Robert Downey Jr.

At 59 years old, Robert Downey Jr. has this physical status:

Robert John Downey Jr. (born April 4, 1965) is an American actor, producer, and singer.

His career has been marked by critical and well-being in his youth, followed by a period of heroin use and court woes before a resurgence of middle-market prosperity.

Downey was named by Time magazine as one of the world's most influential people, and Forbes listed him as Hollywood's highest-paid actor from 2013 to 2015.

His films have grossed over $14.4 billion worldwide, making him the second highest-grossing box-office actor of all time. He made his acting debut in Robert Downey Sr.'s film Pound in 1970.

He appeared in Weird Science (1985) and Less Than Zero (1987).

Downey portrayed the title character in the Biopic Chaplin in 1992, for which he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor and received a BAFTA Award.

He starred in the Corcoran Substance Abuse Treatment Facility on drug charges, but after a stint with the coroner, Ally McBeal, was fired and his character was terminated in the wake of two drug cases, one in late 2000 and another in early 2001.

He began a court-ordered opioid therapy program right away and has maintained his sobriety since 2003. Until Mel Gibson paid the insurance bond for the 2003 film The Singing Detective, bond completion firms would not insure Downey.

He went on to appear in Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (2005), the drama Zodiac (2006), and Tropic Thunder (2008); for the latter, he was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.

Downey received more attention for his role as Tony Stark/Therman in ten films within the Marvel Cinematic Universe, from Iron Man (2008) to Avengers: Endgame (2019).

In Guy Ritchie's Sherlock Holmes (2009), he also played the title role, earning him his second Golden Globe and its sequel (2011).

Early life and family

Downey was born in Manhattan, New York City, as the younger of two boys at that time. Robert Downey Sr., his father, was an actor and filmmaker, while Elsie Ann (née Ford), his mother, Elsie Ann (née Ford), appeared in Downey Sr.'s films. Downey's father was half Lithuanian Jewish, one-quarter Hungarian Jewish, and one-quarter Irish descent, with one-quarter Irish descent, while Downey's mother had Scottish, German, and Swiss roots. Elias, Robert's original family name, was changed by his father's to enlist in the Army. Downey and his older sister Allyson grew up in Greenwich Village.

Downey was "surrounded by drugs" as a child. Downey's father, a heroin user, allowed him to use marijuana at age six, an event that his father later regretted. "When my dad and I did drugs together, it was like him trying to express his love for me in the only way he knew how," Downey said later. Eventually, Downey began drinking alcohol every night and "making a thousand phone calls in search of heroin."

Downey had minor roles in his father's films as a child. He made his acting debut at the age of five in the absurdist comedy Pound (1970), and then appeared in the surrealist Western Greaser's Palace (1972). He was living in England and studying classical ballet as part of a larger curriculum at the age of 10. As an adolescent, he attended the Stagedoor Manor Performing Arts Training Center in upstate New York. Downey and his father moved to California in 1978, but he dropped out of Santa Monica High School in 1982 to pursue a full time acting.

When he first arrived in Hollywood to begin his career in acting, Downey and Kiefer Sutherland, who appeared on the screen in the 1988 drama, were roommates for three years.

Personal life

Sarah Jessica Parker first started dating her on the set of Firstborn in 1984. The two couples were separated in 1991 due to his heroin use.

After a 42-day courtship, he married actress and singer Deborah Falconer on May 29, 1992. Indio Falconer Downey's son, Indio Falconer Downey, was born in September 1993. Downey's repeated trips to rehab and prison eventually came to a breaking point; Falconer and her son were sentencing to an extended stay in rehab in 2001. On April 26, 2004, Downey and Falconer announced their divorce.

