Robert Downey Jr. was born in New York, April 4, 1965. He is the second of two children. Robert has an older sister named Allyson. As a child, Robert grew up among filmmakers. His father, Robert Downey, Sr., is known as a filmmaker who often directs independent films. While his mother, Elsie Ford, is an actress.

Having grown up in the film world made Robert fall in love. He then made his debut in acting in the film Pound (1970) which was directed by his father. At that time, Robert was five years old. As a teenager, Robert, who was serious about pursuing a career as an actor, chose to attend the Stagedoor Manor Performing Arts Training Center in New York. Shortly after his parents’ divorce in 1978, Robert moved to California and lived with his father. While in California, Robert attended Santa Monica High School but then left and returned to New York to pursue his dream as an actor.

Since childhood, he has been living in a house full of illegal drugs, because his father is also a user. If their father and other children are going to play baseball or play games more often, the Downey family shares their love with each other by using these drugs. As a result, around 1996, Downey Junior was caught carrying drugs and 357 Magnum weapons. Several years later, Robert Downey Jr. aka RDJ also still has to struggle with drug cases, until finally he gave up and realized for rehabilitation. Not long after that, Robert revealed his dark side that he had been an addict since he was eight years old. Robert added that it was his father who first gave the drugs because his father was also an addict.

1. Downey made his earliest feature film appearances in such films as Baby, It’s You (1983), Firstborn (1984), Weird Science (1985), and Back to School (1986). From 1985 to 1986, he was a regular cast member of Saturday Night Live, NBC’s popular sketch-comedy program.
2. Downey’s first leading role on the big screen was a charming womanizer in The Pick-up Artist (1987), a romantic comedy co-starring Molly Ringwaldthat was written and directed by James Toback. His breakthrough performance came in 1987 with Less Than Zero, in which he co-starred with Andrew McCarthy.
3. By the early 1990s, Downey had established a reputation as a critically acclaimed A-list actor. He earned praise for his comic character as a shifty soap opera producer in Soapdish (1991), co-starring Sally Field, Kevin Kline, and Whoopi Goldberg. More adoration followed when Downey played in Short Cuts (1993), the critically lauded ensemble film by Robert Altman.
4. A particular high point in Downey’s career came in 1993 when he was nominated for an Academy Award (Best Actor) for his performance in Chaplin (1992), directed by Richard Attenborough.
5. Downey anchored a documentary about the 1992 presidential election, The Last Party. In 1994, he played in the romantic comedy Only You, as well as in Oliver Stone‘s acclaimed but controversial Natural Born Killers. The following year, the actor starred in the period film Restoration alongside Meg Ryanand Sam Neill; and the Jodie Foster-directed Home for the Holidays, also starring Holly Hunter.
6. He gave a remarkable performance in Wonder Boys (2000) and had roles in several other films, including Auto Motives and Lethargy. Downey then moved to the small screen in 2000, becoming a regular cast member of the popular show Ally McBeal, starring Calista Flockhart.
7. When Downey was unable to get something as routine as an insurance bond due to his past troubles with the law, Gibson found him work, casting him in the 2003 film The Singing Detective.
8. Downey in 2003 starred opposite Halle Berry in Gothika, which fared better at the box office than it did with the critics. He then played a supporting role in the critically acclaimed Good Night, and Good Luck (2005) and played as the lead in the independent drama A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints (2006), which he also co-produced.
9. In Zodiac (2007), Downey played a journalist who gets wrapped up in the hunt for the infamous Zodiac Killer.
10. In 2008 Downey transformed from an often critically admired actor to a box office star. He played the wealthy industrialist-turned-crime fighter Tony Stark in the smash hit Iron Man, based on the Marvel Comics superhero, which grossed more than $318 million domestically which led to the release of sequels in 2010 and 2013.
11. Downey also starred in the comedy Tropic Thunder (2008) with Ben Stillerand Jack Black.
12. Downey went on to share top billing with Jamie Foxxin The Soloist (2009).
13. Downey co-starred in the Guy Ritchie directed Sherlock Holmes in 2009, alongside Jude Lawas Dr. John Watson. The duo united again for the 2011 sequel, Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows.
14. After a turn as sharp city lawyer Hank Palmer opposite Robert Duvall in the drama The Judge (2014), Downey reprised his Tony Stark/Iron Man dual role for Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015); Captain America: Civil War (2016); Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017); Avengers: Infinity War (2018) and Avengers: Endgame (2019).
15. Downey reemerged as host of the YouTube series The Age of AI beginning in late 2019. In January 2020, he starred as a veterinarian who talks to animals in Dolittle, based on the classic children’s book series by British author Hugh Lofting.
16. Some of Downey’s upcoming projects include Marvel’s Black Widow and the sports comedy-drama All-Star Weekend.

The star Sherlock was romantically linked to Sex and the City Sarah Jessica Parker between 1984 and 1991. However, as Downey revealed on The Howard Stern Show in 2016, Sarah left him because of his drug addiction.

Marriage of Robert Downey Jr.

1. In May 1992, he married actress, Deborah Falconer after few days of dating. Two years later, the couple had a son, Indio, naming their common friend and actor, Anthony Michael Hall, as the boy’s godfather. Falconer sued him for divorce in 2004.
2. He married producer Susan Levin in 2005, and the couple welcomed their first child together on February 7, 2012. They named their son Exton Elias. On November 4, 2014, Downey and Levin welcomed their second daughter named Avri.