Robert Downey Jr. was
born on April 4, 1965, the son of Robert Downey, Sr., an actor and director.
Robert started in film at the age of five, playing a human dog in one of his
father’s movies. Robert’s star began to rise as a peripheral member of the
“Brat Pack” in the mid-eighties. In particular, his star turn came in 1987’s
Less than Zero, where he garnered critical acclaim as a rich boy
struggling with cocaine addiction. He went on to star in several larger
roles and become nominated for an Academy Award for his performance in the
biopic Chaplin (1992).
In a tragic case of life
imitating art, Robert developed a string of drug habits that dogged his
career and personal life from 1996 through 2001. He was arrested several
times for drug-related charges involving cocaine, heroin and marijuana.
Being in and out of jail for several years understandably took its toll on
his career, and it wasn’t until a significant recurring role on Ally
McBeal that his career began to pick up again. He met his wife, Susan
Levin, while filming Gothika (2003), and she helped him get clean.
Since then, Downey has
been climbing rapidly to the top of the pseudo-intellectual Hollywood
ladder, starring in somewhat under-the-radar films like Kiss Kiss Bang
Bang (2005), A Scanner Darkly (2006), and A Guide to
Recognizing your Saints (2006). Robert has developed a reputation as a
quick-spoken, clever actor with a talent for deadpanning. His star reached
new heights with 2008’s Iron Man and Tropic Thunder, the
former of which remains in the top twenty opening weekend box office grosses
of all time, and the latter of which earned him his second Academy Award
nomination. Robert followed up these successes with turns as Sherlock
Holmes (2009) and in a sequel to Iron Man, with two more films
planned in which he’ll reprise the heroic role.
2008’s Tropic Thunder
was one of Robert’s most notable role. In the bizarre self-referential
comedy, he plays Kirk Lazarus, an Australian method actor with the tendency
to get way, way too into his roles. Lazarus’ current role in the Vietnam-era
movie-within-a-movie is that of black platoon sergeant Lincoln Osiris.
Robert plays an Australian who is playing a black character – complete with
a wig and blackface. Director Ben Stiller and Downey thought that the role
might be offensive to African American viewers, but far from it – the role
earned Robert a nomination for Best Supporting Actor at the Oscars. So, we
toast to the man, his ups and his downs, with a salsa that shares a name
with the movie that proved he could do no (more) wrong – the Tropic Thunder
and watching him again in one of his most adventurous roles.
