Mother: Arlyn Dunitz Jochebed, former migrant fruit picker, former independent Christian missionary, former missionary with Children of God, worked as a temp at NBC in California in 1978, born in New York in 1944.

His parents are now divorced.

friends
Casey Affleck, Vince Vaughn, Russell Crowe, Ben Affleck, Matt Damon, ...

stats
height: he is about 5`7 or 5`8

relationship
He was dating Liv Tyler for 3 years. They met on the set of "Inventing the Abbotts" and fell in love. The two were living together. "I knew there was something special between Liv and I from the first day we met. I didn´t plan on us becoming lovers but I did think I`d found a great new friend." Joaquin admits Tyler is one of the first women he ever approached on his own. "I never seemed to have the courage to date a woman I didn`t already know. I was fortunate I have sisters because I always ended up dating my sisters`girlfriends."

changing his name
He 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. In the early 90s he would take back his birth name.

school
He dropped out in ninth grade. "I was doing that home school thing and the motherfuckers sent a dead bloated frog to my house to dissect."

scar on his lip
Joaquin has a scar on his lip. There is a story behind it: "When my mon was pregnant with me she was in a hammock on the beach and seh got these intense pains, and she felt as if some force, God or whatever, had caused this. Then I`m born. A few weeks later she takes me to the doctor, he sees me and says, `Who did this harelip operation? That`s the best operation I`ve ever seen.` Mom said, `No one. He wasn`t born with a harelip.` I was just born with the scar."

taking a break
After his auspicious part in "Parenthood" 1989 Joaquin made a self-imposed, six-year hiatus. He came back playing to chilling perfection an aimless disaffected high school studen who`s seduced by a sexy cable-access weathergirl into murdering her husband in "To Die For" 1995. "In the interim I traveled around a lot, went down to Mexico to hang out with my dad for a while Also he lost his virginity."

Interests / Hobbies
Plays backgammon, listens to Miles Davis, Frank Sinatra, Queen and James Brown.
Makes music on a Yamaha keyboard, reads Tennessee Williams, Rilke and Hubert Selby Jr.
Rides a Ducati motorcycle and a yellow '72 Le Mans.

River´s death
Joaquin's next brush with fame had nothing to do with acting at all. On the night of October 30, 1993, Joaquin, his brother River, sister Rain and River's girlfriend, actress Samantha Mathis decided to spend a night out on the town.  The four headed out to the Sunset Strip, and they ended up at the Viper Room, owned by actor Johnny Depp. When River began to cunvulse due to a drug overdose, they took him outside. Rain lay herself upon him to confort and relax her eldest brother while Joaquin headed for a phone. This is when he made the famous 911 call that was repeated countless times on every TV and radio station everywhere. "I'm thinking he's taken Valium, or something," said Joaquin to the 911 dispatcher. But the phone call was not enough. Joaquin lost his only brother on that sad Halloween morning. River was pronounced dead at 1:51am at Cedars-Sinai hospital in Beverly Hills. "After River's death, I felt like I was in an altered state. It took me over a year to get my life back."

Contact Information
Joaquin Phoenix - c/o United Talent Agency - 9560 Wilshire Blvd. - Suite 500 - Beverly Hills, C.A., 90212

PHOENIX, JOAQUIN (LEAF) 1450 Belfast Dr., LA, CA 90069

His agent: Iris Burton