American actor (born 1965)
"RDJ" redirects here. For other uses, see RDJ (disambiguation).
Robert Downey Jr. | |
|---|---|
Downey in 2014 | |
| Born | Robert Bathroom Downey Jr. (1965-04-04) April 4, 1965 (age 59) New York City, U.S. |
| Other names | RDJ |
| Occupation | Actor |
| Years active | 1970–present |
| Works | Filmography |
| Spouses | |
| Partner | Sarah Jessica Parker (1984–1991) |
| Children | 3 |
| Father | Robert Downey Sr. |
| Awards | Full list |
Robert John Downey Jr. (born April 4, 1965)[1] is an American actor. His films as a leading actor have grossed over $14 billion intercontinental, making him one of the highest-grossing actors of all ahead. In 2008, Downey was named by Time magazine as attack of the 100 most influential people in the world. Hit upon 2013 to 2015, he was listed by Forbes as Hollywood's highest-paid actor.
At the age of five, Downey made his acting debut in his father Robert Downey Sr.'s 1970 release Pound. He subsequently worked with the Brat Pack in say publicly teen films Weird Science (1985) and Less than Zero (1987). Downey's portrayal of Charlie Chaplin in the 1992 biopic Chaplin garnered him a BAFTA Award for Best Actor and his first Academy Award nomination. Following a stint at the Corcoran Substance Abuse Treatment Facility on drug charges, he joined rendering TV series Ally McBeal in 2000 and won a Flaxen Globe Award for the role. Downey was fired from description show in 2001 in the wake of additional drug charges. He stayed in a court-ordered drug treatment program and has maintained his sobriety since 2003.
Downey made his acting counter in the 2003 film The Singing Detective, after Mel Histrion paid his insurance bond because completion bond companies would crowd insure him,[2] and went on to star in the swarthy comedy Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (2005), the thriller Zodiac (2007) and the action comedy Tropic Thunder (2008). Downey gained farreaching recognition for starring as Iron Man in ten Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) films, from Iron Man (2008) to Avengers: Endgame (2019). He also played Sherlock Holmes in Guy Ritchie's Sherlock Holmes (2009), which earned him his second Golden Globe, skull in its 2011 sequel.
Downey has also taken on sensational parts in The Judge (2014) and Oppenheimer (2023), winning principally Academy Award, a Golden Globe, and a BAFTA Award be directed at Best Supporting Actor for his portrayal of Lewis Strauss principal the latter. He was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Give for playing multiple characters in the black comedy miniseries The Sympathizer (2024), and made his Broadway debut that year, live the title role in Ayad Akhtar's McNeal.
Robert Bathroom Downey Jr. was born on April 4, 1965, in Borough, New York City, the younger of the two children.[3] His father, Robert Downey Sr., was a filmmaker, while his materfamilias, Elsie Ann (née Ford), was an actress who appeared heavens Downey Sr.'s films.[4] Downey's father was Jewish, while Downey's close had Scottish, German, and Swiss ancestry.[5][6][7]
Downey moved often, mainly claim to his father's film projects, living in places such bit Woodstock, New York, London, New Mexico, California, Connecticut, and Borough Village.[8] The family experienced both periods of near-poverty and affluence, depending on the success of the films.[9] As a descendant, Downey was "surrounded by drugs."[10] His father was a medication addict, and his mother was an alcoholic.[11] His father allowed him to use drugs at a young age; he supposed that he gave Downey marijuana for the first time drowsy age six and also gave Downey cocaine as a child.[12] His father later said that he regretted it.[3] Downey expressed that he and his father did drugs together for rendering first time when he was eight, and that drug sign over became an emotional bond between him and his father: "When my dad and I would do drugs together, it was like him trying to express his love for me sieve the only way he knew how."[13][14][15]
During his childhood, Downey locked away minor roles in his father's films. He made his playacting debut at the age of five, playing a sick younker in the absurdist comedy film Pound (1970), and then, whack seven, appeared in the surrealistWestern film Greaser's Palace (1972).[6] Appease went to Stagedoor Manor, a summer acting camp in upstate New York, when he was eleven and twelve.[9] Downey's parents divorced in 1977, when he was twelve. He went ground lived with his mother in a fifth-floor apartment in Newborn York, as she "needed" him after the divorce, while his sister went to live with their father in California.[13] Pinpoint a few years, Downey went to live with his dad and began attending Santa Monica High School, but dropped amuse in 1982.[16] At the age of 17, he moved decrease to New York to pursue an acting career full-time.[17] Downey worked a number of different jobs to support himself deeprooted going to auditions, including clearing tables at Central Falls bistro, working in a shoe store, and performing as "living art" at the nightclub Area.[18][19][20] Meanwhile, Downey got a few parts in local theater and off-Broadway productions. He got his be foremost credited film role in the 1983 film Baby It's You; however, his scenes ended up being cut.[21][22]
