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Robert Downey Jr.

Robert Downey Jr. has evolved into one of the most respected actors in Hollywood. Downey received an Academy Award nomination and won the BAFTA (British Academy Award) Best Actor for his performance in the title role of Chaplin, released in 1992.

Downey recently completed a starring role alongside Ben Stiller and Jack Black in the DreamWorks comedy Tropic Thunder. Written and directed by Stiller, the film is slated for release on August 15, 2008.

Downey was most recently seen as the high school principal in Charlie Bartlett; in David Fincher's Zodiac alongside Jake Gyllenhaal and Mark Ruffalo; in Richard Linklater's 2006 summer hit A Scanner Darkly, co-starring Keanu Reeves, Winona Ryder and Woody Harrelson; and Fur, opposite Nicole Kidman in a film inspired by the life of Diane Arbus, the revered photographer whose images captured attention in the early 1960s.

In 2005, Downey was in the Academy Award-nominated film Good Night and Good Luck directed by George Clooney. He was also seen in the action comedy Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang, directed by Shane Black and co-starring Val Kilmer.

In 2003, Downey starred in two very different films: The Singing Detective, a remake of the popular BBC hit musical drama featuring Downey singing and dancing alongside Adrien Brody, Katie Holmes and Robin Wright- Penn; and Gothika, starring Halle Berry and Penelope Cruz, in which Downey played a psychiatrist who works in a mental institution.

Downey made his primetime television debut in 2001 when he joined the cast of the Fox-TV series Ally McBeal, playing the role of attorney Larry Paul. He won the Golden Globe Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Series, Miniseries or Motion Picture Made for Television, as well as the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male in a Comedy Series. In addition, Downey was nominated for an Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series.

In 2000, Downey co-starred with Michael Douglas and Toby Maguire in Wonder Boys directed by Curtis Hanson, in which he played a bisexual literary agent. In April 2000, he appeared alongside Steve Martin and Eddie Murphy in the hit comedy Bowfinger.

In 1999, he starred in Black and White written and directed by James Toback and co-starring Ben Stiller, Elijah Wood, Gaby Hoffman, Brooke Shields and Claudia Schiffer. Black and White is about a group of white high school teens and their excursions into the lives of Harlem's black hip-hop crowd. He also played the villain opposite Annette Bening and Aidan Quinn in In Dreams, directed by Neil Jordan.

In 1998, Downey co-starred with Tommy Lee Jones and Wesley Snipes in U.S. Marshals directed by Stuart Baird, and with Heather Graham and Natasha Gregson Wagner in the critically acclaimed Two Girls and a Guy, directed by James Toback.

In 1997, Downey was seen in Robert Altman's The Gingerbread Man, along with Kenneth Branagh, Daryl Hannah and Embeth Davitz, as well as One Night Stand directed by Mike Figgis and starring Wesley Snipes and Nastassja Kinski.

Other film credits include Restoration, Richard III, Natural Born Killers, Short Cuts, The Last Party, Soapdish, Air America, Chances Are, True Believer, Johnny Be Good, Less Than Zero, The Pick-up Artist, Back to School, Weird Science, Firstborn and Pound, in which he made his feature film debut and which was directed by Robert Downey Sr. On November 23rd, 2004, Robert Downey Jr. released his debut album, The Futurist, on the Sony Classics label. The album, which contains eight original songs, showed off his sultry singing voice.


Note: This profile was written in or before 2008.
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Robert Downey Jr. Facts

Birth NameRobert John Downey Jr.
OccupationActor
BirthdayApril 4, 1965 (58)
SignAries
BirthplaceNew York, New York, USA
Height5' 9" (1m75)  How tall is Robert Downey Jr. compared to you?
Awards2010 Golden Globe Awards: Best Actor In A Television Series - Musical Or Comedy (for Sherlock Holmes)
2001 Golden Globe Awards: Best Actor in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series or TV Film (for Ally McBeal)
2001 Screen Actors Guild Awards: Best Male Actor in a Comedy Series (for Ally McBeal)
1993 BAFTA Awards: Actor in a Leading Role (for Chaplin)

Selected Filmography

Iron Man
Chaplin
Charlie Bartlett
Marvel's The Avengers: Age Of Ultron
Marvel's The Avengers
Captain America: Civil War
Iron Man 2
Iron Man 3
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