Downey met producer Susan Downey (née Levin), an Executive Vice President of Production at Joel Silver's film company, on the set of Gothika in 2003. Although Susan twice turned down his sexual advances, she and Downey did actually have a romance on set during development. Despite Susan's fears that the romance would not last after the conclusion of the shooting because "he's an actor; I have a real job," the couple's relationship continued after publication wrapped on Gothika, and Downey proposed to Susan on the night before her thirtieth birthday. The couple married in August 2005 in Amagansett, New York, at a Jewish synagogue. "Suzie Q" is one of his biceps' tattoos, in honor of his memory. The Downeys' first child, Exton Elias, was born in February 2012, and their second, a daughter named Avri Roel, was born in November 2014.

Since Mel Gibson and Mel Gibson appeared in Air America, Downey has been a close friend of his. During the controversies surrounding The Passion of the Christ, Downey defended Gibson, saying that "nobody's flawless" in reference to Gibson's DUI. "He was one of the first people to call and give the hand of friendship," Gibson said of Downey. He just said, 'Hey, welcome to the team,' he added. "Let's see what we can do to work for ourselves," says the author. Downey was nominated at the 25th American Cinematheque Awards in October 2011; Downey chose Gibson to present him with his award for his life's work and he explained why he selected him to present the award.

Downey says he has been drug-free since July 2003 and he credited his wife with helping him overcome his heroin and alcohol use, as well as his family, meditation, twelve-step recovery services, yoga, and the art of Wing Chun kung fu, which is also a combat consultant in many of Downey's films. Oram was Downey's personal combat coordinator in Avengers: Age of Ultron and Captain America: Civil War. Downey was given a complete and unconditional pardon from Governor Jerry Brown in December 2015 for his drug convictions. Oram wrote a letter in favor of Downey's pardon to Governor Brown. Downey said, "It's really not that difficult to solve these ostensible problems this time on The Oprah Winfrey Show." Deciding to do it is daunting."

Downey has referred to his religious convictions as "Jewish Buddhist" and has been reported to have consulted astrologers. Downey has been interested in Christianity and the Hare Krishna movement in the past.

In a 2008 interview, Downey said that his time in jail changed his political outlook somewhat, and that it is not always something I say at dinner tables, but that isn't always something I say at dinner tables here, but you can't move from a $2,000-a-night suite to a penitentiary and emerge a liberal. You can't. I wouldn't recommend this experience to anyone else, but it was definitely educational for me and has informed my proclivities and politics for the first time ever." When asked about the quote in a 2015 interview to promote Avengers: Age of Ultron, however, he denied that his previous statement represented any long-held convictions on his part, and said, "I wouldn't say I'm a Republican or a Democrat."

Downey serves on the board of the Anti-Recidivism Coalition.

Downey said in January 2020, during the advertising of his film Dolittle, that he had made the decision to go vegan, citing that he was "I'm a one-man carbon footprint disaster colossus" and that he can do his part to help. Downey announced the founding of The Footprint Coalition, an initiative he founded to reduce carbon footprints around the world using new technologies. The Footprint Alliance promotes technologies that safeguard the environment, such as French insect-farming startup Ynsect, the bio-based alternative to plastic manufacturer RWDC, and bamboo toilet paper manufacturer Cloud Paper.

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Career

Downey began working on stage appearances, including in the short-lived off-Broadway musical American Passion at the Joyce Theater in 1983, which was directed by Norman Lear. He appeared on Saturday Night Live in 1985 as part of the new, younger cast, but after a year of poor ratings and skepticism of the new cast's comedic talents, he and the majority of the crew were dropped and replaced. Downey was named by Rolling Stone magazine as the worst SNL cast member in its entire history, with the "Downey Fail sums up everything that makes SNL great." Downey made a dramatic debut in Tuff Turf as his sidekick, as well as a bully in John Hughes' Weird Science. He was auditioned for the role of Duckie in John Hughes' film Pretty in Pink (1986), but his first lead role was with Molly Ringwald in The Pick-up Artist (1987). Downey has been referred to as a member of the Brat Pack in these and other coming-of-age films from the 1980s.

