Robert Downey, Jr., whose full name is Robert John Downey, Jr., was created on April 4, 1965, in New York City, New York. He is a well-liked and very skilled American actor who works in Hollywood.
Downey was up in Greenwich Village, New York, and received his first part as an actor at the age of five from his father, a well-known underground filmmaker. After failing out of high school in California, Downey returned to New York City to seek a career in acting. Several minor roles in movies, most notably the cult hit Weird Science, allowed him a two-year run (1985–1986) on the television comedy sketch show Saturday Night Live (1985).
With his boyish appearance and raffish charm, Downey was given the lead part in the romantic comedy The Pick-up Artist (1987). Then, in the film Less Than Zero, he made a bigger impression with his graphic portrayal of a cocaine addict (1987).
Up to Downey’s 1992 main role in Richard Attenborough’s Chaplin biopic, which garnered him several acclaim and a nomination for best actor at the Academy Awards, his consistent work largely went unnoticed. In spite of his strong performances in films like the violent media satire Natural Born Killers (1994) and the historical drama Restoration (1995), Downey had a drug abuse problem by this point, and his frequent run-ins with the law and his open battle with drug addiction frequently overshadowed his on-screen achievements.
He was at his lowest when, as a result of an earlier arrest, he was given a three-year jail term for breaking the terms of his parole in 1999.
After being released early in 2000, Downey was hired for a recurring part on the sitcom Ally McBeal, for which he received a Golden Globe nomination. He kept abusing drugs and was frequently imprisoned. after appearing in 13 prestigious movies, including A Scanner Darkly (2006), Zodiac (2006), and many others. In the five years that followed, Downey seemed to change both his personal and professional circumstances.
Downey received praise for his performances in two summer blockbusters in 2008. He played Tony Stark, a multibillionaire scientist with a heroic alter ego, in Iron Man, and he played a self-important movie star in Tropic Thunder who dons blackface to play an African American soldier in the Vietnam War. Downey was nominated for an Academy Award for best supporting actor for the latter role. He then made an appearance in The Soloist (2009), a film about a journalist who befriends a homeless cellist (played by Jamie Foxx). After winning a Golden Globe for his performance, Downey played the titular role in Sherlock Holmes (2009), a film that included a visceral reworking of the main character from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s detective series. A sequel was released in 2011.
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