During the promotion of Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015), he walked out of an interview with Krishnan Guru-Murthy when pressed about his "dark" past, because he felt it was inappropriate for children to watch. He told Howard Stern that he would walk out again if something like that happened in the future.
According to an interview he gave to Newsweek in February 2009, when Downey went to Japan for the opening of Iron Man (2008), he was detained at the entrance because Japanese officials investigated his passport and found it was linked to some incredible criminal activity (that is, Downey's numerous arrests and imprisonments for drug-related charges in the 1990s and 2000s). Because he had not disclosed these convictions, Downey was questioned for six hours and was nearly banned from entering Japan. In the end it was decided that he could enter Japan for the Iron Man premiere, but he would never be allowed to enter Japan again.
As a child, I was a big fan of the Iron Man comics.
When Downey was 10 years old and living in London, he attended Perry House School in Chelsea and trained in classical ballet.
Sting ("Every Breath You Take") and Billy Idol performed at Susan Downey's wedding.
In 2003, to overcome his drug addiction, he began training in Wing Chun under Sifu Eric Oram, who served as the fight and martial arts consultant on Guy Ritchie's Sherlock Holmes (2009).
In the early 1980s, he was roommates with Kiefer Sutherland.
His father introduced him to drugs and offered him marijuana when he was eight years old.
In a symbolic attempt to bury the collapsing Brat Pack image of the 1980s and begin a new phase in his life and career after shooting Chaplin (1992) in 1991, he buried (literally) the clothes he wore in Less Than Zero (1987) in his backyard.
He kept a large portion of the authentic vintage clothes he wore in Chaplin (1992).
He appeared in the music video for Elton John's song "I Want Love." Downey was released from rehab for a day in late July specifically to shoot the video (the video was shot in a single long, continuous take at Greystone Mansion in Beverly Hills). This was Downey's first work since he was fired from the television series Ally McBeal (1997) in April 2001.
He is a cousin of singer Harry Connick Jr., news anchor Barbara Walters and stuntman Garner Ted Aukerman.
I met his wife Susan Downey on the set of the film Gothika (2003).
He dropped out of Santa Monica High School at 17 and moved to New York to become an actor. Among his first jobs in the city were waiting tables at the Central Falls restaurant, working in a shoe store and performing as "living art" at SoHo's notorious underground club Area.
As a result of his father's work (Robert Downey Sr. was an independent filmmaker), the younger Downey spent much of his childhood on the move. He lived at various points in Connecticut, New York, California, London, Paris and Woodstock.
He lived with Sarah Jessica Parker between 1984 and 1991.
He married his first wife after dating for only 42 days.
While drunk, he entered a house in Malibu that a neighbor thought was his own and fell asleep in the children's bed. He was arrested because he was under the influence of drugs, which was the third violation of his probation.
He became the first and so far only actor to win a Golden Globe for playing Sherlock Holmes.
In his recent leading roles in Iron Man (2008) and its follow-up Sherlock Holmes (2009), he wore lifts at his directors' request to make himself taller.
Downey enjoyed working with contemporary artist Sam Taylor-Johnson, the director of the Elton John music video, so much that he suggested they work together again on an artwork. The result was an art video titled "Pietà," made in the style of Michelangelo's famous Pietà statue in Rome. It was included in Sam Taylor-Johnson's "Mute" exhibition at the White Cube 2 art gallery in London between 23 November and 12 January 2002.
In 2010, he placed his hands and footprints in concrete in front of Grauman's Chinese Theatre.
He proposed to Susan Downey on her 30th birthday.
He shot his role in the film Hail Caesar (1994) in one day.
He is the first regular cast member of Saturday Night Live (1975) to be nominated for an Oscar in the "Best Actor in a Leading Role" category. Joan Cusack and Dan Aykroyd were also nominated for Oscars a few years before Downey, but both were nominated in supporting categories.
His wife Susan Downey gave birth to a daughter named Avri Roel Downey at 3:22 a.m. on 4 November 2014.
During a traffic stop for speeding, he was arrested for driving under the influence, possession of heroin and having an unloaded gun in his truck. This was the first reported incident of him breaking the law at the age of 31. He was given a three-year suspended sentence and probation with requirements for random drug testing and drug counseling.
He is the godfather of his son Indio Falconer Downey and a close friend of Anthony Michael Hall.
In an interview he gave to Playboy magazine in November 2010, it was mentioned that he trained in Kung Fu three times a week for three hours at the L. A. Wing Chun Kung Fu Academy in West Los Angeles.