In the film version of Bret Easton Ellis' biography Less than Zero, Downey played Julian Wells, a drug-addicted rich boy whose life spirals out of his control. His appearance, which Janet Maslin in The New York Times called "desperately moving," was widely praised, but Downey has said that for him, "the job was like the ghost of Christmas Future" since his drug use resulted in his becoming a "exaggeration of the character" in real life. Chances Are (1989) with Cybill Shepherd and Ryan O'Neal, Air America (1990) with Mel Gibson, and Whoopi Goldberg (91), Downey converted Downey into films with greater budgets and names, such as Chances Are (1989) with Cybill Shepherd and Ryan O'Neal, Air America (1990) with Larry Field, Kevin Kline, and Whoopi Goldberg.

Charlie Chaplin starred in Chaplin in 1992, a role for which he trained extensively, including learning how to play the violin and tennis left-handed. He had a personal coach in order to help him imitate Chaplin's demeanor, as well as a way of carrying himself. At the Academy Awards' 65th ceremony, Downey was nominated for Best Actor, but not in Scent of a Woman, which fell to Al Pacino.

He appeared in the films Heart and Souls with Alfre Woodard and Kyra Sedgwick, Short Cuts with Matthew Modine and Julianne Moore in 1993, as well as a memoir that he wrote about the 1992 presidential race titled The Last Party (1993). Woody Harrelson starred in the 1994 films Only You with Marisa Tomei and Natural Born Killers. He appeared in Regeneration (1995), Two Girls and a Guy (1995), Home for the Holidays (1995), Richard III (1995), as Special Agent John Royce in the United States. Marshals (1998), as well as in Black and White (1999).

Downey was arrested several times on suspicion of illicit drugs, including cocaine, opium, and marijuana. He went through drug therapy unsuccessfully, saying, "I've got a shotgun in my mouth," he said to a judge in 1999: "I've got my finger on the trigger, and I like the look of the gun metal." He said he had been addicted to opioids since the age of eight due to the fact that his father, who also an addict, was giving them to him.

When he was speeding down Sunset Boulevard in April 1996, Downey was arrested for opium, cocaine, and an unloaded Magnum handgun. He trespassed into a neighbor's house while under the influence of a controlled drug and fell asleep in one of the beds a month later. He received three years of probation and was ordered to perform mandatory drug testing. He failed one of the court-ordered drug testing and was required to spend six months in the Los Angeles County jail in 1997.

He was arrested again after Downey failed another mandatory drug test in 1999. Despite Downey's advocate, Robert Shapiro, assembling the same team of lawyers who had successfully represented O. J. Simpson during his murder conviction, the California Subpoena and State Prison in Corcoran, California, was sentenced to three years in prison. All of Downey's film projects had wrapped and were set to be released at the time of the detention. He had been hired to perform the devil on the NBC animated television series God, the Devil, and Bob, but he had to be barred from attending rehearsals.

After nearly a year in the California Subpoena Treatment Facility and State Prison in Downey on the condition of posting a $5,000 bail, a judge was unexpectedly released after a judge found that his time in prison (from the initial 1996 detention centers) had qualified him for early release. Downey joined the cast of the hit television show Ally McBeal a week after his 2000 debut, playing a new love interest. He was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series, and he received the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Series, Miniseries, or Television Film. He appeared as a writer and singer on Vonda Shepard's Ally McBeal: Forever in My Life, as well as a guitarist and singer on the series's "Every Breath You Take" duet. Despite the apparent success, Downey said that his role on the program was overrated and that "It was my lowest point in terms of heroin use." I didn't give a hoot if I ever acted again at that point. Downey was supposed to appear as Hamlet in a Los Angeles stage performance directed by Mel Gibson in January 2001.

