Robert Downey Jr. Biography

(1965–)

Related Works

Films
1970 Pound
1972 Greaser's Palace
1975 Moment to Moment

1980 Up the Academy
1983 Baby It's You
1984 Firstborn
1985 Deadwait
1985 Tuff Turf
1985 Weird Science
1986 Back to School
1986 America
1987 The Pick-up Artist
1987 Less Than Zero
1988 Johnny Be Good
1988 Rented Lips
1969 Ralph Carr
1989 That's Adequate
1989 True Believer
1989 Chances Are
1990 Air America
1991 Too Much Sun
1991 Soapdish
1992 Chaplin
1993 Luck, Trust & Ketchup: Robert Altman in Carver Country
1993 Heart and Souls
1993 The Last Party
1993 Short Cuts
1993 Volpi Cup
1994 Hail Caesar
1994 A Century of Cinema
1994 Natural Born Killers
1994 Only You
1995 Richard III
1995 Home for the Holidays
1995 Restoration
1997 Danger Zone
1997 One Night Stand
1997 Two Girls and a Guy
1997 Hugo Pool
1998 The Gingerbread Man
1998 U.S. Marshals
1999 In Dreams
1999 Friends & Lovers
1999 Bowfinger
1999 Black and White
2000 Wonder Boys
2000 Auto Motives
2002 Lethargy
2003 Whatever We Do
2003 The Singing Detective
2003 Charlie: The Life and Art of Charles Chaplin
2003 Gothika
2004 Eros
2005 Game 6
2005 The Outsider
2005 Kiss Kiss Bang Bang
2005 Good Night, and Good Luck
2005 Hubert Selby Jr: It/ll Be Better Tomorrow
2006 The Shaggy Dog
2006 A Scanner Darkly
2006 A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints
2006 Fur: An Imaginary Portrait of Diane Arbus
2007 Zodiac
2007 Lucky You
2008 Charlie Bartlett
2008 Iron Man
2008 The Incredible Hulk
2008 Tropic Thunder
2009 The Soloist
2009 Sherlock Holmes
2010 Iron Man 2

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In the wake of his critical success with Chaplin, Downey anchored a documentary about the 1992 presidential election, called The Last Party. He appeared in the romantic comedy Only You in 1994, and Oliver Stone's acclaimed but controversial Natural Born Killers (1994). In 1995, he starred in the period film Restoration alongside Meg Ryan and Sam Neill; an updated film version of Richard III (1995), co-starring Ian McKellen and Annette Bening; and the Jodie Foster-directed Home for the Holidays, co-starring Holly Hunter.

Downey's personal life had expanded, too. In May 1992, he married actress Deborah Falconer. Two years later, the couple had a son, Indio, naming friend and actor, Anthony Michael Hall, as the boy's godfather.

If Downey was ever really grounded by his new status as husband and father, it was short-lived. In June 1996 the actor was stopped by police, driving naked in his Porsche on Sunset Boulevard, and found not only to be without clothes, but in possession of cocaine, heroine, and a .357 Magnum. Less than a month later, and just a few hours before he was slated to be charged, Downey ran afoul of the law again after he was found passed out in a neighbor's house.

For the next several years, Downey's life was a haze of headline-generating, dependency induced mistakes and their consequences. There was a 12-month stay in prison, and another visit to drug rehab. In November of 2000, Downey was again arrested, this time in a Palm Springs hotel room, where he was discovered with cocaine and a Wonder Woman costume. He was charged with felony drug possession.

Downey's trial, originally set for late January, was delayed for several months while his lawyers negotiated with prosecutors. In March of 2001, the two sides failed to reach a plea bargain, and the case was set for a preliminary hearing at the end of April. On April 24th, Downey was arrested for allegedly being under the influence of an undisclosed "stimulant." At home, Downey's personal life was in turmoil, too, as Falconer sued him for divorce in 2004.

Yet Downey continued working despite his personal turmoil. There was a memorable performance in Wonder Boys (2000), as well as roles in several other films (Auto Motives and Lethargy, among others). The same year Wonder Boys was released, Downey made the move to the small screen as a regular cast member of Ally McBeal. There, he once again reminded fans and critics of his talent, likeability and versatility, and Downey picked up a Golden Globe in 2001 (he later won a Screen Actor's Guild award as well).

But Downey's increasingly complicated personal life pressed his employer's patience. After that second arrest in April 2001, Downey was reportedly fired from Ally McBeal as producers decided to wrap production on the final episodes of the season without the actor. Lawyers reached an agreement with prosecutors that required Downey to plead no contest to cocaine-related charges. He was sentenced to three years' probation; the ruling allowed him to continue live-in drug treatment instead of returning to prison.