66 Fun Facts About Robert Downey Jr.

In which year was Robert Downey Jr. born?

He was born in Manhattan on April 4, 1965, into a filmmaking family, and was on screen before he started school.

At age five he made his acting debut in which film directed by his father?

Pound (1970), his father Robert Downey Sr.'s absurdist comedy in which actors play dogs, gave the five-year-old his first role as a puppy.

What was his first credited film role, in 1983?

Baby It's You (1983), John Sayles's coming-of-age drama, gave him his first credited film role after he left high school in California to act full-time in New York.

His breakthrough came playing a bully in which 1985 John Hughes film?

Weird Science (1985) cast him as Ian, one of the two bullies tormenting the leads; it was his first notable role in a John Hughes film.

Which sketch show hired him in 1985, then dismissed most of its new cast after one season?

Saturday Night Live's 1985–86 season, Lorne Michaels's first back as producer, is often ranked among its worst; Downey, Anthony Michael Hall and Joan Cusack were all gone by the next autumn.

His first leading role was in which 1987 film?

The Pick-up Artist (1987), James Toback's comedy, gave him his first lead as a womanizer pursuing Molly Ringwald; he was 22.

Roger Ebert called his performance in which 1987 film 'so real, so subtle and so observant'?

Less Than Zero (1987) cast him as Julian, the drug-addicted rich kid in the Bret Easton Ellis adaptation; the performance was widely seen as the film's strongest element.

His first Academy Award nomination came for portraying which real-life figure in 1992?

He played Charlie Chaplin in Richard Attenborough's biopic, losing the Oscar to Al Pacino but winning the BAFTA for Best Actor.

In Natural Born Killers (1994) he played a sensationalist TV reporter with what name?

Wayne Gale, the Australian-accented host of the tabloid show American Maniacs, follows the killers into the prison riot in Oliver Stone's 1994 film.

Which 1989 comedy paired him with Cybill Shepherd and Ryan O'Neal?

In Chances Are he plays a young man who is the reincarnation of Shepherd's late husband, one of several romantic leads he took around the turn of the 1990s.

Robert Downey Jr.'s 1996 incident of falling asleep on a neighbor's child's bed became known as what?

The 'Goldilocks' incident of July 1996 saw him wander into a neighbour's Malibu house and fall asleep in a child's bed, a month after his Sunset Boulevard arrest for drugs and an unloaded pistol.

A week after his unexpected release from prison in 2000, he joined the cast of which TV series?

On Ally McBeal he played lawyer Larry Paul, Ally's love interest; the run lifted the show's ratings and won him a Golden Globe but ended with his April 2001 arrest.

In April 2001 he was found wandering barefoot where, an arrest that got him fired from his TV series?

He was found barefoot in Culver City on 24 April 2001, under the influence, and was dropped from his TV series within days; the case sent him back to court-ordered rehab.

His first acting job after rehab, in August 2001, was a music video for which musician?

Elton John's 'I Want Love' video, directed by Sam Taylor-Wood, has him lip-sync the whole song in a single take while walking through an empty mansion.

Which star personally paid his insurance bond so he could be cast in The Singing Detective (2003)?

Mel Gibson, his Air America co-star from 1990, produced The Singing Detective and personally covered the insurance bond no studio would provide.

On a 2003 horror film, producer Joel Silver withheld what share of his salary against a relapse?

Joel Silver withheld 40 percent of his fee until shooting wrapped as insurance against a relapse; the money was paid out once filming ended.

He met his wife Susan, a producer, on the set of which 2003 thriller?

Gothika, the Halle Berry thriller from Silver Pictures, brought him together with producer Susan Levin, who reportedly turned him down twice before agreeing to a date.

Where did he marry Susan Levin in a Jewish ceremony in August 2005?

They wed in Amagansett, New York on 27 August 2005; their son Exton arrived in 2012 and daughter Avri in 2014.

In which year did he marry singer and actress Deborah Falconer, his first wife?

He married Deborah Falconer in 1992 after a 42-day courtship; their son Indio was born the next year, and the marriage ended in 2004 with Falconer getting custody.

In Good Night, and Good Luck (2005) he played a journalist at which network?

He played CBS reporter Joe Wershba in George Clooney's black-and-white Edward R. Murrow drama, secretly married to a colleague played by Patricia Clarkson.

His performance as a drug addict in which 2006 rotoscoped film was praised by critics?

A Scanner Darkly, Richard Linklater's Philip K. Dick adaptation, was shot live and rotoscoped afterwards; he played the paranoid James Barris alongside Keanu Reeves and Woody Harrelson.

He appeared in which 2007 David Fincher mystery thriller?

Zodiac cast him as hard-drinking crime reporter Paul Avery opposite Jake Gyllenhaal's cartoonist Robert Graysmith as they track the 1970s serial killer.

