Robert John Downey Jr.

ROBERT JOHN DOWNEY JR.

Robert Downey Jr

World Famous People - Robert John Downey Jr. was born on April 4, 1965. He is an American actor. His films as a leading actor have grossed over $14 billion worldwide, making him one of the highest-grossing actors of all time. Downey's career was marked by several early successes, periods of drug-related problems and run-ins with the law, and a surge of popular and commercial success in the 2000s. 

In 2008, Robert Downey was named by Time magazine as one of the 100 most influential people in the world. From 2013 to 2015, he was listed by Forbes as the highest-paid actor in Hollywood. At the age of five, Downey made his acting debut in his father Robert Downey Sr.'s film Pound. in 1970. He then worked with the Brat Pack in the teen films Weird Science (1985) and Less than Zero (1987). 

Downey's portrayal of Charlie Chaplin in the 1992 biopic Chaplin received a BAFTA Award. After a stint at the Corcoran Substance Abuse Treatment Facility on drug charges, he joined the TV series Ally McBeal in 2000, and won a Golden Globe Award for the role. Downey was fired from the show in 2001 after additional drug charges. He underwent a court-ordered drug treatment program and has remained sober since 2003. 

Robert Downey returned to acting in the 2003 film The Singing Detective, after Mel Gibson bailed on his insurance because the bond settlement company would not insure him. He then starred in the black comedy Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (2005), the thriller Zodiac (2007), and the action comedy Tropic Thunder (2008). Downey gained global recognition for playing Iron Man in ten films in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, starting with Iron Man (2008), and ending with Avengers: Endgame (2019). 

He also played Sherlock Holmes in Guy Ritchie's Sherlock Holmes (2009), which earned him his second Golden Globe, and its sequel, Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows (2011). Downey has also taken on dramatic roles in The Judge (2014) and Oppenheimer (2023), winning an Academy Award, Golden Globe, and BAFTA Award for his role as Lewis Strauss in Oppenheimer.