Robert Downey Jr.
Robert John Downey Jr. is an American actor. Known for portraying charismatic and intelligent characters over a diverse range of films, he was the highest-paid actor in Hollywood annually from 2013 to 2015. His films as a leading actor have grossed over $14.3billion worldwide, making him one of the highest-grossing actors of all time. Downey's accolades include an Academy Award, a Daytime Emmy Award, three Golden Globe Awards, and two BAFTA Awards.
At the age of five, Downey made his acting debut in his father Robert Downey Sr.'s film Pound. He rose to prominence by working with the Brat Pack for the teen films Weird Science and Less than Zero. His portrayal of Charlie Chaplin in the biopic Chaplin earned him the BAFTA Award for Best Actor and an Academy Award nomination. After spending less than a year at the Corcoran Substance Abuse Treatment Facility on drug charges, Downey joined the television series Ally McBeal in 2000, earning a Golden Globe for his performance. In 2001, he was dismissed from the show following further drug-related arrests. He entered a court-ordered rehabilitation program and has remained sober since 2003.
After Mel Gibson paid his insurance bond, Downey made his film comeback with The Singing Detective. He gained global recognition for starring as Iron Man in ten Marvel Cinematic Universe films, from Iron Man to Avengers: Endgame. Downey portrayed the titular detective in Sherlock Holmes —which earned him a Golden Globe—and its sequel, subtitled A Game of Shadows. For his portrayal of Lewis Strauss in Christopher Nolan's Oppenheimer, he won an Academy Award, Golden Globe, and BAFTA Award for Best Supporting Actor. In 2024, he was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for the miniseries The Sympathizer. That year, he made his Broadway debut in the title role of Ayad Akhtar's McNeal.
Time named Downey one of the 100 most influential people in 2008 and Forbes featured him on the Celebrity 100 in 2013 and 2014. He has pursued music, releasing the jazz-pop album The Futurist, which charted on the US Billboard 200. Divorced from singer Deborah Falconer, he has been married to film producer Susan Levin since 2005, with whom he co-founded the production company Team Downey. He has three children: one with Falconer and two with Levin. In 2025, Downey was named one of the greatest film actors of the 21st century by The Independent.
Early life and acting background
Robert John Downey Jr. was born in Manhattan, New York City, on April 4, 1965. His father, Robert Downey Sr., was a filmmaker, while his mother, Elsie Ann, was an actress who appeared in Downey Sr.'s films. Downey Sr. had Lithuanian Jewish and Irish ancestry, while Elsie had Scottish, German, and Swiss ancestry. Downey's sister, Allyson, is two years older than him.Due to his father's film projects, Downey moved frequently during his childhood, living in places such as Woodstock, New York; London; New Mexico; California; Connecticut; and Greenwich Village in New York City. From a young age, Downey was exposed to drugs: his father struggled with addiction, and his mother battled alcoholism. He has said that his father introduced him to marijuana at age eight, for which he later expressed regret. Downey mentioned that using drugs with his father created an emotional connection between them, explaining that, "When my dad and I used drugs together, it was his way of showing love for me in the only manner he knew." During his childhood, Downey appeared in small roles in his father's films. He made his acting debut at the age of five, portraying a sick puppy in the absurdist comedy Pound, and at seven, he appeared in the surrealist Western Greaser's Palace. At ages eleven and twelve, he attended Stagedoor Manor, a summer acting camp in upstate New York.
In school, Downey was a hyperactive child who "tried to be cool", often teased by the older boys but popular with the girls. His parents divorced when he was twelve; afterward, he lived with his mother in a fifth-floor apartment in New York City, while his sister stayed with their father, who later took her to a boarding school. He attended Lincoln Junior High School for eighth grade and then Santa Monica High School for ninth and tenth grades, but dropped out in 1982. At age 17, Downey relocated to his home town to pursue acting full-time, working various jobs such as clearing tables at a Central Falls restaurant, working in a shoe store, and performing as "living art" at the nightclub Area to support himself during auditions. During this period, he also appeared in local theater and off-Broadway productions.
