When was Robert Downey Jr. born and where?

Robert Downey Jr. was born on the 4th of April 1965, in Manhattan, New York City. He grew up in a household where the lines between life and art were constantly blurred.

When did Robert Downey Jr. make his Broadway debut and where?

Robert Downey Jr. made his Broadway debut in McNeal, from playwright Ayad Akhtar, playing Jacob McNeal. Previews began on the 5th of September 2024, and opened on September 30 at Lincoln Center's Vivian Beaumont Theatre.

Robert Downey Jr.: the story on HearLore

Q: What was the Goldilocks incident involving Robert Downey Jr.?

The Goldilocks incident occurred on the 14th of June 1996, when Robert Downey Jr. was arrested for possession of heroin, cocaine, crack cocaine, and an unloaded .357 Magnum handgun while speeding down Sunset Boulevard. A month later, he entered a neighbor's home through an unlocked front door and fell asleep on their child's bed.

Q: What awards did Robert Downey Jr. win for his role in Oppenheimer?

For his role in Oppenheimer, Robert Downey Jr. won the Golden Globe, BAFTA, Screen Actors Guild, Critics' Choice, and Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. He accepted a pay cut for the role, earning $4 million instead of his usual $10 to $20 million upfront salary.

Robert Downey Jr. made his acting debut at the age of five, portraying a sick puppy in the 1970 film Pound. This was not a stunt double or a voice-over; it was the actual child, Robert John Downey Jr., standing in for a canine role in his father Robert Downey Sr.'s absurdist comedy. Born on the 4th of April 1965, in Manhattan, New York City, Downey grew up in a household where the lines between life and art were constantly blurred. His father, a filmmaker of Lithuanian Jewish and Irish descent, and his mother, Elsie Ann, an actress of Scottish, German, and Swiss heritage, created a chaotic environment that would shape the actor's future. The family moved frequently during his childhood, living in places ranging from Woodstock, New York, to London, New Mexico, and Greenwich Village. This instability meant that from a young age, Downey was exposed to the darker side of the entertainment industry, including his father's struggle with addiction and his mother's battle with alcoholism. He has since expressed regret over his father introducing him to marijuana at age eight, noting that it created a strange emotional connection between them, a way his father knew how to show love. By the time he was seven, he appeared in another of his father's films, the surrealist Western Greaser's Palace, setting a precedent for a career that would be as turbulent as it was brilliant.

In 1987, Robert Downey Jr. delivered a performance that would haunt him for the rest of his life. Playing Julian Wells in the film adaptation of Bret Easton Ellis's Less than Zero, Downey portrayed a drug-addicted rich boy whose life spiraled out of control. The role was so convincing that critic Roger Ebert called it "so real, so subtle and so observant that it's scary," while The New York Times' Janet Maslin deemed it "desperately moving." Downey himself later admitted that the role felt like "the ghost of Christmas Future" for him, as his own drug habit led him to become an exaggeration of the character he played on screen. This was not an isolated incident; shortly after completing the film, he entered rehab for the first time, beginning a decade-long cycle of interventions and treatment stints. The early 1990s saw him in a series of films that ranged from the teen drama 1969 to the box-office bomb Chaplin, where he trained extensively to replicate Charlie Chaplin's accent and mannerisms. Despite earning a BAFTA Award for Best Actor for his portrayal of the legendary filmmaker, his personal life was crumbling. By 1996, his substance abuse had led to a series of arrests, including the infamous "Goldilocks incident" where he was found sleeping on a child's bed while under the influence. The cycle of addiction and recovery would define the next decade of his life, leading to a three-year prison sentence at the California Substance Abuse Treatment Facility and State Prison in Corcoran.

The summer of 1996 marked the lowest point in Robert Downey Jr.'s career and personal life. On June 14, he was arrested for possession of heroin, cocaine, crack cocaine, and an unloaded .357 Magnum handgun while speeding down Sunset Boulevard. A month later, under the influence of a controlled substance, he entered a neighbor's home through an unlocked front door and fell asleep on their child's bed. The family declined to press trespassing charges, but the 911 call made by the neighbor was later circulated online and became known as the "Goldilocks incident." In September 1996, he pleaded no contest, and two months later, following a period in court-ordered rehab, he was sentenced to an additional six months of live-in rehabilitation, three years' probation, and compulsory drug testing. The situation worsened when he missed a court-ordered drug test in 1997, spending six months in Los Angeles County Jail. In 1998, he was temporarily allowed out of jail to star in the U.S. Marshals, but upon his full release, he entered a court-mandated 120-day rehab program. By 2000, he was homeless, considered too great an insurance risk to be employable, and facing bankruptcy. His stepmother, Rosemary, told author Alex Tresnlowski of People that Downey had been diagnosed with bipolar disorder, which she believed was the reason he had a hard time staying sober. The diagnosis, confirmed by psychiatrist Manijeh Nikakhtar, explained the cycles of hyperactivity and depression that plagued him. Despite these challenges, he managed to secure a role in the television series Ally McBeal in 2000, earning a Golden Globe Award for his performance. However, his relapse in 2001 led to his dismissal from the show, and he was sentenced to three years of probation under California Proposition 36, which had been enacted the previous year to direct nonviolent drug offenders toward treatment rather than prison.