Which character did he voice in a 2005 episode of Family Guy?

Patrick Pewterschmidt, Lois's long-lost brother, is revealed as the killer in the 2005 episode 'The Fat Guy Strangler'; Downey reportedly called the show himself asking to appear.

Iron Man was released in US cinemas in which month and year?

Iron Man opened in May 2008, on the 2nd, as the first feature produced by Marvel Studios itself; its success launched the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

How much muscle did he reportedly gain over five months to play Tony Stark?

He gained more than 20 pounds of muscle over five months for the role; the director fought Marvel to cast him, saying he understood what makes the character tick.

Who directed Iron Man (2008)?

Jon Favreau directed Iron Man and also plays Happy Hogan, Stark's driver and bodyguard, a role he kept through the franchise.

He first reprised the role of Tony Stark with a brief appearance in which 2008 film?

In The Incredible Hulk, Stark walks into a bar in the final scene to tell General Ross that a team is being put together.

What was the name of the self-absorbed method actor he played in Tropic Thunder?

Kirk Lazarus, a five-time Oscar winner within the film, undergoes 'pigmentation alteration' surgery to play a Black sergeant; the role earned Downey a real Best Supporting Actor nomination.

In which 2009 biopic did he portray Los Angeles columnist Steve Lopez?

The Soloist cast him as Los Angeles Times columnist Steve Lopez, with Jamie Foxx as Nathaniel Ayers, the Juilliard-trained homeless musician Lopez befriended.

Who directed the 2009 Sherlock Holmes in which he played the detective?

Guy Ritchie directed Sherlock Holmes, which became the eighth-highest-grossing film of 2009 and spawned the 2011 sequel A Game of Shadows.

Sherlock Holmes (2009) won him a Golden Globe in which category?

He won Best Actor in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy at the January 2010 Golden Globes, his second Globe after a 2001 supporting award for his TV work.

His non-Marvel film of 2010 was which road-trip comedy?

Due Date has him as an expectant father stuck driving cross-country with Zach Galifianakis; it made over $211 million on a $65 million budget.

What is the name of the production company he and his wife opened in 2010?

Team Downey, which he and Susan founded in 2010, made its first film with The Judge, the 2014 courtroom drama co-starring Robert Duvall as his estranged father.

In The Judge (2014), his character is a hotshot lawyer from which city?

Hank Palmer is a slick Chicago defense lawyer who returns to his small Indiana hometown to defend his father, a judge accused of murder.

The Avengers (2012) grossed over how much worldwide?

The Avengers took about $1.52 billion worldwide, at the time behind only Avatar and Titanic; the sequel Age of Ultron added another $1.4 billion.

In Iron Man 3, Stark faces a terrorist known by what name?

The Mandarin, played by Ben Kingsley, turns out to be a hired actor named Trevor Slattery, a twist so divisive that Marvel made the short film All Hail the King to address it.

On which planet does Stark fight Thanos in Avengers: Infinity War?

Titan is Thanos's ruined homeworld; the fight ends with Doctor Strange trading the Time Stone for Stark's life.

Which villain was he cast to play in Avengers: Doomsday, as revealed at Comic-Con 2024?

He was unveiled as Doctor Doom at San Diego Comic-Con in July 2024, five years after Stark's death in Endgame, with the casting announced for both Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars.

Whom did he play in Christopher Nolan's Oppenheimer?

Lewis Strauss, the Atomic Energy Commission chairman who engineered Oppenheimer's downfall, finally won Downey the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.

He took a pay cut to appear in Oppenheimer, earning how much?

He reportedly earned $4 million, the same flat fee Nolan paid principals such as Cillian Murphy and Matt Damon; the film went on to gross close to a billion dollars.

Which 2024 HBO series earned him a Primetime Emmy nomination for a multi-role performance?

The Sympathizer, HBO's adaptation of Viet Thanh Nguyen's Pulitzer-winning novel, has him play four white American authority figures, earning a 2024 Emmy nomination for supporting actor in a limited series.

His 2024 Broadway debut came in which play?

McNeal, Ayad Akhtar's play about a novelist toying with artificial intelligence, opened at Lincoln Center in September 2024 and marked his Broadway debut.

What was the title of his only studio album, released in 2004?

The Futurist, released in November 2004 on Sony Classical, debuted at number 121 on the Billboard 200; he had sung on screen before, in his TV legal series and a silent-era biopic.

Which actress did he date from 1984 to 1991 after they met on the set of Firstborn?

Sarah Jessica Parker and Downey met on Firstborn in 1984 and lived together for years; Parker has said the relationship ended largely because of his drug use.

Which California governor pardoned him in December 2015?

Governor Jerry Brown granted the pardon on Christmas Eve 2015, covering his 1996 drug conviction; by then Forbes had ranked him the world's highest-paid actor three years running.

