Birthday: Oct 28, 1974

Birthplace: San Juan, Puerto Rico

Biography: Joaquín Rafael Phoenix (also known as Leaf Pheonix) is an Academy Award nominated and Golden Globe Award winning, American actor. He was born and raised for a time in Puerto Rico, until his family moved to California, where he began a career as a child actor. He is from a family of performers, most notably his brother, the late actor River Phoenix. He often plays supporting roles as conflicted, insecure characters with a darker side. He has stated on numerous occasions that he has never watched ... ... (read more...) any of his performances on screen. He portrayed a troubled teen in Gus Van Sant's To Die For, and earned positive reviews for roles as the cruel Roman emperor Commodus in Gladiator (for which he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor), a conflicted priest in Quills, a washed-up baseball player in M. Night Shyamalan's Signs, and a lovestruck farmer in Shyamalan's The Village.