Talk:Joaquin Phoenix

Joaquin's Puerto Rican Nationality

People born in Puerto Rico automatically have dual nationality: Puerto Rican and American. Puerto Rico follows the Jus soli law (the right of the soil or the land) meaning that one’s nationality is determined by the place of one's birth.

Therefore, Joaquin is Puerto Rican and American due to the fact that he was born in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

History of Puerto Rican Nationality

On October 25, 2006, the Puerto Rican State Department declared the existence of the Puerto Rican nationality (see: Juan Mari Bras). Puerto Rican nationality was recognized in 1898 after Spain ceded the island to the United States as a result of the Spanish-American War. On April 12, 1900, the Congress of the United States enacted the Foraker Act of 1900. Section VII of this act created a Puerto Rican citizenship for the residents "born in Puerto Rico and, therefore, subject to its jurisdiction". In 1917, the United States granted Puerto Ricans U.S. citizenship without the requirement that the islanders renounce their PR citizenship. Since then, everyone born in Puerto Rico are both Puerto Ricans and U.S. citizens. However, in Puerto Rico, Puerto Rican do not enjoy full U.S. citizenship rights because their rights as such are limited (For example: they can not vote in the Presidential elections). Puerto Ricans do not need to renounce either of the citizenships and do not need a passport to go to the continental United States and once there can participate in every activity as every other U.S. citizen.

There is a common misconception that all Puerto Ricans are of Hispanic background. The confusion stems from people automatically associating the term 'Puerto Rican' (nationality) with the term 'Hispanic' (ethnicity). Even though the primary ethnicity in Puerto Rico is Hispanic, there are numerous other ethnic groups which make up the Puerto Rican nationality. There are many Puerto Ricans of African, Corsican, French, Irish, German, Chinese, Dutch, Lebanese and of Jewish descent, among others.

Laws Concerning Citizenship/Nationality

The modern world is divided up into nations with each nation, at least nominally, exercising control over its own territory and the people who reside within that territory. Among modern nations, citizenship at birth is conveyed in one of two ways; either though Jus soli (the right of the soil or the land) meaning that one’s nationality is determined by the place of one's birth; or through jus sanguinis (the right of blood) where nationality is determined by the nationality of one's descent (parents). Birthright citizenship is the term used for Jus soli as it is applied under US law.

Information mainly provided by: Tony the Marine

• Given the information above, isn't it incomplete and misleading to say that he is "a Puerto Rican film actor"? He is at least someone of dual citizenship, assuming that he has not renounced his Puerto Rican citizenship. Technicalities aside, isn't he an American who happened to be born in Puerto Rico while his parents were traveling during their Children of God years? I think it would serve the article best to say that he's an American actor in the opening paragraph and then in his Early years section mention his dual citizenship. Hashkey (talk) 15:12, 14 February 2009 (UTC)

• Great observation.

1."he is "a Puerto Rican film actor"? - Reality would be Puerto Rican/American.

2. "isn't he an American who happened to be born in Puerto Rico?" - Everybody born in Puerto Rico is an American as is. Tony the Marine (talk) 18:09, 14 February 2009 (UTC)

Scar on lip reference problems

Reference 31 just links to an empty page. Jammycaketin (talk) 19:20, 28 December 2008 (UTC)

I checked out reference #31 and your are right, it does not provide any reference to the subject posted in the article. Therefore, the paragraph along with the "so-called" reference goes out. Tony the Marine (talk) 21:03, 28 December 2008 (UTC)

The link did provide a reference to the material [1] posted in the article, it just doesn't currently because the web site the link linked to no longer exists. You can see all versions of the page that was linked to here [2] at the Internet Archive. The relevant part of the interview is

Q&A With Joaquin Details, November 1995 By Joe Dolce. Joe Dolce of Details magazine sits down with a difficult Joaquin Phoenix for the interview of his life. Just who's interviewing who here? See for yourself.

"Somebody once said that what's interesting in beauty are the flaws. Tell me about the scar on your lip"

"When my mom was pregnant with me she was in a hammock on the beach and she 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."