Downey was arrested during his first season on Ally McBeal over the Thanksgiving 2000 holiday when the police searched his Hotel and Givenchy Spa in Palm Springs, California, finding an anonymous 911 caller. Downey was under the influence of a controlled drug and was in possession of cocaine and Valium. Despite the fact that he would have received a prison term of up to four years and eight months if convicted, he continued to appear in at least eight other Ally McBeal episodes.

A Los Angeles police officer discovered him wandering barefoot in Culver City in April 2001, while Downey was on parole. He was arrested on suspicion of being under the influence of drugs but was released just a few hours later, after drug testing revealed cocaine in his system. Despite the fact that Downey's character had resuscitated Ally McBeal's ratings following this last investigation, they ordered last-minute rewrites and reshoots as well as firing Downey. Gibson was also arrested in the high-profile film America's Sweethearts, and the subsequent incarceration caused Gibson to cancel his Hamlet production. Downey pleaded no contest to the Palm Springs charges in July 2001, avoiding prison time. Rather, he was put into heroin therapy and three years of probation, benefiting from California Proposition 36, which had been passed the year before with the intention of assisting nonviolent drug offenders avoid jail rather than sending them to jail.

Woody Allen's book "Women and Melinda" says director Woody Allen wanted to cast Downey and Winona Ryder in his film Melinda and Melinda in 2003, but was unable to do so because he didn't have insurance on them. If we were to insure them, the completion bonding companies would not bond the picture. We were devastated because we had worked with Winona before [on Celebrity] and felt she was destined for this and wanted to work with her again. And I had always wanted to work with Bob Downey and felt he was a natural performer."

Rosemary, Downey's stepmother, told author Alex Tresnlowski that Downey had been diagnosed with bipolar disorder "a few years ago" and that this was "the reason he has a difficult time remaining sober." Medication therapy and intensive psychotherapy haven't been tried, which hasn't been tried. Dr. Manijeh Nikakhtar, a Los Angeles psychiatrist and co-author of Addiction or Self-Medication: The Truth, said she got a letter from Downey in 1999 asking for medical assistance. "No one had done a complete [psychiatric] analysis [on him] [about him]," she discovered.... I asked him if he was bipolar, and he said yes.' "I spend a lot of money and I'm hyperactive, and there are moments when I'm down, but there are times I'm not down." After receiving a phone call from "the Bipolar Association" demanding him about being bipolar, Downey wrote an article in Esquire's March 2007 issue. The caller quoted the People magazine in response to Downey's comment that he had never said he was bipolar, despite Downey's reply, "No! 'No! "No!" says Downey. [I said I was bipolar] — and they''d say, 'Well, it's written, so we're going to quote it.'" Dr. Malibusian said. Downey denied being "depressed or manic" and that previous attempts to diagnose him with any kind of psychotic or mood disorder had always been skewed because "the guy I was seeing didn't know I was smokin' crack in his bathroom. "You can't make a diagnosis until someone else is sober."

Downey, who suffered with heroin use, detention, and relapse, was able to return to his career after five years of substance abuse, deposition, rehabilitation, and relapse. Downey told Oprah Winfrey in November 2004 that "I really wonder if maybe I should go to rehab." Well, you're a mess, you've just lost your career, and your wife left you. You might want to give it a try," says the narrator. After his last arrest in April 2001, when he realized he'd likely be facing another stint in jail or another form of prisoneration such as court-ordered rehabilitation, he said, "You know what?" I don't believe I will keep doing this.' And I reached out for support, so I went for it. You can reach out for support in a sort of half-assed manner, but you'll get it and you won't be able to use it. It's not that difficult to get these seemingly ghastly problems, but it's not that difficult to do it."

Downey did his first post-rehabilitation acting gig in August 2001, lip-syncing in Elton John's single "I Want Love" video. Sam Taylor-Wood shot 16 takes of the video and used the last one because Downey looked completely relaxed, according to John, and "the way he underplays it is amazing."

