Robert Downey Jr. was born into the filmmaking business. The actor was even bestowed the name of his filmmaker father, Robert Downey Sr., who cast the younger Downey in his very first acting role in the 1970 comedy, Pound. He was 5. More than 50 years later, RDJ is widely regarded as one of the industry's greatest movie stars.
Downey's career began in earnest in the early '80s. He briefly became a cast member on Saturday Night Live and memorably appeared in a number of teen comedies during the genre's heyday, including John Hughes' Weird Science (1985). But Downey truly arrived as a leading man with his Oscar-nominated performance as the title character in 1992's Chaplin.
Over the next two decades, the actor would steadily work with various respected directors, from Robert Altman and Oliver Stone to Curtis Hanson and George Clooney. And yet, it was his role as Tony Stark in Iron Man, the first that birthed the Marvel Cinematic Universe, that cemented his status as one of the biggest movie stars of this century. As the face of the most popular film franchise around the world, Downey appeared in 10 MCU installments, wrapping up his arc in the epic grand finale, Avengers: Endgame.
With his Iron Man suit back in the Hall of Armor, Downey looked for an opportunity to step into new territory, and he found one in Christopher Nolan's Oppenheimer, for which he won his first Oscar. "He's one of our great actors, and though a generation of kids know what a great movie star he is, they've not seen his subtlety and brilliance," Oppenheimer director Christopher Nolan told the Los Angeles Times. "I wanted to get him to do something completely different, to lose himself in another human being."
Here, A.frame looks back upon the actor's brilliance in some of his most essential performances.
It's fitting that one of the most iconic stars from this century portrayed one of the most iconic stars from the last century. Directed by the Oscar-winning filmmaker Richard Attenborough, the biopic of Charlie Chaplin tracked the life of the silent film era legend, from his meteoric rise to his struggle to find his place in talkies. Surrounding Downey in Chaplin is a decorated cast that includes Anthony Hopkins, Marisa Tomei, Kevin Kline, Dan Akroyd, Diane Lane, and Chaplin's own daughter, Geraldine Chaplin.
But it's Downey's performance as Chaplin that carries the film, which concludes with Chaplin receiving an Honorary Oscar. And for his memorable turn, Downey received an Oscar nomination for Best Actor in a Leading Role.
Shane Black burst onto the scene in the late '80s by writing his debut script, Lethal Weapon, a massively successful buddy-cop action film. Decades later, for his directorial debut, Black returned to the formula with Downey and Val Kilmer.
Downey plays Harry, a career criminal and rookie actor, while Val Kilmer plays Perry, a seasoned private investigator. The two men end up unexpectedly working together to solve a murder. Downey charms throughout this neo-noir dark comedy, which was the perfect comeback vehicle for him after he managed to triumphantly overcome years of hardship in his personal life.
Filled with some of the best dialogue any writer could ever come up with, Black's Kiss Kiss Bang Bang is absolutely essential viewing for any fan of Downey's work. In an interview in 2020, he called it, "In some ways, the best film I've ever done."
Often cited as one of the greatest films of not just 2007 but of the 2000s, David Fincher's Zodiac goes inside the hunt for the infamous Zodiac killer, whose identity remains unknown to this day. Set in 1970s San Francisco, the story is primarily told through the eyes of cartoonist Robert Graysmith (played by Jake Gyllenhaal).
Also obsessed with finding the killer are police investigator Dave Toschi (Mark Ruffalo) and crime reporter Paul Avery (Downey). The three men in the film are all consumed by their commitment to tracking down the Zodiac, and Gyllenhaal, Ruffalo, and Downey all deliver searing performances in this Fincher thriller that leaves audiences on the edge of their seats from beginning to end.
Zodiac co-stars Brian Cox, Philip Baker Hall, Anthony Edwards, Dermot Mulroney and Chloë Sevigny. James Vanderbilt's screenplay for the film was an adaptation of Zodiac, Graysmith's 1986 book.
Robert Downey Jr. is Iron Man. With X-Men and Spider-Man dominating the box office in the early 2000s, films based on Marvel comic book characters weren't new, but Jon Favreau's Iron Man was the beginning of something groundbreaking. Marvel was ready to build their own cinematic universe, and they took a big chance on Downey and Tony Stark aka Iron Man — and it was a home run bet.