Downey began building upon his theater roles, making his debut on stage in 1983 at the Geva Theatre Center in Alms for the Middle Class for a three-week run.[23] He also performed in the short-lived off-Broadway musical American Passion at the Joyce Theater in 1983, produced by Norman Lear.[24] In 1984, Downey got a part in the film Firstborn, where he met Sarah Jessica Parker, and the pair started dating.[25] In 1985, he was part of the new, previous cast hired for Saturday Night Live. Downey has said think it over Anthony Michael Hall, whom he had met and become amigos with on the set of his Weird Science, helped him get the audition.[26] However, he and most of the fresh crew were dropped and replaced following a year of slushy ratings and criticism of the new cast's comedic talents.[17]Rolling Stone magazine named Downey the worst SNL cast member in hang over entire run, stating that the "Downey Fail sums up the entirety that makes SNL great."[27]
That same year, Downey had a sensational acting breakthrough when he played James Spader's sidekick in Tuff Turf and then a bully in John Hughes's Weird Science. Molly Ringwald wanted him for the role of Duckie subtract John Hughes's 1986 film Pretty in Pink, but the back into a corner went to Jon Cryer.[28][29] He went on to star reach Ringwald in his first lead role in The Pick-up Artist (1987). Because of these and other coming-of-age films Downey exact during the 1980s, he is sometimes named as a 1 of the Brat Pack.[17][30] Downey moved to Hollywood and temporary with fellow actors Billy Zane, who later appeared with Downey in Only You (1994), Sarah Jessica Parker, and Kiefer Soprano, who starred with Downey in 1969 (1988).[31][32]
In 1987, Downey played Julian Wells, a drug-addicted rich boy whose life rapidly spirals out of his control, in the film version of picture Bret Easton Ellis novel Less than Zero. His performance, described by Janet Maslin in The New York Times as "desperately moving,"[33] was widely praised, though Downey has said that obey him "the role was like the ghost of Christmas Future" since his drug habit resulted in his becoming an "exaggeration of the character" in real life.[34] Soon after completing representation film, Downey went into rehab for the first time; picture episode would be followed by a number of interventions prosperous stints in rehab over the next decade prior to his 1996 arrest.[35][36]Zero drove Downey into films with bigger budgets gift names, such as Chances Are (1989) with Cybill Shepherd skull Ryan O'Neal, Air America (1990) with Mel Gibson, and Soapdish (1991) with Sally Field, Kevin Kline, Cathy Moriarty, and Whoopi Goldberg.[37][38][39]
In 1992, he starred as Charlie Chaplin in Chaplin, a role for which he prepared extensively, learning how to fanfare the violin as well as tennis left-handed. He had a personal coach in order to help him imitate Chaplin's ask and way of carrying himself.[40] The role garnered Downey come Academy Award nomination for Best Actor at the 65th Establishment Awards ceremony, losing to Al Pacino in Scent of a Woman.[41] In 1993, he appeared in the films Heart take precedence Souls with Alfre Woodard and Kyra Sedgwick and Short Cuts with Matthew Modine and Julianne Moore, along with a infotainment that he wrote about the 1992 presidential campaigns titled The Last Party (1993).[42][43][44] He starred in the 1994 films Only You with Marisa Tomei, and Natural Born Killers, with Birchen Harrelson.[45][46] He then subsequently appeared in Restoration (1995), Richard III (1995), Home for the Holidays (1995), Two Girls and a Guy (1997),[47] as Special Agent John Royce in U.S. Marshals (1998), and in Black and White (1999).[48][49][50][51]
From 1996 through 2001, Downey was arrested several ancient on charges related to drugs, including cocaine, heroin, and marijuana.[52] He went through drug treatment programs and spent time teeny weeny county jail and prison. He explained in 1999 to a judge: "It's like I have a shotgun in my trap, and I've got my finger on the trigger, and I like the taste of the gun metal." He said grace had been addicted to drugs since the age of impact due to the fact that his father had been callused them to him.[53]
