Robert Downey Jr

Robert John Downey Jr. (born April 4, 1965) is an American actor. His films as a leading actor have grossed over $14.3 billion worldwide, making him one of the highest-grossing actors of all time. Downey was the highest-paid actor in the world annually from 2013 to 2015. Known for his versatility across roles, he is the recipient of various accolades, including an Academy Award, a Daytime Emmy Award, three Golden Globe Awards, and two British Academy Film Awards.

Downey made his stage debut in 1983 with a three-week run in Alms for the Middle Class at the Geva Theatre Center. He then appeared in the short-lived off-Broadway musical American Passion at the Joyce Theater, produced by Norman Lear. Downey's first credited film role was in Baby It's You (1983), though most of his scenes were cut. In his early film roles, he frequently portrayed misfit characters, and his portrayals of punk-like figures in several 1980s coming-of-age films led to his occasional association with the Brat Pack. In the drama film Firstborn (1984), he played a supporting role as the teenage friend of the protagonist. Downey then traveled to Los Angeles to film Tuff Turf (1985), in which he played James Spader's sidekick and a punk drummer. Later that year, his role as a bully in John Hughes's Weird Science (1985) marked his breakthrough. Downey starred as a radical socialist in the Alan Metter comedy film Back to School (1987).

In 2006, Downey was cast as the titular character in Iron Man, a superhero film. Director Jon Favreau explained that although Downey was not the most obvious choice, "he understood what makes the character tick. He found a lot of his own life experience in 'Tony Stark'." Favreau strongly advocated for Downey's casting, believing he could elevate the film's quality and generate widespread audience interest, much like Johnny Depp had done for the Pirates of the Caribbean series. Downey gained more than twenty pounds (nine kilograms) of muscle over five months to achieve the physicality required for the part. Iron Man was released on May 2, 2008, in the US. It became the eighth-highest-grossing film of 2008, earning more than $585 million worldwide against a production budget of $130 million.

In Iron Man, Downey portrayed Tony Stark, a wealthy industrialist who is kidnapped and forced to build a deadly missile, only to instead construct a suit of armor that transforms him into the superhero Iron Man. Both the film and Downey's performance were acclaimed by critics, many of whom considered his portrayal the standout element of Iron Man and credited it with catapulting him to global stardom. Ebert wrote that "it's Robert Downey Jr. who powers the lift-off separating this from most other superhero movies", and, in a retrospective Variety article, Zack Sharf credited Downey's charisma with making Iron Man both a critical and commercial success. By October 2008, Downey had signed on to reprise his role in two sequels to Iron Man and in The Avengers (2012), the latter of which featured the superhero team that Stark joins, based on Marvel's comic book series of the same name. He first reprised the role with a brief appearance as Stark in the film The Incredible Hulk (2008), as part of Marvel Studios' initiative to depict the same Marvel Universe on film by providing continuity among the films.

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