Robert John Downey, Jr. is an American actor and producer, who is best known for playing Tony Stark/Iron Man in the Marvel Cinematic Universe between 2008 and 2019. He also portrayed the titular character of the 1995 CBS Christmas special Mr. Willowby's Christmas Tree and Dr. Kozak in the 2006 adaptation of The Shaggy Dog.
For much of his early career, Downey Jr. was severely troubled with serious substance abuse issues that forced him into jail time and drug rehabilitation, which ultimately proved successful in turning his life around. However, his professional reputation fell because of these mistakes, and getting new roles was a dispiriting struggle for some time. However, the producers of the first Iron Man were convinced that he would be perfect as the titular character, not only for his considerable talent, but that Tony Stark had also struggled with substance-abuse issues of his own in the comic books, namely alcoholism. As such, Downey Jr. was cast and went on to outstanding success.
Outside of Marvel, Downey Jr. is also well-known for his notable roles as Charlie Chaplin in the 1992 biographical comedy-drama film Chaplin, (in which he was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor), Kirk Lazarus in the 2008 action comedy film Tropic Thunder (in which he was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor), the titular character of Guy Ritchie's 2009 mystery period action film Sherlock Holmes and its 2011 sequel A Game of Shadows, as well as the titular character of the 2020 Universal Pictures film Dolittle and Lewis Struass in Oppenheimer (in which he won the Academy Award for best supporting actor).
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Trivia[]
- Downey Jr. was uncredited for his Tony Stark cameo in The Incredible Hulk.
- He has stated that Guardians of the Galaxy is the best Marvel movie ever.[citation needed]
- He was offered for the role of Oz in the 2013 film Oz the Great and Powerful, but he was not interested in playing the character.[citation needed]
- He said in his Disney Legends speech that he was once arrested at Disneyland.
- Downey Jr. has claimed that he is done playing Iron Man and is never returning to the MCU.[citation needed]
- Downey Jr. was mentioned in an episode of The Simpsons about his raise to fame after being in jail.
- Downey Jr. previously worked with Marisa Tomei in Only You and Chaplin and helped her get the role of Aunt May in the MCU.