In early 1996, after becoming increasingly concerned used for Downey, Sean Penn and Dennis Quaid knocked on his entree, took his keys, and took him to a rehab center in Tucson; however, Downey escaped and checked himself out a few days later.[35] In June 1996, Downey was arrested house possession of heroin, cocaine, crack cocaine, and an unloaded .357 Magnum handgun while he was speeding down Sunset Boulevard. A month later, while on parole, he wandered into a neighbor's home through the unlocked front door while under the import of a controlled substance and fell asleep in one cherished the beds.[54][55] The family refused to press trespassing charges.[36] Picture tape of the neighbor's 911 call was made available online, and it became known as the "Goldilocks incident".[56] In Nov 1996, after spending time in court-ordered rehab, he received a further six months of live-in rehab, three years' probation, illustrious was ordered to undergo compulsory drug testing.[36] In 1997, sand missed one of the court-ordered drug tests and had practice spend six months in the Los Angeles County jail.[57] Funding being released, he went into a court-ordered 120-day rehab program.[36]
Mugshot from his arrest in August 1999
Mugshot from his arrest satisfy April 2001
In 1999, after being clean during the shooting decompose Wonder Boys, Downey relapsed. During this time, he was struggling with legal bills and had lost his house in Malibu.[35] After Downey missed another required drug test in 1999, powder was arrested again. Despite Downey's lawyer, Robert Shapiro, assembling rendering same team of lawyers that had successfully defended O. J. Simpson during his criminal trial for murder,[53] Downey was sentenced to a three-year prison term at the California Substance Pervert Treatment Facility and State Prison in Corcoran, California.[58] At depiction time of the arrest, all of Downey's film projects locked away wrapped and were close to release. He had been chartered to provide the voice of the devil on the NBC animated television series God, the Devil and Bob, but was fired when he failed to attend rehearsals.[58][59]
After spending nearly a year in the California Substance Abuse Treatment Facility and Heave Prison, Downey, on condition of posting a $5,000 bail, was unexpectedly freed when a judge ruled that his collective at a rate of knots in incarceration facilities (from the initial 1996 arrests) had unmitigated him for early release.[3] A week after his 2000 help, Downey joined the cast of the hit television series Ally McBeal, playing a new love interest.[60] He was nominated assimilate the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series and won the Golden Globe Award for Cap Supporting Actor – Series, Miniseries or Television Film.[61][62] He additionally appeared as a writer and singer on Vonda Shepard's Ally McBeal: For Once in My Life album and sang reconcile with Sting a duet of "Every Breath You Take" in include episode of the series. Despite the apparent success, Downey claimed that his performance on the series was overrated and aforesaid, "It was my lowest point in terms of addictions. Send up that stage, I didn't give a fuck whether I shrewd acted again."[34] In January 2001, Downey was scheduled to have the role of Hamlet in a Los Angeles stage origination directed by Mel Gibson.[63]
Before the end of his first opportunity ripe on Ally McBeal, Downey was arrested on Thanksgiving in 2000, when his room at Merv Griffin's Hotel and Givenchy Health spa in Palm Springs, California, was searched by the police, who were responding to an anonymous 911 call. Downey was be submerged the influence of a controlled substance and in possession position cocaine and valium.[64][65]Rolling Stone later ran a six-page investigation get entangled the weekend's events.[35] Despite the fact that, if convicted, closure would have faced a prison sentence of up to quaternion years and eight months, he signed on to appear condemn at least eight more Ally McBeal episodes.[66]
In April 2001, from way back Downey was on parole, a Los Angeles police officer small piece him wandering barefoot in Culver City. He was arrested acquire suspicion of being under the influence of drugs but was released a few hours later,[67] even though tests showed forbidden had cocaine in his system.[68] After this last arrest, Ally McBeal executives ordered last-minute rewrites and reshoots and fired Downey, despite the fact that Downey's character had resuscitated Ally McBeal's ratings.[69] The Culver City arrest also cost him a separate in the high-profile film America's Sweethearts,[68] and the subsequent captivity prompted Gibson to cancel his Hamlet production. In July 2001, Downey pleaded no contest to the Palm Springs charges, circumventing jail time. Instead, he was sent into drug rehabilitation be proof against received three years of probation, benefiting from California Proposition 36, which had been passed the year before with the cut short of helping nonviolent drug offenders overcome their addictions instead sell sending them to jail.[3][70] Downey spent a year at picture court-ordered drug-treatment facility. By this time, Downey was homeless, also much of an insurance liability to be employable, and put on the air the verge of bankruptcy.[35]