Career
1983–1995: Early work and critical acclaim
Downey made his stage debut in 1983 with a three-week run in Alms for the Middle Class at the Geva Theatre Center. He then appeared in the short-lived off-Broadway musical American Passion at the Joyce Theater, produced by Norman Lear. Downey's first credited film role was in Baby It's You, though most of his scenes were cut. In his early film roles, he frequently portrayed misfit characters, and his portrayals of punk-like figures in several 1980s coming-of-age films led to his occasional association with the Brat Pack. In the drama film Firstborn, he played a supporting role as the teenage friend of the protagonist. Downey then traveled to Los Angeles to film James Spader's Tuff Turf, in which he played Spader's sidekick and a punk drummer. Later that year, his role as a bully in John Hughes's Weird Science marked his breakthrough. Downey starred as a more likeable radical socialist in the Alan Metter comedy film Back to School.In 1985, Downey joined the new, younger cast of Saturday Night Live, securing the audition with help from his Weird Science co-star and friend Anthony Michael Hall. After a season of poor ratings and criticism of the cast's comedic ability, he and most of the new members were dismissed. Downey's first leading role came in The Pick-up Artist, which faced criticism for being "sexually irresponsible" because of its portrayal of promiscuous sex during a period of heightened AIDS awareness. He earned critical acclaim for his role as Julian Wells in the drama film Less than Zero, the film adaptation of Bret Easton Ellis's 1985 novel. For portraying a drug-addicted rich boy whose life rapidly spirals out of control, Critic Roger Ebert called his performance "so real, so subtle and so observant that it's scary", while Janet Maslin, writing for The New York Times, deemed it "desperately moving". Downey said that the role felt like "the ghost of Christmas Future" for him, as his drug habit led him to become an "exaggeration of the character" in real life.
Shortly after completing Less than Zero, Downey entered rehab for the first time, beginning a decade-long cycle of interventions and treatment stints that culminated in his 1996 arrest. He starred alongside Kiefer Sutherland and Winona Ryder in the teen drama 1969. The film saw mixed reviews, though his performance garnered good reviews from writers at Variety and Deseret News. Downey went on to star in the films Chances Are with Cybill Shepherd and Ryan O'Neal, Air America with Mel Gibson, and Soapdish with Sally Field, Kevin Kline, Cathy Moriarty, and Whoopi Goldberg; each saw varying critical success. To prepare for his portrayal of comic actor and filmmaker Charlie Chaplin in the biopic Chaplin, Downey trained extensively, learning to play the violin and tennis left-handed, and working with a coach to replicate Chaplin's accent and mannerisms. Although the film was a box-office bomb, critics praised Downey's performance, for which he earned the BAFTA Award for Best Actor, as well as Academy Award and Golden Globe Award nominations.
In 1993, Downey starred in Heart and Souls, playing a man possessed by multiple characters—a performance that critic Peter Travers praised as revealing his "explosive talent for physical comedy". In Only You, co-starring Marisa Tomei and Billy Zane, Downey played Peter Wright, a professional dancer who poses as the soulmate for Tomei's character Faith. Norman Jewison—the film's director—cast him because he reminded him of Tony Curtis: "charming with great comedic timing". In preparation for his role of reporter Wayne Gale in Natural Born Killers, Downey shadowed Australian television shock journalist Steve Dunleavy, which helped him develop an Australian accent. The film proved successful at the box office, grossing $110million on a $34million budget. Throughout 1995, he took on a string of diverse roles, appearing in the period drama Restoration, the Shakespearean adaptation Richard III, and the family ensemble Home for the Holidays.