He was arrested after being found wandering in an alley in Los Angeles, under the influence of a controlled substance. Following his arrest, producer David E. Kelley fired him from the television series Ally McBeal (1997).
Downey's lawyers filed a petition with the California Court of Appeal, stating that Downey had already served enough prison time because the Malibu judge had made errors in calculating his sentence. The judge had failed to give Downey credit for several stints he had served in quarantine units and pre-sentencing jail. Downey's lawyers argued that he should be released in February 2000.
Indio Falconer Downey, his son with his first wife Deborah Falconer, was born on September 7, 1993.
He names Peter O'Toole as his favorite actor.
He left prison to complete his six-month sentence at a drug rehabilitation center. Downey caused excitement when he entered the facility to work on a film.
While in the Los Angeles County Jail for a parole violation, he got into a fight with another inmate and was treated for a cut on his nose.
A passionate collector of exotic watches, including brands such as Breitling, Omega, Jaeger-LeCoultre, Rolex, Patek Philippe and Baume & Mercier (his grandfather's).
Close friends from the Marvel Cinematic Universe cast: Chris Hemsworth, Scarlett Johansson, Elizabeth Olsen, Jeremy Renner, Chris Evans, Mark Ruffalo, Jon Favreau, Paul Bettany, Don Cheadle, Chadwick Boseman and Cobie Smulders.
He nearly took the role of Duckie in Pretty in Pink (1986), in which Andie ends up with Duckie. According to Molly Ringwald, if Downey had won the role the ending might have been permanent, because he didn't give her the "brother vibe" that Jon Cryer did.
Close friends: Mel Gibson, James Spader, Johnny Depp, Ramon Estevez, Rob Lowe, Ben Stiller, Mark Ruffalo, Jamie Foxx, Anthony Michael Hall, Gwyneth Paltrow and Scarlett Johansson.
After Downey violated probation three times due to drug and alcohol addiction in the three years since avoiding prison and being placed on parole, Malibu Judge Lawrence Mira stated that he was out of options. He said he was sentencing Downey to prison to save his life, because Downey would not take on the responsibility of abstaining from alcohol and drugs on his own. The judge reinstated the three-year state prison sentence that had been suspended in 1996. Downey spent two weeks at a state prison reception center in Wasco, California, for orientation. On August 25, 1999, he was transferred to the "SATF" (Substance Abuse Treatment Facility), a prison for drug-addicted inmates in Corcoran, California. Planned release date: November 2, 2000. SATF is across from the other Corcoran Prison, where inmates were shot and killed in the exercise yard during fights in the 1990s. Downey's lawyers petitioned the Malibu judge several times over the past 11 months seeking Downey's release, but the judge refused.
He maintained his professional work ethic while addicted to drugs.
While awaiting the August 5 hearing, he was sent to the drug rehabilitation center at the Los Angeles County Jail.
Robert and his wife Susan Downey's first child, Exton Elias Downey, was born on February 7, 2012. The baby weighed 7 lbs. 5 oz. and measured 20 inches.
On Jimmy Kimmel Live! (2003) he stated that he is not a method actor.
He is a childhood friend of Richard Hall, better known as Moby.
In The Nice Guys (2016), he played the corpse of Sid Shattuck.
He was considered for the role of Batman/Bruce Wayne in Batman (1989), which went to Michael Keaton and in which he appeared alongside Keaton in Game 6 (2005), and for the role in Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017), though they did not share a scene together.
He once worked as a living art piece at a SoHo nightclub in New York City.
He has worked with four "Doctor Watsons." He worked with Jude Law while playing Sherlock Holmes. He worked with Ben Kingsley in Iron Man 3 (2013). He worked with Martin Freeman in Captain America: Civil War (2016). He worked with Robert Duvall in The Judge (2014).
He attended Intermediate School 104 in Manhattan along with fellow actors Jon Cryer, Erica Gimpel and Kadeem Hardison.
He married his second wife, Gothika (2003) producer Susan Downey, on August 27, 2005, in Amagansett, New York.
He was offered the role of Zaphod Beeblebrox in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (2005).
Downey was arrested again on drug and weapons charges at the luxury Merv Griffin resort in Palm Springs, California, after an anonymous tip to police. Downey was found alone with cocaine and methamphetamines. He cooperated with police, spent the night in jail and was released the next morning on $15,000.00 bail. Downey's career had been on the rise with his successful work on Ally McBeal (1997) and an upcoming stage performance in the role of Hamlet, to be directed by his friend Mel Gibson in Los Angeles in January 2001.
