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| Real Name: Robert Downey Jr. | ||||||||||||||
| Birthday: 04/04/1965 | ||||||||||||||
| Place of Birth: New York, New York | ||||||||||||||
| Education: Santa Monica High School, Santa Monica, CA | ||||||||||||||
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Robert Downey, Jr. Biography And Filmography: Despite Oscar and Golden Globe nominations and the esteem of film critics and his acting peers, Robert Downey, Jr. claimed that he was not really an actor, just a good hustler who had found a way to make a living with acting. His uncanny role of adored silent film star “Chaplin” (1992) earned him some of the highest honor of his career, but Downey’s gift was also his talent to transform a “regular person” into a detailed and thoroughly riveting star of the show, often complete with brilliant quirks. Even in his early roles in young teen comedies, Downey stood out above the pack for his impulsive energy and noticeable heroism in exposing his very delicate inner workings. The only thing unbelievable about Downey was the script to his off-screen life, which included years of drug abuse and jail time that remarkably healed in the third act.
When Downey was only thirteen years old, his parents divorced and his father moved to the filmmaking capital of California. Downey followed soon after, appearing in his dad’s young teen comedy “Mad Magazine Presents: Up the Academy” (1980) and in stage productions at Santa Monica High School, before dropping out his junior to move back to New York and live with his sister. Downey worked as a busboy while appearing in off-Broadway plays like the drama “Alms for the Middle Class,” the musical “American Passion,” and as a piece of living art in a SoHo nightclub. It was at this performance that he was spotted by a talent agent and flown back to Los Angeles where he was cast in a small role in John Sayle’s 1950s-set young teen drama “Baby it’s You” (1983) and Michael Apted’s family drama “Firstborn” (1984). It was on the set of this film where he first met Sarah Jessica Parker, years away from “Sex and the City” (HBO, 1998-2004) and Carrie Bradshaw. The couple quickly ignited a romantic relationship off-screen and Downey moved into her New York apartment after only weeks. A supporting role in "Weird Science" (1985) introduced Downey to Anthony Michael Hall, who encouraged his new friend to join him at auditions for “Saturday Night Live” (NBC, 1975- ) that year. Both landed in the cast of what unfortunately went down in “S.N.L.” history as one of its most awful seasons, due mainly to a new team of producers who broke the spell of the show’s popular Lorne Michaels-era. On film, Downey had a role as a charming and peculiar college student in the Rodney Dangerfield hit "Back to School" (1986) before landing his first starring role as a smooth-talking ladies man opposite Molly Ringwald in James Toback’s “The Pick-Up Artist” (1987).
Robert Downey's breakthrough film role came later that year with his role of tragic, cocaine addicted Julian in "Less Than Zero" (1987). It was no coincidence that Downey so convincingly played the on edge and dangerously out of control character – by the time the film was released he was going through his first drug rehab program for cocaine addiction. In fact, in light of his future painful run-ins with the law over his drug addiction, watching the film years later would prove too difficult for family, friends and fans. Downey appeared in a few more young teen and adult comedies before taking a role for the better with a amazingly mature performance as an optimistic lawyer opposite James Woods in "True Believer" (1989). Downey then played the confused hero in "Chances Are" (1989). He then appeared in the Vietnam war dark comedy “Air America” (1990), co-starring opposite Mel Gibson as a traffic helicopter celebrity hired to transport drugs through Southeast Asia. His improvised comic style and good screen energy translated well into the world of the big budget Hollywood movies. Nevertheless, Downey was not such a big name that audiences would have expected him to land the impressive lead role in the biopic “Chaplin” (1992). In the film, Downey delivered an outstanding performance that moved Chaplin’s daughter, and film co-star Geraldine, Chaplin to suggest that her late father had somehow come to earth and inhabited the actor’s body. While not well received at the box-office, due in part to the subject matter, Downey was praised for his talent to capture not only the movements but the heart of the world's favorite tramp, and earned Best Actor Oscar and Golden Globe nominations and a win at the BAFTAs. Tabloid interest in the actor’s private life was fueled by the end of his seven-year relationship with Sarah Jessica Parker in 1991 – due to his drug usage – and his marriage to actress Deborah Falconer in 1992 after dating her for only two months. In 1993, the couple had a son, Indio. The same year Robert Altman recruited Downey for his company piece based on the stories of Raymond Carver, "Short Cuts,” where the actor gave a good performance that cemented his career. Robert then followed up with a role as an Australian talk-show host broadcasting during a jail riot in Oliver Stone's "Natural Born Killers" (1994) and then a more romantic role as Marisa Tomei's lover in the popular romantic comedy "Only You” (1994). Downey was at his best in Jodie Foster's "Home for the Holidays” (1995) with Holly Hunter and Claire Danes. Next, the actorwas part of the cast of Richard Loncraine's 1930’s adaptation of "Richard III,” starring Ian McKellen. That same year Downey headed up the 17th-century costume drama “Restoration” with Meg Ryan.
