Joaquin Phoenix retires

He’s just 34, but Oscar winner Joaquin Phoenix has decided to end his acting career and take on a new challenge – music.

Joaquin announced his plans of retirement from Hollywood at a fund-raiser for late actor Paul Newman's children's charity. He said "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. I'm working on my music. I'm done. I've been through that." His representative confirmed the actor's rather surprising decision.

In 2005, Joaquin made his musical debut when he lent his vocal skills for the soundtrack of the Johnny Cash biopic Walk The Line. He won a Grammy award for it and that has boosted his confidence no end. Right now, he is working on an album with British rocker Tim Burgess from The Charlatans.

For Celebrity and Movie Photo Galleries, CLICK HERE!