She was a pretty blonde ‘it’ girl in the 1990s.

The ingenue made a romantic movie with River Phoenix and Sandra Bullock in 1993 called The Thing Called Love.

The blonde and Phoenix went on to date and she was with him at the time of his death in 1993 at The Viper Room in West Hollywood.

Her other hit films include Pump Up The Volume in 1990 with Christian Slater, The American President in 1995 and Broken Arrow in 1996.

The 54-year-old star never stopped working as she makes film after film, and has also popped up on Billions.

Next she will be working with Melanie Griffith and Juliette Lewis in a movie called By Design about body swapping. 

And she made a rare red carpet appearance at the Sundance Film Festival to promote a new movie.

Who is she?

She was a pretty blonde ‘it’ girl in the 1990s. The ingenue made a romantic movie with River Phoenix and Sandra Bullock in 1993 called The Thing Called Love. The blonde and Phoenix went on to date before he died in 1993

She made a rare red carpet appearance at the Sundance Film Festival on January 25 to promote a new movie. Who is she?

She is Samantha Mathis.

Samantha was born in Brooklyn then moved to Los Angeles as a child; she is the daughter of actress Bibi Besch.

Mathis made her film debut opposite Christian Slater in the teen angst film Pump Up the Volume (1990).

She then had noteworthy roles in FernGully: The Last Rainforest (1992) and Super Mario Bros. (1993).

The star had a cult hit on her hands with the film The Thing Called Love (1993).

That starred up-and-comer Bullock as well as her boyfriend River.

Phoenix died on October 31, 1993, outside The Viper Room in West Hollywood, California, from a drug overdose at 23. The actor was known for many films My Own Private Idaho, The Mosquito Coast and Stand By Me.

Mathis was there by his side. 

She is Samantha Mathis. Seen here in the movie The Thing Called Love

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River’s brother Joaquin Phoenix went on to become a mᴀssive star thanks to Gladiator. 

Samantha was also in Little Women (1994), The American President (1995), Jack and Sarah (1995), Broken Arrow (1996), American Psycho (2000), The Punisher (2004), and Atlas Shrugged: Part II (2012). 

She has recently had recurring roles on The Strain as New York City Councilwoman Justine Feraldo, and on Billions as Taylor Mason Capital COO Sara Hammon.

In 2018, Mathis spoke for the first time about boyfriend River Phoenix’s tragic overdose. 

The actress was forced the watch the Stand By Me actor die on the street outside of Los Angeles’ famed Viper Rooms in 1993. 

Breaking her silence after 25 years, Samantha told The Guardian that she has only spoken about the horrific night, on which Phoenix died from an overdose of cocaine and heroin before paramedics arrived, with her therapist. 

Mathis and Christian Slater in Pump Up The Volume in 1990

The film American Psycho, which came out in year 2000. From left, Christian Bale, Reese Witherspoon, Justin Theroux, Mathis and Matt Ross

She also said she had blocked much of it out because she was so ‘traumatized’ by the night. 

She shared: ‘I knew something was wrong that night, something I didn’t understand. I didn’t see anyone doing drugs but he was high in a way that made me feel uncomfortable – I was in way over my head.’

The actress revealed that she and River had been hanging out with his brother Leaf (now Joaquin) and sister Rain and only planned to stop by the club, then part owned by Johnny Depp.

He had stuff in the trunk of her car, having previously planned to just go to her home the night of his death. 

Mathis was there when her boyfriend River Phoenix died in 1993; seen in 1991

But River quickly changed the plan when a friend who was performing at the famous venue asked if the musician could fill in for one of his band members. 

About 45 minutes later he was ᴅᴇᴀᴅ. 

Samantha, who, like River, was 23 at the time, admitted she originally thought he had been in a fight with another man when he was escorted out of the club toilet and thrown out of the club’s door by a bouncer.

It was then that she watched River drop to the pavement in convulsions.

‘What have you done? What are you on?’ she said she shouted at the other man, who responded: ‘Leave him alone, you’re spoiling his high.’

Samantha has long remained silent about the tragic night but felt compelled to finally open about her boyfriend’s death after watching the last movie he starred in, The Thing Called Love, for the first time recently. 

She claimed the movie, in which she co-starred and during which they started dating, felt like a sign ‘the universe wanted me to talk about him’. 

The pair met when they were 19, but started dating when the co-starred in Thing Called Love, seen here with Dermot Mulroney at right

Samantha described the Explorers star, who became a teen idol, as ‘sensitive and obsessive’ and said he ‘felt things on his heart very deeply’ 

After filming the movie, the pair spent months just hanging out with his family in Florida and Costa Rica, Mathis said, and she remembers the actor being sober and happy

 Tragedy: River died from an overdose of cocaine and heroin before paramedics arrived, after Mathis ran inside for help and Joaquin called 911

She revealed River died before paramedics got to the scene. 

Samantha described the Explorers star, who became a teen idol, as ‘sensitive and obsessive’ and said he ‘felt things on his heart very deeply.’ 

Mathis also teared up recalling the year they spent together, happy, before he died.  They stayed with his family in Florida and Costa Rica and would play music. ‘We just hung out with his siblings and got to be kids,’ she told the Guardian. ‘He was so good at hanging out.’

She also says she believed that Phoenix had been sober. His mother had moved to Florida to keep her kids away from the seedier sides of Hollywood as they got more famous. 

River, Samantha said, would himself try and save people, befriending creative types in Los Angles and helping them get off heroin. He’d even sent one to rehab. But the friends her boyfriend helped were not good friends in return.

‘When he needed help, they didn’t help him. In fact, in some cases, it was the opposite,’ Mathis recounted. Despite believing he was not abusing substances during their relationship, she admitted, ‘In the days before he died, though, I knew something was going on.’

(L-R) Juliette Lewis, Robin Tunney, Amanda Kramer, Mathis at the IMDb Portrait Studio at Acura House of Energy on location at Sundance 2025 on January 25

And whatever killed him, he didn’t get it, she says, until they arrived at the club on Sunset Boulevard. 

‘I knew he was high that night, but the heroin that killed him didn’t happen until he was in the Viper Room. ‘

As he convulsed on the street, she tried to get into the club for help but the side door was locked. 

Mathis ran around front, inside and found his siblings.

Joaquin, then 19,  famously made a 911 call pleading for help for his seizing, dying brother, who flatlined before paramedics could arrive.  

‘I think if River was still here, I think he’d be acting, directing, saving the environment, just living and hanging out,’ Mathis told the Guardian. ‘Oh gosh, wouldn’t that be nice?’