It's always worth checking dead links at archive.org Ha! (talk) 15:14, 12 February 2009 (UTC)

Appearance on the Late Show with David Letterman, February 2009

Judging from the revision history, this incident has apparently been added and removed a few times since last night's show. Considering the incredible amount of press the incident has received today, with the the Associated Press calling the appearance a "classic" in one of its story headlines, I think the story deserves mention. --Mass147 (talk) 22:02, 12 February 2009 (UTC)

• Absolutely, I agree with User:Mass147. Information which is added, as long as it is cited from a primary reliable source and not from secondary sources, is within Wikipedia policy. The important thing to remember is to not post rumors or baised information even if they are cited and sourced. Tony the Marine (talk) 22:11, 12 February 2009 (UTC)

• The Letterman interview takes up just over 10% of the article (only counting text). That's an undue amount of space given to one event in this actor's life. This is an encyclopedia, not a "current news" outlet or "interesting movie star gossip" site. I think it needs to be cut down a fair bit, expressed in more neutral language (WP:BLP) and the majority of it needs to be moved out of the "Music Career" section. Specifically, none of the following is relevant to his music career and so doesn't belong in that section

He spent the interview giving short answers with bowed head and chewing gum... he was largely unresponsive towards Letterman's questions about the film and his acting career... Phoenix could not introduce a clip of the film, claiming he had not seen it, and didn't have any "fun stories" about the film's production... When Letterman joked about Phoenix's gum-chewing, Phoenix responded by taking the gum out of his mouth and sticking it under Letterman's desk. Dumbfounded, Letterman closed the interview by remarking "Joaquin, I'm sorry you couldn't be here tonight." At the end of the interview he immediately stood up to leave, removed his sunglasses and shook Letterman's hand again. Ha! (talk) 00:54, 13 February 2009 (UTC)

I noticed that "Phoenix announced his retirement from acting and stated that he was going to be focusing on a music career" was removed from the Music Career section because it "really do not add anything to article and sentence which is rebundant in "Music career"". How come Pheonix chewing gum, not introducing a film clip, acting weird and being unresponsive, removing sunglasses and shaking Letterman's hand 'does' get to stay in the "Music Career" when it's irrelevant to a music career but the only announcement that exists where he says he's going to focus on his music career doesn't get to stay in the Music Career section because it's redundant! That doesn't seem logical. Ha! (talk) 10:22, 13 February 2009 (UTC)

Hello Ha! How are you doing? In regard to your questions. What was removed was:

1. "Joaquin and River became the first brothers in Hollywood history to be nominated for an Academy Award in the acting category."

1. That lone sentence can be worked into a paragraph in his bio. with a primary reliable source other then "IMdB" which is not considered a reliable source per se.

2. "Phoenix has stated on numerous occasions that he does not watch his performances on screen."

2. This is more of a trivia sentence which unless worked into the article really does not add anything revelant.

3. "He appeared on the Late Show with David Letterman in February 2009, sparking speculation about the cause of his bizarre behavior"

3. This statement is already detailed in the "Music career" section and is rebundant. As a matter of fact it even appears in the intro.

I don't see any mention of his "removing his sunglasses and shaking Letterman's hand", however the paragraph which you make reference to has been modified and basically focuses on his odd behavior in the Letterman Show which is news worthy, without entering into POV and letting the reader of the article to come to his/her own conclusion as to his actual state of mind. This is only my humble opinion. Tony the Marine (talk) 16:20, 13 February 2009 (UTC)

Sorry, I completely misread the changes. Ha! (talk) 16:44, 13 February 2009 (UTC)

Metatag for this page

Searching this page through google produces a result with the description "JOAQUIN PHOENIX GETS HIGH EVERY DAY!!!!" I don't know how to fix metatags, but someone should revert the vandolism. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Goldste7 (talk • contribs) 22:23, 12 February 2009 (UTC)

• Some people simply do not understand that Wikipedia is an encyclopedia and not a site to post rumors or speculations. I have removed the rumor and placed the page under protection from those who dedicate themselves to vandalism. Tony the Marine (talk) 22:39, 12 February 2009 (UTC)