Born: December 10, 1978
Age: 45
Birthplace: Winter Park, Florida, U.S.
Summer Joy Phoenix (born Summer Joy Bottom; December 10, 1978) is an American actress, model and designer. She is the youngest sibling of Rain Phoenix, Joaquin Phoenix, Liberty Phoenix, and the late River Phoenix and married to actor Casey Affleck.
Phoenix was born in Winter Park, Florida. Her mother, Arlyn Sharon (née Dunetz), was born in The Bronx, New York, to Jewish parents from Hungary and Russia. Her father, John Lee Bottom, was a lapsed Catholic from Fontana, California. In 1968, Phoenix's mother left The Bronx and moved to California, meeting Phoenix's father while hitch-hiking. They married in 1969 and joined the religious cult the Children of God, working as missionaries and fruit pickers in South America. Phoenix has four siblings: two brothers, actors Joaquin (Leaf) and the late River, and two sisters, Rain and Liberty.
She attended New York University's Tisch School of the Arts, but left before graduating to pursue a career in film.
Phoenix was a child actor, working with agent Iris Burton along with her brothers and sister at the age of two, and went on to have guest roles in Murder She Wrote, Growing Pains and Airwolf. She appeared in the TV movie Kate's Secret and in Russkies, playing the younger sister of real life brother Joaquin. Phoenix later appeared in Wasted, The Laramie Project, SLC Punk!, Dinner Rush, The Believer, and The Faculty. She played leads in Esther Kahn (2000) and Suzie Gold (2004).
In 2002, Phoenix starred in a three-month run of This is Our Youth at the Garrick Theatre alongside Matt Damon and Casey Affleck.
She was a member of the rock band The Causey Way with her sister Rain. She later made guest appearances on albums by Rain's band, the Papercranes.
Phoenix is a vegan. She is an avid supporter of several environmental and animal rights causes and charities, including PETA.
She became engaged to Casey Affleck on December 25, 2003, and gave birth to a son, Indiana August, on May 31, 2004, in Amsterdam. Phoenix and Affleck married on June 3, 2006 in Savannah, Georgia, and had a second son, Atticus, on January 12, 2008. In March 2016, Affleck and Phoenix announced they were separating.
In 2003, she and friends Odessa Whitmire and Ruby Canner opened the vintage clothing boutique Some Odd Rubies on Manhattan's Lower East Side. It closed in 2012.
Year | Film | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
1984 | Airwolf | Little Girl | 1 episode; 'Flight #093 Is Missing' |
1984 | Murder, She Wrote | Cindy Donovan | 1 episode; 'We're Off to Kill the Wizard' |
1986 | Kate's Secret | Becky Stark | |
1987 | Growing Pains | Jody | 1 episode 'Big Brother's Not Watching' |
1987 | Russkies | Candi | |
1988 | ABC Weekend Special | Lana | 1 episode 'Runaway Ralph' |
1989 | The New Leave It to Beaver | Bettie Haskell | 1 episode; 'Still the New Leave It to Beaver' |
1990 | Swamp Thing | Lilly | 1 episode; 'New acquaintance' |
1997 | Arresting Gena | Jane Freeman | US title: Made in France |
1997 | ER | Petra | 1 episode; 'Ambush' |
1998 | I Woke Up Early The Day I Died | Bartender#2/Girl at the Beach | |
1998 | Girl | Rebecca Fernhurst | |
1998 | Can't Hardly Wait | Candy, Stoned Girl's Friend | Scenes deleted |
1998 | SLC Punk! | Brandy | |
1998 | The Faculty | F'%# You Girl | |
2000 | Committed | Meg | |
2000 | Esther Kahn | Esther Kahn | |
2000 | Dinner Rush | Marti Wellington | |
2001 | The Believer | Carla Moebius | |
2002 | Wasted | Samantha | TV movie |
2002 | The Laramie Project | Osnat 'Ossi' Wolf | |
2004 | Suzie Gold | Suzie Gold |