Robert John Downey Jr born April 4 1965 is an American actor His films as a leading actor have grossed over 14 billion worldwide making him one of the highestgrossing actors of all time Downeys career has been characterized by some early success a period of drugrelated problems and runins with the law and a surge in popular and commercial success in the 2000s In 2008 Downey was named by Time magazine as one of the 100 most influential people in the world From 2013 to 2015 he was listed by Forbes as Hollywoods highestpaid actor At the age of five Downey made his acting debut in his father Robert Downey Srs film Pound in 1970 He subsequently worked with the Brat Pack in the teen films Weird Science 1985 and Less than Zero 1987 Downeys portrayal of Charlie Chaplin in the 1992 biopic Chaplin received a BAFTA Award Following a stint at the Corcoran Substance Abuse Treatment Facility on drug charges he joined the TV series Ally McBeal in 2000 and won a Golden Globe Award for the role Downey was fired from the show in 2001 in the wake of additional drug charges He stayed in a courtordered drug treatment program and has maintained his sobriety since 2003 Downey made his acting comeback in the 2003 film The Singing Detective after Mel Gibson paid his insurance bond because completion bond companies would not insure himю He went on to star in the black comedy Kiss Kiss Bang Bang 2005 the thriller Zodiac 2007 and the action comedy Tropic Thunder 2008 Downey gained global recognition for starring as Iron Man in ten films within the Marvel Cinematic Universe beginning with Iron Man 2008 and leading up to Avengers Endgame 2019 He has also played Sherlock Holmes in Guy Ritchies Sherlock Holmes 2009 which earned him his second Golden Globe and its sequel Sherlock Holmes A Game of Shadows 2011 Downey has also taken on dramatic parts in The Judge 2014 and Oppenheimer 2023 winning an Academy Award a Golden Globe and a BAFTA Award for his portrayal of Lewis Strauss in the latter Description above from the Wikipedia article Robert Downey Jr licensed under CCBYSA full list of contributors on Wikipedia