Biographic - Sunday April 4, 2010 Comic Strip Licensing and Permissions

Transcript

Born in New York on April 4, 1965. The son of actor parents, Robert Downey Jr. has been appearing in movies since he was 5 years old. At the age of 20, he joined the cast of "Saturday Night Live" and he soon began to gain attention for his work in such mid-1980s movies as "Weird Science" and "Back To School" starring roles in the likes of "Less Than Zero" and "1969" followed, and by the turn of the decade, he was starring opposite Mel Gibson in the big-budget action comedy "Air America." Robert earned huge critical acclaim and Academy Award and Golden Globe award nominations for his portrayal of comedy legend Charlie Chaplin in the 1992 biopic "Chaplin," and he cemented his reputation with roles in "Natural Born Killers" and "Richard III" But off screen, he battled personal demons and his life spiraled downward. By the end of the 1990s, the Hollywood superstar was incarcerated in a California State Prison. Following his release, he joined the cast of the hit TV show "Ally McBeal" his performance brought an Emmy nomination and earned him a golden globe- but he was written out after falling foul of the authorities again. His marriage to actress Deborah Falconer was over and his career seemed dead in the water at his lowest EBB, Robert reached out and sought professional help by the 2003, was clean and sober. With roles in such movies as "The Singing Detective" and "Gothika" he began to win back the trust of the movie industry, and found personal happiness with marriage to producer Susan Levin. His professional rehabilitation was completed with his starring role in teh 2008 blockbuster "Iron Man." That same year, he turned in a stellar performance as the pigmentally altered Kirk Lazarus- a "Dude playing the dude disguised as another dude"- in the smash hit comedy "Tropic Thunder" for which he earned Oscar and Golden Globe for 2009's "Sherlock Holmes" he looks set to conquer the box office once more with "Iron Man 2"

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