Downey's insurance bond was paid for by Downey's insurance bond for the 2003 film The Singing Detective (directed by his Back to School co-star Keith Gordon), and he was able to return to Downey. Gibson's gamble paved the way for Downey's revival and downturn in the mid-2000s with Gothika, for which producer Joel Silver withhold 40% of his income until after production was overdue as compensation for his addictive activity. Throughout the 2000s, similar clauses became common in his jobs. Silver, who was getting closer to Downey as he dated his secretary Susan Levin, gave the actor his leading role in the comedy thriller Kiss Kiss Bang Bang Bang Bang, the screenwriter Shane Black's debut.

Downey appeared in a number of leading and supporting roles, including well-received work in A Scanner Darkly, Richard Linklater's dystopian, rotoscoped A Scanner's fictional biographical film of Diane Arbus, Fur, where Downey's character was one of the two most influential influences on Arbus's professional life, Lisette Model and Marvin Israel, following Gothika's. Downey has also received a lot of flak over his appearances in more mainstream farewells such as Kiss Kiss Bang Bang and Disney's sadly received The Shaggy Dog.

Downey's debut musical album, The Futurist, was released on Sony Classical on November 23, 2004, where he conceived the cover art and created the track listing tag for his son Indio's CD. The album received mixed feedback, but Downey said in 2006 that he would not record another album because the effort he expended into making the album was not compensated.

Downey returned to television in 2006 as he appeared on Family Guy in the episode "The Fat Guy Strangler." Downey had previously called the show's cast members and asked if he could produce or assist in an episode creation, because his son Indio is a fan of the show. The show's creators, Patrick Pewterschmidt, Lois Griffin's long-lost, mentally ill brother, was accepted, and the model created the image of Patrick Pewterschmidt, Lois Griffin's long lost, mentally ill brother for Downey.

Downey decided to write a memoir, which was then being marketed as a "candid glance at the highs and lows of his life and work." Downey returned his advance to the publishers in 2008, but there was no further comment made.

Downey appeared in David Fincher's mystery thriller Zodiac in 2007, which was based on a true story. He was portraying Paul Avery, a San Francisco Chronicle reporter who was covering the Zodiac Killer case.

Despite Downey's continuing popularity, he had not appeared in a "blockbuster" film. That all changed in 2008, when Downey appeared in two critically and commercially successful films, Iron Man and Tropic Thunder. In the essay published in Downey's 2008 edition of The Time 100, Ben Stiller made an observation about Downey's commercially lucrative summer at the box office.

Downey was introduced as the title character in the film Iron Man in 2007, with director Jon Favreau announcing that "Downey wasn't the most obvious option, but he knew what makes the character tick." In "Tony Stark," he recalled a lot of his personal life. Favreau insisted on Downey as he had repeatedly stated that Downey would be to Iron Man as Johnny Depp is to the Pirates of the Caribbean series: a lead actor who could both raise the film's quality and raise the public's interest in it. Downey had to gain more than 20 pounds (9 kilograms) of muscle in five months to appear as if he "had the power to forge iron."

Iron Man was distributed around the world between April 30 and May 3, 2008, grossing over $585 million worldwide and receiving rave reviews, citing Downey's role as a highlight of the film. Downey had promised to appear in two Iron Man sequels as part of the Iron Man film series, as well as The Avengers, which is based on Marvel's comic book series The Avengers. He first appeared in the 2008 film The Incredible Hulk as an Iron Man's alter ego, illustrating the same Marvel Universe on film by providing continuity among the films.

Downey, Iron Man, appeared alongside Ben Stiller and Jack Black in the Stiller-directed Tropic Thunder. As they appear in an extremely costly Vietnam-era film called Tropic Thunder, the three actors play a Hollywood archetype, with Downey playing self-absorbed multi-Oscar-winning Australian method actor Kirk Lazarus. In order to play African-American platoon sergeant Lincoln Osiris, Lazarus goes through a "controversial skin pigmentation procedure," which requires Downey to wear dark makeup and a wig. Both Stiller and Downey were concerned that Downey's portrayal of the character could become tense:

When asked by Harry Smith on CBS' The Early Show who his model was for Lazarus, Downey grumbled "sadly, my sorry-ass self."