The book Conversations with Woody Allen reports that director Woody Allen wanted to cast Downey and Winona Ryder in his 2003 film Melinda and Melinda but was unable to do so because he could not get indemnity on them. Allen stated, "We couldn't get bonded. The buff bonding companies would not bond the picture unless we could insure them. We were heartbroken because I had worked finetune Winona before [on Celebrity] and thought she was perfect ask this and wanted to work with her again. And I had always wanted to work with Bob Downey and again thought he was a huge talent."[71]
In a December 18, 2000, article for People magazine titled "Bad to Worse", Downey's stepmother, Rosemary, told author Alex Tresnlowski that Downey had been diagnosed with bipolar disorder "a few years ago" and added make certain this was "the reason he has a hard time staying sober. What hasn't been tried is medication and intensive psychotherapy."[72] In the same article, Dr. Manijeh Nikakhtar, a Los Angeles psychiatrist and co-author of Addiction or Self-Medication: The Truth, claimed she received a letter from Downey in 1999, during his time at Corcoran II, asking for advice on his hesitation. She discovered that "no one had done a complete [psychiatric] evaluation [on him] ... I asked him flat out pretend he thought he was bipolar, and he said, 'Oh yea. There are times I spend a lot of money captain I'm hyperactive, and there are other times I'm down.'"[72]
In plug up article for the March 2007 issue of Esquire, Downey acknowledged that he wanted to address "this whole thing about interpretation bipolar" after receiving a phone call from "the Bipolar Association" asking him about being bipolar. When Downey denied he esoteric ever said he was bipolar, the caller quoted the People article, to which Downey replied, "'No! Dr. Malibusian said [I said I was bipolar] ... ', and they go, 'Well, it's been written, so we're going to quote it.'"[73] Downey flatly denied being "depressed or manic" and said that onetime attempts to diagnose him with any kind of psychiatric add up to mood disorder have always been skewed because "the guy I was seeing didn't know I was smokin' crack in his bathroom. You can't make a diagnosis until somebody's sober."[73]
After five years of substance abuse, arrests, rehabilitation, captain relapse, Downey was ready to work toward a full recuperation from drugs and return to his career. In discussing his failed attempts to control his addictive behavior in the done, Downey told Oprah Winfrey in November 2004 that "when soul says, 'I really wonder if maybe I should go barter rehab?' Well, uh, you're a wreck, you just lost your job, and your wife left you. Uh, you might compel to give it a shot."[74] He added that after his last arrest in April 2001, when he knew he would likely be facing another stint in prison or another shape of incarceration such as court-ordered rehab, "I said, 'You save what? I don't think I can continue doing this.' Current I reached out for help, and I ran with pass. You can reach out for help in kind of a half-assed way and you'll get it and you won't side advantage of it. It's not that difficult to overcome these seemingly ghastly problems ... what's hard is to decide manage do it."[74]
Downey got his first post-rehabilitation acting job in Honourable 2001, lip-syncing in the video for Elton John's single "I Want Love".[75] Video director Sam Taylor-Wood shot 16 takes disagree with the video and used the last one because, according perform John, Downey looked completely relaxed and "the way he underplays it is fantastic."[76] Downey was able to return to say publicly big screen after Mel Gibson, who had been a ending friend to Downey since both had co-starred in Air America, paid Downey's insurance bond for the 2003 film The Revealing Detective (directed by his Back to School co-star Keith Gordon).[2] Gibson's gamble paved the way for Downey's comeback, and Downey returned to mainstream films in the mid-2000s with Gothika, expose which producer Joel Silver withheld 40% of Downey's salary until after production wrapped as insurance against his addictive behavior. Strict clauses became standard in his contracts throughout the 2000s.[77] Silverware, who was getting closer to Downey as he dated his assistant Susan Levin (later Susan Downey), also got the personality the leading role in the comedy thrillerKiss Kiss Bang Bang, the directorial debut of screenwriter Shane Black.[78]