Downey brings an inherent likability and charisma to his performance as Stark, a billionaire playboy who channels his money and fame for good following a near-death experience. Upon building a special energy source and armored suit, Stark takes on the identity of Iron Man, a hero that would go on to serve as the rock of both the superteam known as the Avengers and of the MCU.
Iron Man co-stars Gwyneth Paltrow, Terrence Howard, and Jeff Bridges. The film received Oscar nominations for Best Sound Editing and Best Visual Effects.
Downey teamed up with Oscar winner Jamie Foxx for the inspirational drama The Soloist, which shared the true story of Nathaniel Ayers, a talented musician who became homeless after developing schizophrenia.
Directed by Joe Wright and based on the book from Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Steve Lopez, The Soloist follows the unlikely friendship that developed between Ayers (Foxx) and Lopez (Downey), who put a spotlight on Ayers via a series of columns in the Los Angeles Times.
Cheers and tears will be had, as both actors bring a vulnerability and sensitivity to their portrayals of two men going through their own battles. The film co-stars Catherine Keener, LisaGay Hamilton and Tom Hollander.
Guy Ritchie's period action flick cast Downey as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's seminal detective character, starring as the eccentric Sherlock Holmes alongside Jude Law as his ever-reliable sidekick, Dr. John Watson. One doesn't have to possess Sherlock's detective skills to spot the winning chemistry between Downey and Law, which helped Sherlock Holmes earn over half a billion dollars at the worldwide box office.
The film, which co-stars Rachel McAdams, Mark Strong, and Kelly Reilly, received Oscar nominations for Best Art Direction and Best Original Score. Ritchie, Downey, Law, and McAdams reunited in 2011 for the sequel, Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows.
Across his decade-plus tenure in the MCU, Downey largely stuck to playing Tony Stark, but he took a break from the world of superheroes to step into the world of legal dramas. Directed by David Dobkin and produced by Downey and his wife Susan Downey, The Judge stars Downey as Chicago lawyer Hank Palmer, who, following the death of his mother, returns to his hometown, where his father Joseph (Robert Duvall), serves as a criminal judge. The long-strained relationship between the father and son is even further put to the test when Joseph is arrested for murder.
The emotionally powerful film, which co-stars Billy Bob Thornton, Vera Farmiga and Vincent D'Onofrio, earned Duvall an Oscar nomination for Best Actor in a Supporting Role.
Avengers: Endgame was the end of an unforgettable and truly historic era. After leading the first MCU film, Downey said goodbye to Marvel and to his beloved Iron Man role in the 22nd MCU film, which united the original Avengers in a mission to reverse Thanos' world-changing snap that erased half of all life in the universe.
Downey's swan song, directed by Anthony Russo and Joe Russo, is thoroughly exciting and extraordinarily poignant. Endgame, which co-stars Chris Evans, Scarlett Johansson, Chris Hemsworth, Paul Rudd, Don Cheadle, and Jeremy Renner, to name only a few of its many stars, went on to make just under $2.8 billion, becoming the highest-grossing film ever released. (Avatar (2009) has since regained the title following a re-release.) The film received an Oscar nomination for Best Visual Effects.
In the wake of exiting the MCU, Downey jumped at the opportunity to play a supporting but pivotal role in the historical thriller Oppenheimer. Written and directed by Christopher Nolan, Oppenheimer follows physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer (Cillian Murphy) as he undertakes the development of the nuclear bomb during World War II. Intercut with that storyline is the story of Lewis Stauss (Downey) in the 1950s, who is on the verge of being confirmed into the Senate until his history with Oppenheimer jeopardizes his standing.
Premiering in theaters in July of 2023 alongside Barbie, the two films became cultural phenomenons and box office juggernauts, together and separately, with Oppenheimer making nearly $1 billion at the box office and going on to receive 13 Oscar nominations. Downey's third Oscar nomination resulted in his first Oscar win for Best Actor in a Supporting Role. (Oppenheimer won seven Oscars in total, including Best Picture.)
"Here's my little secret: I needed this job more than it needed me. Chris knew it. Emma [Thomas] made sure that she surrounded me with one of the great casts and crews of all time," Downey said onstage at the 96th Oscars. "It was fantastic, and I stand here before you a better man because of it."