After five years of substance abuse, arrests, and relapse, Robert Downey Jr. began working toward a full recovery in 2001. His first acting job after rehabilitation came in August, when he appeared lip-syncing in the music video for Elton John's single "I Want Love," directed by Sam Taylor-Wood. Two years later, he returned to film with The Singing Detective, directed by his Back to School co-star Keith Gordon, after Mel Gibson paid his insurance bond, allowing him to be cast. He played Dan Dark, a paralyzed, suffering pulp novelist who hallucinates and drifts between reality and fantasy. Although the film received mixed reviews, Downey regarded it as a personal achievement. For Gothika, producer Joel Silver withheld 40 percent of Downey's salary until production was completed as protection against potential issues related to his addiction. Silver then secured Downey the lead role in Shane Black's directorial debut, the comedy thriller Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, which received positive reviews. Downey appeared in a range of leading and supporting roles, gaining particular recognition for his performances in several semi-independent films. In Good Night, and Good Luck, he portrayed a CBS journalist and editor secretly married to a coworker, a relationship concealed due to the network's policy prohibiting employees from marrying one another. His role as a drug addict in Richard Linklater's dystopian, rotoscoped film A Scanner Darkly was praised, with critic J. Hoberman regarding it as "the performance to beat" that year. In 2007, he appeared in David Fincher's mystery thriller Zodiac, portraying San Francisco Chronicle journalist Paul Avery, who covered the Zodiac Killer case. Downey's performance was critically acclaimed, with a Tuscaloosa News writer deeming it one of his best, and critic Manohla Dargis remarking that he was at the "top of [his] performance game." This period marked the beginning of his transformation from a cautionary tale into a respected and bankable star.

In 2006, Robert Downey Jr. was cast as the titular character in the superhero film Iron Man. Director Jon Favreau explained that while Downey was not the most obvious choice, "he understood what makes the character tick. He found a lot of his own life experience in 'Tony Stark'." Favreau strongly advocated for Downey's casting, believing he could elevate the film's quality and generate widespread audience interest, much like Johnny Depp had done for the Pirates of the Caribbean series. To prepare for the role, Downey gained more than twenty pounds of muscle over five months to achieve the physicality required for the part. Iron Man was released on the 2nd of May 2008, in the US, and became the eighth-highest-grossing film of 2008, earning more than $585 million worldwide against a production budget of $130 million. Both the film and Downey's performance were acclaimed by critics, many of whom considered his portrayal the standout element of Iron Man and credited it with catapulting him to global stardom. Ebert wrote that "it's Robert Downey Jr. who powers the lift-off separating this from most other superhero movies." By October 2008, Downey had signed on to reprise his role in two sequels to Iron Man and in The Avengers, which featured the superhero team that Stark joins, based on Marvel's comic book series of the same name. He first reprised the role with a brief appearance as Stark in the film The Incredible Hulk, as part of Marvel Studios' initiative to depict the same Marvel Universe on film by providing continuity among the films. Downey's portrayal of Tony Stark became the cornerstone of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, with films like Iron Man 2, The Avengers, Iron Man 3, Avengers: Age of Ultron, Captain America: Civil War, Spider-Man: Homecoming, Avengers: Infinity War, and Avengers: Endgame grossing billions of dollars worldwide. In Avengers: Endgame, he ultimately sacrificed his life by snapping his fingers to destroy Thanos and his army, saving the universe. Endgame was the highest-grossing film of all time until it was surpassed by Avatar due to its 2021 re-release in China. Three of his scenes from The Avengers and Avengers: Endgame were used as archive footage in the first episode of the Disney+ series Loki.

In 2023, Robert Downey Jr. portrayed the antagonistic bureaucrat Lewis Strauss in Christopher Nolan's Oppenheimer. He accepted a pay cut for the role, earning $4 million instead of his usual $10 to $20 million upfront salary. Downey later called Oppenheimer "the best film" he had appeared in. Both the biopic and his performance received widespread critical acclaim. For his role, he won the Golden Globe, BAFTA, Screen Actors Guild, Critics' Choice, and Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. That same year, Downey hosted the television series Downey's Dream Cars, in which he and his team converted several of his vehicles from gas to electric. The show won Downey the Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lifestyle Program. 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 the American establishment. His multi-role performance earned him a Primetime Emmy nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie. Downey 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 interest in artificial intelligence. Previews began on the 5th of September 2024, and opened on September 30 at Lincoln Center's Vivian Beaumont Theatre, playing a strictly limited engagement through November 24. In July 2024 at San Diego Comic-Con, it was announced that Downey would return to the Marvel Cinematic Universe as Victor von Doom / Doctor Doom in the upcoming films Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars. This period marked a new chapter in his career, where he continued to take on diverse and challenging roles, from the historical satire of The Sympathizer to the political drama of McNeal, while also expanding his influence through social activism and environmental initiatives.

Robert Downey Jr.

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The Goldilocks Incident And The Fall

The Singing Detective And The Comeback

The Iron Man And The Avengers

The Best Film And The Broadway Debut