1996–2001: Addiction-related setbacks and ''Ally McBeal''
In early 1996, concerned for Downey's well-being, Sean Penn and Dennis Quaid went to his residence, took his keys, and brought him to a rehab center in Tucson; however, Downey left the facility and checked himself out a few days later. In June 1996, he was arrested for possession of heroin, cocaine, crack cocaine, and an unloaded.357 Magnum handgun while speeding down Sunset Boulevard. A month later, while under the influence of a controlled substance, he entered a neighbor's home through an unlocked front door and fell asleep on their child's bed. The family declined to press trespassing charges. The 911 call made by the neighbor was later circulated online and became known as the "Goldilocks incident". In September 1996, he plead no contest; two months later, following a period in court-ordered rehab, he was sentenced to an additional six months of live-in rehabilitation, three years' probation, and compulsory drug testing. Downey starred in Two Girls and a Guy, portraying a duplicitous man who convinces each of two women that she is his only love.After missing a court-ordered drug test in 1997, Downey spent six months in Los Angeles County Jail. In January 1998, he was temporarily allowed out of jail to star in the U.S. Marshals. Upon his full release, he entered a court-mandated 120-day rehab program and then starred in Black and White, playing Terry Donager, the gay husband of a documentary filmmaker. That year, after maintaining sobriety during the filming of Wonder Boys, Downey relapsed. At the time, he was facing financial difficulties and had lost his house in Malibu. Later that year, after missing another court-ordered drug test, he was arrested again. Despite his lawyer Robert Shapiro assembling the same legal team that had successfully defended O. J. Simpson in his criminal trial, Downey was sentenced to a three-year prison term at the California Substance Abuse Treatment Facility and State Prison in Corcoran. At the time of his arrest, all of Downey's film projects had been completed and were nearing release. He had also been hired to voice the devil in the NBC animated series God, the Devil and Bob, but was dismissed after failing to attend rehearsals.
After spending nearly a year in the Corcoran prison, Downey was unexpectedly released in 2000 on the condition of posting a $5,000 bail, when a judge ruled that his cumulative time in incarceration facilities—from his initial 1996 arrests—qualified him for early release. A week after his release, he joined the cast of the television series Ally McBeal as a new love interest. For his performance, he was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series and won the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Series, Miniseries, or Television Film. In retrospect, Downey described his performance as overrated, deeming it his "lowest point in terms of addictions". Before the end of his first season on Ally McBeal, Downey was arrested on Thanksgiving in 2000, after police responded to an anonymous 911 call and searched his room at Merv Griffin's Hotel and Givenchy Spa in Palm Springs, California. He was found under the influence of a controlled substance and in possession of cocaine and valium. Despite facing a potential prison sentence of up to four years and eight months if convicted, Downey committed to appear in at least eight additional episodes of Ally McBeal.
In April 2001, while on parole, Downey was found wandering barefoot in Culver City by a Los Angeles police officer. He was arrested on suspicion of being under the influence of drugs but was released a few hours later, even though tests confirmed the presence of cocaine in his system. After the arrest, the producers of Ally McBeal ordered last-minute rewrites and reshoots before dismissing him from the series, despite his character having boosted the show's ratings. In July 2001, Downey pleaded no contest to the Palm Springs charges, avoiding jail time. Instead, he was ordered into drug rehabilitation and sentenced to three years of probation under California Proposition 36, which had been enacted the previous year to direct nonviolent drug offenders toward treatment rather than prison. He spent a year in a court-mandated rehabilitation facility. By this time Downey was homeless, considered too great an insurance risk to be employable, and facing bankruptcy.
In December 2000, Downey's stepmother, Rosemary, told author Alex Tresnlowski of People that Downey had been diagnosed with bipolar disorder "a few years ago", adding that this was "the reason he has a hard time staying sober. What hasn't been tried is medication and intensive psychotherapy". Los Angeles psychiatrist Manijeh Nikakhtar said she had received a letter from Downey in 1999 during his incarceration at Corcoran II, asking for advice regarding his condition. She stated that "no one had done a complete evaluation I asked him flat out if he thought he was bipolar, and he said, 'Oh yeah. There are times I spend a lot of money and I'm hyperactive, and there are other times I’m down.'"