Which organization did he found to use robotics and nanotechnology to clean up the environment?

Footprint Coalition was announced at Amazon's re:MARS conference in June 2019, with Downey promising to help clean up the planet within a decade using advanced technology.

How did he describe his religious beliefs in a 2014 interview?

He called himself a 'Jewish Buddhist' in a 2014 interview; his father had Jewish and Irish roots, and he has credited yoga and Wing Chun kung fu with aiding his recovery.

According to the actor himself, since which year has he been drug-free?

He has said he has been drug-free since 2003, crediting family, therapy, martial arts and a roadside Burger King meal that year that made him throw his drugs into the ocean.

He dropped out of which school in 1982?

He dropped out of Santa Monica High at 17 and returned to New York to act full-time, having already appeared in several of his father's films.

His 1983 stage debut was a three-week run in which play?

Alms for the Middle Class, staged at Rochester's Geva Theatre in 1983, was his first play; it was more than four decades before his Broadway debut.

Which 1993 fantasy comedy prompted Peter Travers to praise his 'explosive' physical comedy?

In Heart and Souls he plays a man possessed in turn by four ghosts, switching among their personalities and voices within single takes; the physical comedy drew praise.

Which 1994 romance paired him with Marisa Tomei and Billy Zane?

Only You, Norman Jewison's comedy, sends Tomei chasing a Ouija-board destiny across Italy, with Downey as the man who gets in the way.

According to Forbes, he was the world's highest-paid actor annually across which stretch of years?

Forbes ranked him the world's highest-paid actor from 2013 to 2015; his Marvel deals reportedly included back-end profit shares, pushing his Endgame payday past $75 million.

At ages eleven and twelve, Downey attended which summer acting camp in upstate New York?

Stagedoor Manor, the performing-arts camp in the Catskills, was one stop in a peripatetic childhood that also took in Woodstock, London, New Mexico, California and Greenwich Village.

Which nightclub employed the teenage Downey as 'living art' after he moved back to New York?

Area, the 1980s Manhattan club known for its themed installations, hired him as 'living art'; he also bussed tables and worked in a shoe store while acting full-time at 17.

Downey's 1983 off-Broadway musical American Passion at the Joyce Theater was produced by which TV legend?

Norman Lear, the All in the Family creator, produced American Passion, which ran only briefly; the same year most of Downey's scenes in his first credited film were cut.

Which 1988 teen drama paired Downey with Kiefer Sutherland and Winona Ryder?

1969, Ernest Thompson's 1988 Vietnam-era drama, cast him as a draft-age friend of Kiefer Sutherland's character, with Winona Ryder; his performance was better received than the film.

To prepare for Natural Born Killers, Downey shadowed which Australian shock journalist?

Steve Dunleavy, the Australian-born tabloid reporter, let Downey shadow him, shaping the reporter's accent; the film grossed $110 million on a $34 million budget.

In Two Girls and a Guy (1997), Downey plays a man who convinces two women of what?

In James Toback's Two Girls and a Guy, Downey's Blake has persuaded both women 'That each is his only love' until they meet on his doorstep; soon after, a missed drug test sent him to jail for six months.

Downey's 2000 arrest came on Thanksgiving after police searched his room at a hotel and spa in which city?

Police found cocaine and Valium in his room at a Palm Springs hotel on Thanksgiving 2000, only months after his August release from Corcoran state prison.

Which Shane Black directorial debut gave Downey a lead role in 2005?

Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, Shane Black's neo-noir comedy, cast him as small-time thief Harry Lockhart opposite Val Kilmer; producer Joel Silver secured him the part.

In 2005 Downey signed a memoir deal with HarperCollins; what happened to the book?

He cancelled the project in 2008 without explanation, the same year Iron Man made him a global star.

In Zodiac (2007), Downey played Paul Avery, a journalist at which newspaper?

Avery covered the killer's letters for the San Francisco Chronicle, the paper where cartoonist Robert Graysmith also worked.

Downey, Ben Stiller and Jack Black sang back-up for Gladys Knight on the 2008 finale of which show?

On the American Idol season seven finale in 2008 they stood in as the Pips behind Gladys Knight on 'Midnight Train to Georgia' while promoting Tropic Thunder.

Which musician performed 'Driven to Tears' live with Downey at a 60th birthday concert in 2011?

Sting's 60th-birthday concert at New York's Beacon Theatre in October 2011 had Downey join him on 'Driven to Tears'; they had duetted on 'Every Breath You Take' on his TV series in 2001.

In Dolittle (2020), Downey's animal-talking veterinarian hails from which country?

Downey plays the doctor as a Welshman with a much-discussed accent, so the character hails from Wales; the 2020 film was a box-office disappointment criticised for its execution.