush, based on Douglas Wright's Obie Award-winning play about the Marquis deSade. Additional film credits include Thomas Vinterberg's It's All About Love and Gregor Jordan's Buffalo Soldiers. Phoenix was cast opposite Mel Gibson in the M. Night Shymalan film Signs and the following year became the voice of Kenai in the Disney animated film Brother Bear. M. Night Shymalan cast Joaquin once again in the box office hit The Village which was released in July 2004. Also released in 2004 was Ladder 49 which won him further critical acclaim.

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