According to review aggregator websites Rotten Tomatoes and Metacritic, Inc., which were released in the United States on August 13, 2008, Tropic Thunder received high reviews with 83% of reviews positive and an average normalized score of 71. It earned US$26 million in its first weekend in North America, and remained the top ranked position for the first three weekends of release. Before the film's debut on home video on November 18, 2008, it earned $180 million in theaters. Downey was selected for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his portrayal of Lazarus.

The Soloist, a film that Downey finished in mid-2008, was unveiled in late April 2009. Due to Paramount Pictures' tight end-of-year release schedule, the film was postponed from a November 2008 release date. Critics who had seen the film in 2008 were referring to it as a potential Academy Award nominee. Downey received an Academy Award nomination for his work in Tropic Thunder in 2008.

After Iron Man was the title character in Guy Ritchie's Sherlock Holmes, Downey accepted the first part. On December 25, 2009, Warner Bros. introduced it on December 25, 2009. The film set multiple box office records in the United States for a Christmas Day premiere, defeating 2008's Marley & Me by nearly $10 million and finishing second to Avatar in a record-breaking Christmas weekend box office. Sherlock Holmes' film was the 8th most grossing film of 2009. When Downey received the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor in a Motion Picture Musical or Comedy from the Hollywood Foreign Press Association for his role as Sherlock Holmes, he said in his acceptance address that he had no remarks because "Susan Downey (his wife and Sherlock Holmes producer) told me that Matt Damon (nominated for his role in The Informant!) was nominated for his role as Sherlock Holmes. If you were going to win, don't bother preparing a speech."

In the first of two planned sequels to Iron Man, Iron Man 2, which were released in May 2010, Downey appeared as Tony Stark. Iron Man 2's total grossing film of 2010 was $623 million worldwide, becoming the 7th highest-grossing film of 2010. Due Date was Downey's other commercial film release of 2010. Zach Galifianakis, co-starring Zach Galifianakis, was released in November 2010 and grossed over $211 million worldwide, making it the 36th highest-grossing film of 2010. Downey's sole film role in 2011 was the sequel to Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows, which debuted worldwide on December 16, 2011.

Downey reprised Tony Stark's role in The Avengers in 2012. Both in the United States and around the world, the film received rave reviews and was wildly popular at the box office, becoming the third highest-grossing film of all time. The Judge, a David Dobkin-directed dramedy, was the first film to be co-produced by his production company Team Downey at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2014. In Iron Man 3 (2013), Downey appeared as Tony Stark in Iron Man 3 (2013), Captain America: Civil War (2016), Avengers: Infinity War (2018), and Avengers: Endgame (2019). In the first episode of the Disney+ series Loki, three of his scenes from The Avengers and Avengers: Endgame were used as archive footage.

The Age of A.I., a YouTube documentary film produced in 2019, was hosted by Downey. He appeared in Dolittle in 2020, portraying the titular character as a 19th-century Welsh veterinarian who can communicate with animals. This was Team Downey's second film. It was a box office flop, and critics had harsh words about it, saying it was "too long [and] lifeless."

Downey will appear in Jamie Foxx's sports comedy drama All-Star Weekend. According to director Dexter Fletcher, he will reprise his role as Holmes in a third film, which was originally scheduled for release on December 22, 2021, but later put the film on hold indefinitely. Downey would co-star in the television adaptation of novelist Viet Thanh Nguyen's book The Sympathizer, which was released on July 15, 2021. Downey will appear in Christopher Nolan's forthcoming biographical film Oppenheimer later this year. In addition, he'd been confirmed that he would appear in Play Dirty, reuniting with Shane Black, the maker of Kiss Kiss Bang Bang Bang Bang and Iron Man 3.

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