Once released, Downey appeared in "The Gingerbread Man" (1998) with Daryl Hannah, followed by a role as a womanizer confronted by a pair of lovers in "Two Girls and a Guy" (1998) with Heather Graham. Before he began serving a three year sentence for violating probation on the 1996 cocaine possession charge, Downey appeared as a documentary filmmaker's homosexual husband who makes a pass at Mike Tyson in "Black & White" (1999) and offered a smooth comedy turn as Michael Douglas' partying book editor in the drama, "Wonder Boys" (2000) with Tobey Maguire and Katie Holmes. "Wonder Boys" went on to win two Oscar awards and was nominated for several others. Downey was given early release from the California Substance Abuse Treatment Facility and State Prison in August of 2000 when an appeals court ruled that he had had served more than enough time to fulfill his sentence, after his prior 323 days in rehab were taken into account. Downey found himself surrounded by forgiving supporters and began getting offers for work, taking a recurring role as a love interest to Calista Flockhart's happy "Ally McBeal" (Fox, 1997-2002). Downey showed that he still had the energy and appeal, and swiftly won over audiences and earned an Emmy nod and Golden Globe win. Unfortunately, by year’s end, he was back in trouble again, arrested on weapons and drug possession charges. In April 2001, just prior to the end of the “Ally McBeal” filming season, Downey was arrested by an unspecified phone tip in a drug filled Palm Springs hotel room. Frustrated producer David E. Kelley immediately fired him and re-wrote the series' last episode, in which his character was supposed to marry Ally McBeal. In July 2001, Downey was sentenced to three years probation, including one year in a drug rehab center. When Downey surfaced again, he was sober. For reasons even he could not fully explain, a 2003 coke binge had ended with a realization that the game was over. His old friend and co-star Mel Gibson helped restart his career by casting Downey in his screen adaptation of author Dennis Potter's "The Singing Detective" (2003), where from his hospital bed, a writer suffering from a skin disease hallucinates musical numbers and paranoid plots. He was also cast opposite Halle Berry in the horror thriller "Gothika" (2003) with Penelope Cruz, playing Halle Berry's colleague, a concerned psychologist who tries to determine if she is simply crazy or possessed by an evil spirit.
Downey’s 2006 projects were independent films but established that his talent had not only survived his drug problems, but had strengthened with his newfound sobriety. He appeared in the innovative “A Scanner Darkly” (2006) about an undercover cop in a not-too-distant future who becomes involved with a dangerous new drug and begins to lose his own identity as a result. Downey then appeared in “Fur: An Imaginary Portrait of Diane Arbus” with Nicole Kidman, where Diane Arbus (Kidman) falls in love with Lionel Sweeney (Downey), an enigmatic mentor who introduces Arbus to the marginalized people who help her become one of the most revered photographers of the twentieth century. Downey next appeared in the book adaptation of “A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints” with Shia Labeouf, a coming-of-age drama about a young boy growing up in Astoria, N.Y., during the 1980s. As his friends end up dead, on drugs or in prison, he comes to believe he has been saved from their fate by various so-called saints. Next was the crime thriller “Zodiac” (2007), with Downey joining Jake Gyllenhaal to play a veteran police reporter involved in cracking a case. Downey kicked of the next year in the independent film “Charlie Bartlett”, about a rich kid who becomes the self-appointed psychiatrist to the student body of his new high school.
Downey braced himself for a high profile year in several blockbusters including Ben Stiller’s “Tropic Thunder” (2008) with Jack Black, Matthew McConaughey and Tom Cruise, where through a series of freak occurrences, a group of actors shooting a big-budget war movie are forced to become the soldiers they are portraying. Next was the summer of '08 blockbuster super smash hit Marvel Comic film "Iron Man" (2008) with Gwyneth Paltrow, about when wealthy industrialist Tony Stark is forced to build an armored suit after a life-threatening incident, and ultimately decides to use its technology to fight against evil. Downey followed "Iron Man" with another action hero adventure film "The Incredible Hulk" (2008) starring Edward Norton and Liv Tyler about physicist Bruce Banner who takes flight in order to understand, and hopefully cure, the condition that turns him into a monster. Finally that year was the musical drama "The Soloist" (2008) about a schizophrenic, homeless musician from Skid Row, Los Angeles who dreams of playing at Walt Disney Concert Hall.
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Robert Downey, Jr. was born on April 4, 1965, in New York City’s
Greenwich Village. His father, who had changed his name from Elias as a
young teen in order to get into the Army underage, was a boxer, minor league
ball player and writer before gaining notoriety as an underground
filmmaker. During Downey’s hippy upbringing, he enjoyed the colorful cast of
downtown counter-culture types that would meet in the family apartment, and
appeared in his father’s films, “Pound” (1970) where he played the
role of a
puppy, and “Greaser’s Palace” (1972), a Western in which he had his
throat slit by God. His older sister Alison was the smart kid in the
family, while it was clear that the hyperactive young son was headed for a life in
the arts. His parents encouraged this curiosity by sending him to a
performing arts camp, Stagedoor Manor, for several summers.
By now, Downey had gained a loyal following of fans, movie critics, and
co-workers in respect of his creativity. None of them were
ready to black list the friendly and professional actor in the face of
his repeated drug problems, but a June 1996 arrest signaled that Downey was
headed for serious trouble. When stopped by police for speeding, they found drugs and an unloaded firearm in his car. Downey was ordered
into a rehab and given three years' probation. Robert and his wife separated. In
December 1997, after appearing as an AIDS patient in
HBO’s "One Night Stand,” he missed several mandatory drug tests and
was arrested and jailed. 
Word of his official comeback spread through
Hollywood resulting in Downey
being hired and cast for three films in 2005, starting with the Steven
Soderbergh directed segment of the compilation film "Eros" (2005),
playing a stressed out 1950s advertising executive under the supervision of
psychiatrist (Alan Arkin). 