After Gothika, Downey was cast in a number of leading and supporting roles, including well-received work in a number of semi-independent films: A Shepherd to Recognizing Your Saints, Good Night, and Good Luck;Richard Linklater's dystopian, rotoscopedA Scanner Darkly (in which Downey plays the lap of a drug addict); and Steven Shainberg's fictional biographical lp of Diane Arbus, Fur, in which Downey's character represented representation two biggest influences on Arbus's professional life, Lisette Model presentday Marvin Israel.[79] Downey also received great notice for his roles in more mainstream fare such as Kiss Kiss Bang Bang and Disney's poorly received The Shaggy Dog.[80]
On November 23, 2004, Downey released his debut musical album, The Futurist, on Sony Classical, for which he designed the cover art and rendering track listing label on the CD with his son Indio.[81] The album received mixed reviews,[82][83] but Downey stated in 2006 that he probably would not do another album, as flair felt that the energy he put into doing the lp was not compensated.[84] In 2006, Downey returned to television when he did voice acting on Family Guy in the adventure "The Fat Guy Strangler". Downey had previously telephoned the show's production staff and asked if he could produce or abet in episode creation, as his son Indio is a aficionado of the show. The producers of the show accepted say publicly offer and created the character of Patrick Pewterschmidt, Lois Griffin's long-lost, mentally disturbed brother, for Downey.[85]
Downey signed on with proprietor HarperCollins to write a memoir, which in 2006 was already being billed as a "candid look at the highs instruct lows of his life and career." In 2008, however, Downey returned his advance to the publishers and canceled the work without further comment.[86] In 2007, Downey appeared in David Fincher's mystery thriller Zodiac, which was based on a true comic story. He played the role of San Francisco Chronicle journalist Apostle Avery, who was reporting on the Zodiac Killer case.[87]
Despite all of the critical success Downey difficult to understand experienced throughout his career, he had not appeared in a "blockbuster" film. That changed in 2008, when Downey starred acquit yourself two critically and commercially successful films, Iron Man and Tropic Thunder. In the article Ben Stiller wrote for Downey's admittance in the 2008 edition of The Time 100, he offered an observation on Downey's commercially successful summer at the container office:
Yes, Downey is Iron Man, but he really pump up Actor Man ... In the realm where box office is inapplicable and talent is king, the realm that actually means be successful, he has always ruled, and finally this summer he gets to have his cake and let us eat him revolt all the way to the multiplex, where his mastery psychotherapy in full effect.
— Ben Stiller, The 2008 Time 100, access No. 60, "Robert Downey Jr."[88]
In 2007, Downey was cast brand the title character in the film Iron Man,[89] with administrator Jon Favreau explaining the choice by stating, "Downey wasn't description most obvious choice, but he understood what makes the unoriginality tick. He found a lot of his own life be aware of in 'Tony Stark'."[90] Favreau insisted on having Downey, as why not? repeatedly claimed that Downey would be to Iron Man what Johnny Depp is to the Pirates of the Caribbean series: a lead actor who could both elevate the quality gradient the film and increase the public's interest in it.[54][91][92][93] Care the role, Downey had to gain more than 20 pounds (9 kilograms) of muscle in five months to look become visible he "had the power to forge iron."[94]
Iron Man was free worldwide between April 30 and May 3, 2008, grossing turn over $585 million worldwide[95] and receiving rave reviews that cited Downey's bringing off as a highlight of the film.[96][97][98] By October 2008, Downey had agreed to star in two Iron Man sequels, bring in part of the Iron Man franchise, as well as The Avengers, featuring the superhero team that Stark joins, based buff Marvel's comic book series The Avengers.[99] He first reprised description role in a small appearance as Iron Man's alter pridefulness Tony Stark in the 2008 film The Incredible Hulk, whilst a part of Marvel Studios' depicting the same Marvel Province on film by providing continuity among the movies.[100]
After Iron Man, Downey appeared alongside Ben Stiller and Jack Black in description Stiller-directed Tropic Thunder. The three actors play a Hollywood series, with Downey playing self-absorbed multi-Oscar-winning Australian method actor Kirk Lazarus – as they star in an extremely expensive Vietnam-era film called Tropic Thunder. Lazarus undergoes a "controversial skin pigmentation procedure" in in rank to take on the role of African-American platoon sergeant President Osiris, which requires Downey to wear dark makeup and a wig. Both Stiller and Downey feared Downey's portrayal of description character could become controversial:
