Robert Downey Jr. Biography

Downey has had a career with more ups and downs than a Six Flags roller coaster. His star began to rise in the '80s with roles in successful Brat Pack movies, such as his druggie teen in Less Than Zero, and in 1992, he earned critical acclaim with the edgy Chaplin. But drug arrests and lousy movies plagued him throughout the 1990s, until he was cast in what became a lauded role on TV series Ally McBeal. The actor's troubles continued, though, and he was fired from the show. After stints in jail and rehab, Downey Jr. finally got clean in the early '00s and has made a hugely successful comeback, becoming a highly respected and dependable actor and even landing the plum lead role in the film adaptation of the comic-book fanboy favorite Iron Man.


1. At the Los Angeles County Men's Central Jail, his inmate number was 5478610, and he was housed in cellblock 1700, a third-floor row of solitary cement stalls used to hold O.J. Simpson and the Menendez brothers.
2. Throughout the '90s, the IRS lodged various tax liens against Downey, totaling more than $1 million.
3. He met his first wife in rehab.
4. He was on Saturday Night Live for one season in 1985.
5. He has said it was his father who first introduced him to marijuana, when he was six years old.


"What's the f--king point of crashing, burning and rising like a phoenix out of your own ashes into the same exact f--king thing you were before, sans drugs and alcohol? What's the value in that?"
— Playboy, December 1997


Wives: Susan Levin, born 1974, producer, married Aug. 27, 2005; Deborah Falconer, born Aug. 13, 1965, model-actress, married May 29, 1992, divorced
Son: Indio (mother: Falconer), born Sept. 7, 1993


2001: Golden Globe: Best Actor in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for TV, Ally McBeal

1994: Golden Globe: Best Ensemble Cast, Ally McBeal

1993: Academy Award nomination: Best Actor, Chaplin;
Golden Globe nomination: Best Actor in a Motion Picture (Drama), Chaplin



The Incredible Hulk - (2008) - Cameo
Iron Man - (2008) - Actor
Tropic Thunder - (2008) - Actor
Zodiac - (2007) - Actor
Charlie Bartlett - (2007) - Actor
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