Robert Downey Jr turned 59 years old on Thursday, April 4, and his career as an
Actor keeps gaining recognition, with him nabbing the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor this year. Robert hails from Manhattan,
New York. Because his father, Robert Downey Sr. was a filmmaker, Robert would often move due to his father's projects. He was introduced to the film industry very early and got his first role in the movie Pound at just five years old. The movie was written and directed by his father. Since then, he has appeared in a plethora of movies and won a number of accolades. Let's take a dive into Robert Jr.'s life and career. Early in his career, Robert Jr. appeared on films like Baby, It's you in 1983, Firstborn in 1984 which starred Sarah Jessica Parker and started dating, Weird Science in 1985 and Back to School in 1986. He also became a cast member on NBC's
Saturday Night Live from 1985 to 1986. He got his first leading role in 1987 when he played Jack Jericho in The Pick-up Artist, which also starred Molly Ringwald and Dennis Hopper and was written and directed by James Toback. That same year, Robert Jr. played Julian Wells, a drug-addicted party lover whose life spiralled out of control, in the 1985 film, Less than Zero. The film was based on Bret Easton Ellis' novel. Robert beca me a fully fledged A-lister in the 1990s. He starred as Charlie Chaplin in Chaplin (1992), a role he prepared for by learning how to play the violin as well as learning how to play
Tennis left-handed. He received such high praise for the role that he received an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor but lost to Al Pacino in Scent of a Woman. As well as seeing the dizzying heights of success, Robert has also had his past struggles with addiction. He was arrested multiple times from 1996 to 2000 on charges related to drugs and weapons. Back in 1999, the actor was sentenced to three years in
prison following a series of parole violations. He served a total of 15 months, plus parole and probation time. In December 2015, the governor of
California at the time, Jerry Brown, pardoned him of his convictions. Following his prison stint, Robert turned his life around and has now been sober for years. He has talked about his past troubles and said that prison was like "being sent to a distant planet where there is no way home until the planets align". Robert was able to return to the big screen after Mel Gibson paid for his insurance bond in the 2003 film, The Singing Detective. He was then casted in Gothika in 2003, was a supporting role in Good Night, Good Luck in 2005, and was casted for the lead in the independent drama A Guide to Recognising Your Saints in 2006. He took a big risk when he appeared in the controversial
comedy Tropic Thunder in 2008, which also starred Ben Stiller and Jack Black, and he was also nominated for an Oscar for this role. In 2008, Robert Jr. became the face of Marvel when he landed the role of Tony Stark in Ironman. The film grossed more than $318million (£251million), and later released two more sequels in 2010 and 2013. His character became such a big deal in the Marvel universe that it led him to also star in The Avengers in 2012, 2015, in 2016, in 2017, in 2018 and in 2019. In 2024, Robert Jr. won Best Supporting Actor for his performance in Christopher Nolan's Oppenheimer, after being in the business for 30 years. During his speech, he thanked his lawyer for bailing him out of jail in Corcoran, California and his wife. He said: "I'd like to thank my terrible childhood and the Academy, in that order. I'd like to thank my veterinarian, I meant wife, Susan Downey over there. She found me a snarling rescue pet and you loved me back to life." He continued: "That's why I'm here. Here's my little secret, I needed this
Job more than it needed me. Chris knew it. I stand there before you a better man because of it. What we do is meaningful and the stuff we decide to make it important." Robert praised his entire team, stylist and lawyer of over 40 years, adding: "The half of which he spent trying to get me insured and bailing me out of the hoosgow, thanks bro."