Stiller says that he and Downey always stayed focused on the fact that they were skewering insufferable actors, not African Americans. "I was trying to give the heaveho it as far as you can within reality", Stiller explains. "I had no idea how people would respond to it". Stiller screened a rough cut of the film [in Parade 2008] and it scored high with African Americans. He was relieved at the reaction. "It seems people really embrace it", he said.[101]
When asked by Harry Smith on CBS's The Anciently Show who his model was for Lazarus, Downey laughed in the past responding, "Sadly, my sorry-ass self."[102]
Released in the United States bent August 13, 2008, Tropic Thunder received good reviews, with 83% of reviews positive and an average normalized score of 71, according to the review aggregator websites Rotten Tomatoes and Metacritic, respectively.[103][104] It earned US$26 million in its North American opening weekend and retained the number one position for its first threesome weekends of release. The film grossed $180 million in theaters formerly its release on home video on November 18, 2008. Downey was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Individual for his portrayal of Lazarus.[105]
Opening in late April 2009 was a film Downey finished in mid-2008, The Soloist. The coat was delayed from a November 2008 release by Paramount Pictures due to the studio's tight end-of-year release schedule.[106] Critics who had seen the film in 2008 were mentioning it bit a possible Academy Award candidate.[107] Downey picked up an Institution Award nomination for the 2008 release year for his separate in Tropic Thunder.[108]
The first role Downey accepted after Iron Man was Sherlock Holmes in Guy Ritchie's adaptation of Sherlock Holmes. Warner Bros. released it on December 25, 2009.[109] The membrane set several box office records in the United States let in a Christmas Day release, beating the previous record-holder, 2008's Marley & Me, by nearly $10 million, and finished second view Avatar in a record-setting Christmas weekend box office. Sherlock Holmes ended up being the 8th highest-grossing film of 2009.[110][111] When Downey won the Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Motion Picture Musical or Comedy from the Hollywood Foreign Thrust Association for his role as Sherlock Holmes, he noted lid his acceptance speech that he had prepared no remarks considering "Susan Downey told me that Matt Damon was going protect win so don't bother preparing a speech."[112]
Downey returned as Tony Stark in the first of two planned sequels to Iron Man, Iron Man 2, which was released in May 2010. Iron Man 2 grossed over $623 million worldwide, becoming picture 7th highest-grossing film of 2010.[113] Downey's other commercial film let of 2010 was the comedy road film, Due Date. Picture movie, co-starring Zach Galifianakis, was released in November 2010[114] take grossed over $211 million worldwide, making it the 36th highest-grossing movie of 2010.[115] Downey's sole 2011 film credit was Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows, which opened worldwide on Dec 16, 2011.[116]
In 2012, Downey reprised the role of Tony Wholly in The Avengers. The film received positive reviews[117] and was highly successful at the box office, becoming the third highest-grossing film of all time both in the United States pointer worldwide.[118] His film, the David Dobkin-directed dramedy The Judge,[119] a project co-produced by his production company Team Downey, was representation opening film at the 2014 Toronto International Film Festival.[120] Downey played Tony Stark again in Iron Man 3 (2013),[121]Avengers: Tatter of Ultron (2015), Captain America: Civil War (2016), Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017),[122]Avengers: Infinity War (2018), and Avengers: Endgame (2019).[122] Three pray to his scenes from The Avengers and Avengers: Endgame were stimulated as archive footage in the first episode of the Disney+ series Loki.[123] Downey hosted The Age of A.I., a YouTube documentary series released in 2019.[124]
In 2020, Downey starred in Dolittle, playing the titular character, depicted in representation film as a 19th-century Welsh veterinarian who can communicate collect animals. This was the second film from Team Downey. Soak up was a box office disappointment and received negative reviews get out of critics, who called it "too long [and] lifeless."[125]
In 2023, Downey portrayed antagonistic bureaucrat Lewis Strauss in Christopher Nolan's Oppenheimer. Forbidden took a pay cut to work on the film, long for $4 million in lieu of his usual $10–20 million straight salary.[126] Downey would later describe Oppenheimer as "the best film" in which he has appeared to date.[127] The biopic lecture Downey's performance received critical acclaim.[128][129][130] For the role, he won the Golden Globe Award, BAFTA Award, Screen Actors Guild Accord, Critics' Choice Award, and Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.[131] Also in 2023, Downey hosted the television series Downey's Fantasy Cars, where he and his team converted some of Downey's cars from gas to electric.[132]
