Robert Downey Jr.

Birth Name: Robert John Downey Jr.            

Nickname/Stage Name: Robert Downey Jr.

Birth Date: April 4, 1965 

Genres: Action, Drama, Superhero

Occupation(s): Actor, Producer   

Years Active: 1970 till Present

Net Worth: $300 million

 

Personal life

Robert Downey Jr. is the younger of two children who was born in Manhattan, New York City. He was "surrounded by drugs" as a child. Downey's father, a drug user, allowed him to use marijuana when he was six years old, an event that his father later regretted.

He began dating actress Sarah Jessica Parker in 1984. The couple divorced in 1991 due to his addiction to opioid. After a 42-day courtship, he married actress and singer Deborah Falconer on May 29, 1992.

Indio Falconer Downey, their son, was born in September 1993. On April 26, 2004, Downey and Falconer settled their divorce. The actor met Susan Levin and the pair married in August 2005 in a Jewish ceremony.

In honor of her, he has "Suzie Q" tattooed on one of his biceps. Exton Elias Downey, the couple's first child, was born in February 2012, and Avri Roel, their second, was born in November 2014.

Education

As a teen, he attended the Stagedoor Manor Performing Arts Training Center, New York, and dropped out of Santa Monica High School in 1982 to pursue a career in acting.

Career

Downey started his career in theater with a part in Norman Lear's short-lived off-Broadway musical American Passion at the Joyce Theater in 1983.

He was recruited for Saturday Night Live (SNL) in 1985 as but after a year of low ratings and criticism of the new cast's comedic abilities, he and the rest of the new crew were fired and replaced.

In 1987, he portrayed a rich drug addict in Less Than Zero and his performance was widely praised. This led to roles in other films like Chances Are (1989), Air America (1990), and Soapdish (1991).

Between 1996 and 2001, he was arrested severally for being involved with drugs like cocaine, marijuana, and heroin. His subsequent drug treatment programs yielded no fruitful results.

After several years of arrests and rehab, he returned to the big screen with the 2003 film The Singing Detective and was also seen alongside Halle Berry in Gothika (2003).

In 2007, he appeared in David Fincher's thriller Zodiac, playing the role of journalist Paul Avery. He got his first blockbuster in 2008 when he starred in the films Iron Man and Tropic Thunder.

In Iron Man, he played Tony Stark, a billionaire playboy who would turn his life around to become one of earth's greatest defenders. He reprised the role in subsequent Marvel movies.

His first role after Iron Man was the titular character in Guy Ritchie's Sherlock Holmes (2009). He played the detective again in the sequel.

Downey starred in Dolittle (2020), a remake of the films headlined by Eddie Murphy. It was a critical and commercial failure.

Awards 

BAFTA Award (1992) 

Saturn Award (1993, 2009, 2014, 2019)

Golden Globe Award (1993, 2001, 2010)

Screen Actors Guild Award (2001)

MTV Movie Award (2013, 2015, 2019)

People's Choice Award (2013, 2014, 2015, 2017)

Teen Choice Award (2013, 2018, 2019)

Kids' Choice Award (2014, 2019, 2021)

Quotes

"I've always felt like such an outsider in this industry. Because I'm so insane, I guess."

"The higher the stakes, the happier I am, the better I will be."

"I'm not used to feeling like I belong where I am."

"A lot of my peer group think I'm an eccentric bisexual, like I may even have an ammonia-filled tentacle or something somewhere on my body. That's okay."

Trivia

His favourite actor is Peter O'Toole.

His father introduced him to drugs at a young age.

One time when he was drunk, he walked into a neighbour's house and thinking it was his home, fell asleep in their child's bed. He was arrested for being under the influence of drugs.

His parents divorced when he was 11 years old.

He married his first wife after dating her for 42 days.

Movies

Pound (1970)

Moment to Moment (1975)

Up the Academy (1980)

Firstborn (1984)

Rented Lips (1988)

Air America (1990)

Chaplin (1992)

Restoration (1995)

In Dreams (1999)

Gothika (2003)

Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (2005)

Zodiac (2007)

Iron Man (2008)

Sherlock Holmes (2009)

Iron Man 2 (2010)

Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows (2011)

The Avengers (2012)

Iron Man 3 (2013)

Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015)

Captain America: Civil War (2016)

Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)

Avengers: Infinity War (2018)

Avengers: Endgame (2019)

Dolittle (2020)