Phoenix was known as a teen actor before taking on leading roles in critically acclaimed films. He began his acting career at age 10 in television commercials.
Phoenix made a transition into more adult-oriented roles earning a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role in the Sidney Lumet drama Running on Empty Phoenix died at age 23 from combined drug intoxication in West Hollywood in the early hours of Halloween , , having overdosed on cocaine and heroin a mixture commonly known as speedball at The Viper Room. In an interview with People , Phoenix described his parents as " hippieish ". While hitchhiking in California she met John Lee Bottom.
They married on September 13, , less than a year after meeting. Phoenix's family moved cross country when he was very young. Phoenix has stated that they lived in a "desperate situation.
Screenwriter Naomi Foner later commented, "He was totally, totally without education. I mean, he could read and write, and he had an appetite for it, but he had no deep roots into any kind of sense of history or literature.
In , the family joined the religious organization known as the Children of God. According to Vanity Fair , Phoenix was raped at the age of four.