He took daily drug tests during the filming of Two Girls and a Guy (1997).
He was ranked 60th on Time magazine's Time 100 list of the world's most influential people.
He appeared in a film selected by the Library of Congress for the National Film Registry as "culturally, historically or aesthetically" significant: Iron Man (2008).
In the same year, he brought the same character (Tony Stark) to life in two films produced by the same studio (Marvel Studios): Iron Man (2008) and The Incredible Hulk (2008).
Attended Chris Penn's funeral at Holy Cross Cemetery in Culver City, California.
His parents divorced when he was 11 years old.
The first Oscar-winning Saturday Night Live (1975) cast member, current or former. He won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor in 2024 for his role in Oppenheimer (2023).
He missed out on John Cusack's roles in Say Everything (1989) and The Grifters (1990).
He traveled the world promoting Iron Man 3 (2013), making back-to-back visits to Seoul, South Korea; Beijing, China; Moscow, Russia; Berlin, Germany; Paris, France and London, England.
On the set of A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints (2006), he took lead actor Adam Scarimbolo under his wing.
Downey's paternal grandfather, Robert Elias, was of Lithuanian Jewish descent; Downey's paternal grandmother, model Betty McLoughlin, was of half Irish and half Hungarian Jewish descent. Downey's mother's ancestry is English, Scottish, German and Swiss-German.
He has played the role of Tony Stark/Iron Man ten times in total: Iron Man (2008), The Incredible Hulk (2008), in a brief role, Iron Man 2 (2010), The Avengers (2012), Iron Man 3 (2013), Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015), Captain America: Civil War (2016), Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017), in a small role, Avengers: Infinity War (2018) and Avengers: Endgame (2019). Six of these ten films grossed over $1 billion in worldwide box office receipts.
He currently lives in Venice and Malibu, California.
Before playing Iron Man (2008), Downey had made films with three actors who had played Batman: with George Clooney in Good Night, and Good Luck. (2005); with Val Kilmer in Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (2005); and with Michael Keaton in Game 6 (2005).
He was offered the lead role in Oz the Great and Powerful (2013), but turned it down because he wasn't interested.
He appeared briefly with his first wife, Deborah Falconer, in Robert Altman's Short Cuts (1993).
He was originally set to star in Cowboys & Aliens (2011) but had to leave due to his commitment to Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows (2011). The role went to Daniel Craig.
A five-year-old Robert spoke his first lines of dialogue on film in his father Robert Downey Sr.'s Pound (1970): "Have any hair on your balls?"
He appeared in Chances Are (1989), and years later sang Bob Seger and Martina McBride's song "Chances Are" on the television series Ally McBeal (1997).
Downey did not contest the drug charges. The judge sentenced him to one year in rehabilitation and three years of probation.
He was approached for the role of Megamind in Megamind (2010), but declined the offer due to scheduling conflicts. The role then went to Will Ferrell.
On October 14, 2011, he was honored with the 25th American Cinematheque Award in Los Angeles.
He attended Stagedoor Manor in Loch Sheldrake, Fallsburg, New York.
He signed on to voice "The Devil" in the animated series God, the Devil and Bob (2000). Shortly afterward, Downey was jailed and was replaced by Alan Cumming.
He was taught tap dancing by Ramon Estevez for the production of "Oklahoma."
He was considered for the role of Billy "The Kid" Hicks in St. Elmo's Fire (1985), which went to Rob Lowe. Prophetically, the character has substance abuse problems.
He placed last in Rolling Stone's ranking of Saturday Night Live's (1975) 141 cast members.
Downey's lawyers informed the judge that they would not be able to negotiate a plea bargain in his November 2000 drug arrest.
Before playing Iron Man (2008), he had worked in films with three actors who had played Batman: George Clooney, Val Kilmer and Michael Keaton. In Iron Man 3 (2013), he worked with Clooney's cousin Miguel Ferrer.
Downey did not admit to the November 2000 drug charges. He is being held in a drug rehabilitation center until his case is resolved.
Kevin Feige had considered him for the role of Victor Von Doom/Doctor Doom in Fantastic Four (2005) before the late Julian McMahon was cast. Downey would later play the character in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, appearing in Fantastic Four: First Steps (2025), Avengers: Doomsday (2026) and Avengers: Secret Wars (2027).
Son of Robert Downey Sr. and Elsie Downey.