Movie Stars   >   Robert Downey Jr.   >   Biography (3)

Robert Downey Jr. Biography (3)

Black and White - Buy this double-sided poster at AllPosters.com
Black and White - More Posters & Photos »
Robert Downey Jr.'s versatility has come to the fore in a number of memorable and disparate roles. He received an Academy Award nomination and won the British Academy Award for best actor for his performance in the title role of Chaplin, released in 1992 by TriStar Pictures.

In October 2003 Downey will star in the ICON film The Singing Detective, a musical drama remake of the popular BBC hit, which also stars Mel Gibson and Robin Wright-Penn. In addition, he will star with Halle Berry and Penelope Cruz in the Warner Bros. film Gothika. In 2001, Downey co-starred with Michael Douglas and Toby Maguire in Wonder Boys, directed by Curtis Hanson. In this dramatic comedy, Downey played the role of a bi-sexual literary agent. In April 2000 he starred alongside Steve Martin and Eddie Murphy in the hit comedy, Bowfinger.

Also, he made his primetime television debut joining the cast of the Fox-TV series Ally McBeal, playing the role of attorney Larry Paul. For this role, he won the Golden Globe Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series 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 September of 1999 he starred in Black and White, written and directed by James Toback, along with 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. In January of 1999, he starred with Annette Bening and Aidan Quinn in the Dreamworks SKG film, In Dreams, directed by Neil Jordan, playing the villain.

In 1998, Downey co-starred with Tommy Lee Jones and Wesley Snipes in Warner Bros. U.S. Marshals, directed by Stuart Baird. Also, he starred 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, starring with Kenneth Branagh, Daryl Hannah and Embeth Davitz; Hugo Pool, directed by his father Robert Downey Sr., starring Sean Penn and Patrick Dempsey; and in New Line Cinemaís One Night Stand, directed by Mike Figgis and starring Wesley Snipes and Nastassja Kinski.

In 1995, Downey starred in Miramax's Restoration, with Hugh Grant, Meg Ryan and Ian McKellen, directed by Michael Hoffman. Also that year, he starred in Richard III, for MGM/UA, in which he appears opposite his Restoration co-star McKellen. In Oliver Stone's Natural Born Killers, (1994) with Woody Harrelson and Juliette Lewis, Downey starred as a tabloid TV journalist who exploits a murderous couple's killing spree to boost his ratings.

In Robert Altman's Short Cuts, (1993) he appeared as an aspiring film make-up artist whose best friend commits murder. For the comedy Hearts and Souls, (1993) Downey starred as a young man with a special relationship with four ghosts.

His other film credits include The Last Party, Soapdish, Air America, Chances Are, True Believer, Johnny Be Good, 1969, Less Than Zero, The Pick-Up Artist, Back to School, Tuff Turf, Weird Science, Firstborn, and Pound, in which he made his feature film debut and which was directed by Robert Downey Sr.


Buy more detailed movie star biographies in the Movie Star Bookstore.