ROBERT DOWNY JR.
Award-winning actor and musician Robert Downey, Jr. was born on April 4, 1965 in New York City. His first brush with acting came through his father, who directed several underground films. He took acting classes as a teenager, but it was only in 1982 when he decided to pursue a full-time acting career. After joining the cast of Saturday Night Live for just one season, he made his breakthrough film role in the 1985 drama Tuff Turf. He was initially known for his many coming-of-age films with the so-called Brat Pack, and was even considered by some critics as a member.In 1987, Downey starred in Less Than Zero, where he played high school drug junkie Julian. His critically-acclaimed performance led to other, bigger film projects. In 1992, he played the title role in the biopic Chaplin, a role which he extensively prepared for. This led to him being nominated for an Oscar Best Actor award, losing out to Al Pacino. After several more films, his career started to collapse, as he struggled with substance abuse. A string of arrests and jail terms dotted Downey’s life from 1996 to 2001, and most of his roles started to slip away.
In 2000, Downey started to get back on his career, by joining the cast of the television series Ally McBeal. There, he played the role of Larry Paul, the new love interest of the title character (Calista Flockhart). Critics applauded his performance, and this led to him winning a Golden Globe award, and earning a nomination for an Emmy. Before his run on the show ended, however, he was arrested yet again for drug possession, and he disappeared from the spotlight again.
Downey slowly crept back to the scene in the mid-2000s, when he appeared in several mainstream and independent films: The Singing Detective, Gothika, Good Night, and Good Luck, A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints and Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, among others. He also released an album, the jazz release The Futurist. It was only in 2008 when Downey made it big again, when he was surprisingly cast as the title character in the superhero flick Iron Man. The film received rave reviews, highlighting Downey’s spectacular portrayal of the role, despite his unlikely selection. He continued his return with the comedy film Tropic Thunder, whose performance has elicited some controversy. He followed this up by playing the titular character in 2009’s Sherlock Holmes and reprised his role as Iron Man for the sequels.