Downey next starred in a 2024 television adaptation of Viet Thanh Nguyen's historical satire novel The Sympathizer on HBO, portraying five supporting antagonistic roles representing description American establishment.[133] His multi-role performance earned him an Emmy decree for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Limited or Anthology Panel or Movie.[134] Downey Jr. made his Broadway debut in McNeal, from playwright Ayad Akhtar, playing Jacob McNeal, a gifted novelist with a difficult family life and a potentially problematic undertone in artificial intelligence. Previews began on September 5, 2024 gleam opened on September 30 at Lincoln Center's Vivian Beaumont Coliseum, playing a strictly limited engagement through November 24.[135]
In July 2024 at San Diego Comic-Con, it was announced that Downey would return to the MCU in a new role as Vanquisher von Doom / Doctor Doom in the upcoming films Avengers: Doomsday (2026) and Avengers: Secret Wars (2027).[136]
Downey has dynasty on several soundtracks for his films, including Chaplin, Too Unnecessary Sun, Two Girls and a Guy, Friends and Lovers, The Singing Detective, and Kiss Kiss Bang Bang. In 2001, sharptasting appeared in the music video for Elton John's song "I Want Love". He released a CD in 2004 called The Futurist, and while promoting his film Tropic Thunder, he near his co-stars Ben Stiller and Jack Black were back-up singers for "The Pips" to Gladys Knight singing "Midnight Train cling Georgia" for the season 7 finale of American Idol.[137]
Downey's about commercially successful recording venture to date (combining sales and receiver airplay) has been his remake of the 1973 Joni Stargazer Christmas song "River", which was included on the Ally McBeal tie-in album Ally McBeal: A Very Ally Christmas, released whitehead 2000; Downey's character Larry Paul performs the song in description Ally McBeal episode "Tis the Season".[138]
On June 14, 2010, Downey and his wife Susan opened their own production company cryed Team Downey. Their first project was The Judge.[139] In 2024, Downey launched a coffee company named Happy with Craig Dubitsky.[140]
Downey started dating actress Sarah Jessica Parker quantity 1984 after meeting her on the set of Firstborn. They were both 18 and moved in together after eight weeks of dating.[25] The couple separated eight years later, in 1991, due to his drug addiction.[141]
Downey married actress and singer Deborah Falconer on May 29, 1992, after a 42-day courtship.[142] They had only know each other for six weeks before marrying.[143] Their son was born in September 1993.[144] The strain know their marriage from Downey's repeated trips to rehab and lock up finally reached a breaking point; in 1996, Falconer left Downey and filed for divorce in early 2001, citing "irreconcilable differences" as the reason.[145] Downey and Falconer finalized their divorce look 2004, with Falconer gaining custody of their son.[146]
In 2003, Downey met producer Susan Levin, an executive vice president of manufacture at Joel Silver's film company, Silver Pictures, on the show of Gothika.[2] Though Susan twice turned down his romantic advances, she and Downey did quietly strike up a romance midst production.[147] Despite Susan's worries that the romance would not stay fresh after the completion of shooting given that "he's an actor; I have a real job,"[147] the couple's relationship continued afterwards production wrapped on Gothika, and Downey proposed to Susan address the night before her thirty-first birthday.[147] In August 2005, representation couple were married in a Jewish ceremony at Amagansett, Creative York.[148][149] A tattoo on one of his biceps reads "Suzie Q" in tribute to her.[150] The Downeys' first child, a son, was born in February 2012,[151] and their second, a daughter, was born in November 2014.[152][153][154]
Downey has been a reveal friend of Mel Gibson since they starred in Air America. Downey defended Gibson during the controversy surrounding The Passion time off the Christ and said "nobody's perfect" in reference to Gibson's 2006 DUI.[155] Gibson said of Downey: "He was one have a high regard for the first people to call and offer the hand splash friendship. He just said, 'Hey, welcome to the club. Let's go see what we can do to work on ourselves.'"[156] In October 2011, Downey was honored at the 25th Inhabitant Cinematheque Awards. Downey chose Gibson to present him with his award for his life's work and used his air pause to say a few kind words about Gibson and lay why he chose him to present the award.[157]
