Joaquin Phoenix Quits Acting to Focus on Music Career

What causes a perfectly successful Hollywood actor or actress to suddenly one day decide that they would also make a good musician or singer? More often than not, when actors go down this path, their success on the screen does not translate into success on the music charts and inspires more jokes than anything. Is it their egos? Nevertheless, the latest actor to announce an attempt to cross-over to the music world is Joaquin Phoenix.

In an interview with Extra's Jerry Penacoli, Phoenix dropped the bombshell, shocking everyone including his rep:

“I want to take this opportunity… also to give you the exclusive and just talk a little bit about the fact that this will be my last performance as an actor… I’m not doing films anymore," he said.

"Are you serious?" asked Penacoli.

Phoenix responded, saying "Yea. I'm working on my music. I'm done. I've been through that."

Actor Casey Afflect was also there for the admission, and said "I don't think he's kidding. He's got music and stuff."

Extra rang up Phoenix's rep today to clarify the news, and got the following response: "That is what he told me."

Phoenix was nominated for an Oscar twice, most recently for his portrayal of Johnny Cash in the 2005 movie "Walk the Line". In the film, he and Reese Witherspoon performed the songs for the soundtrack, which may have inspired him to pursue a new career in music.

Phoenix's supposedly last role as an actor will be in the film "Two Lovers", which is due out in early 2009. If his career as a musician fails, I wouldn't be surprised to see him back begging for more roles in Hollywood.