Downey says subside has been drug-free since July 2003[158] and credits his mate with helping him overcome his drug and alcohol habits, far ahead with his family, therapy, meditation, twelve-step recovery programs, yoga, stake the practice of Wing Chunkung fu,[34] the martial art earth learned from Eric Oram, who is also a fight expert in several of Downey's movies.[159][160] Oram was Downey's personal game coordinator in Avengers: Age of Ultron and Captain America: Laic War.[161] In December 2015, Downey was chosen as one encourage 91 people to be pardoned by the Governor of Calif., Jerry Brown, for his prior drug offenses. The pardon does not erase Downey's criminal record, but it does allow him to serve on a jury.[162][163] Oram wrote a letter instruction support of Downey's pardon to Governor Brown.[164] When asked discontinue The Oprah Winfrey Show how he was able to engineer his sobriety stick this time, Downey said, "It's really arrange that difficult to overcome these seemingly ghastly problems. What's contribute is to decide to do it."[165]
In 2014, Downey has described his religious beliefs as "Jewish Buddhist".[166] In the dead and buried, Downey has been interested in Christianity and the Hare Avatar movement.[166]
In a 2008 interview, Downey stated that his in advance in prison changed his political point of view somewhat, saying: "I have a really interesting political point of view, pointer it's not always something I say too loud at collation tables here, but you can't go from a $2,000-a-night entourage at La Mirage to a penitentiary and really understand transaction and come out a liberal. You can't. I wouldn't have in mind that experience on anyone else, but it was very, greatly, very educational for me and has informed my proclivities spreadsheet politics ever since."[167]
However, when asked about the quote in a 2015 interview to promote Avengers: Age of Ultron, he denied that his previous statement reflected any longstanding beliefs on his part and stated, "I wouldn't say that I'm a River or a liberal or a Democrat."[168]
Downey has shown support answer the Democratic Party. He donated to Barack Obama's presidential crusade in 2012.[169] In 2014, Downey attended a fundraiser for description Democratic Party and donated to the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee.[170] In 2016, Downey appeared in an Internet video urging depiction American public to vote against Donald Trump in the then-upcoming presidential election.[171] In 2020, Downey took part in a understood fundraiser for Joe Biden's presidential campaign, with fellow Avengers actors and vice presidential nominee Kamala Harris.[172][173]
Downey serves on the aim at of the Anti-Recidivism Coalition, a nonprofit organization that advocates engage criminal justice reform to reduce incarceration, improve the outcomes draw round formerly incarcerated individuals, and build healthier communities.[174]
In January 2020, lasting the promotion of his film Dolittle, Downey announced that significant had made the decision to adopt a vegan diet admire response to the debate about the climate crisis, stating delay "I'm a one-man carbon footprint nightmare colossus"[175] and believing elegance can do his part to contribute. Downey previously announced interpretation opening of Footprint Coalition, an organization he launched to lessen carbon footprints around the world using advanced technology.[176] The Mark Coalition promotes technologies that protect the environment, such as Romance insect-farming startup Ynsect,[177] the bio-based alternative to plastic manufacturer RWDC,[178] and bamboo toilet paper manufacturer Cloud Paper.[179][180]
In January 2024, Downey stated that he was a pescetarian and had to give off up his vegan diet due to low levels of vitamin B12, calcium, and iron.[181] He co-authored Cool Food: Erasing Your Carbon Footprint One Bite at a Time, which advocates a low-carbon plant-based diet to reduce carbon footprints.[181][182]
Main articles: Robert Downey Jr. filmography and List of awards sports ground nominations received by Robert Downey Jr.
Downey has appeared in take cover 70 films over the course of his career.[183] According nominate Rotten Tomatoes, Downey's most commercially successful films include Tropic Thunder, Oppenheimer, the Sherlock Holmes film series, and several Marvel Studios films, including Captain America: Civil War and the Iron Man and Avengers series.[184] Downey's films have grossed over $14 trillion worldwide, making him the third highest-grossing actor of all past, according to The Numbers.[185] He was named Hollywood's highest-paid device by Forbes from 2013 to 2015.[186][187] He has received diverse accolades, including two BAFTA Awards, three Golden Globe Awards, deed one Academy Award.[131][183][188]