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Wikipedia Summary for Robert Downey, Jr.

Robert John Downey Jr. (born April 4, 1965) is an American actor and producer. His career has been characterized by critical and popular success in his youth, followed by a period of substance abuse and legal troubles, before a resurgence of commercial success later in his career. In 2008, Downey was named by Time magazine among the 100 most influential people in the world, and from 2013 to 2015, he was listed by Forbes as Hollywood's highest-paid actor.

At the age of five, he made his acting debut in Robert Downey Sr.'s film Pound in 1970. He subsequently worked with the Brat Pack in the teen films Weird Science (1985) and Less Than Zero (1987). In 1992, Downey portrayed the title character in the biopic Chaplin, for which he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor and won a BAFTA Award. Following a stint at the Corcoran Substance Abuse Treatment Facility on drug charges, he joined the TV series Ally McBeal, for which he won a Golden Globe Award. He was fired from the show in the wake of drug charges in 2000 and 2001. He stayed in a court-ordered drug treatment program and has maintained his sobriety since 2003.

Initially, bond completion companies would not insure Downey, until Mel Gibson paid the insurance bond for the 2003 film The Singing Detective. He went on to star in the black comedy Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (2005), the thriller Zodiac (2007), and the action comedy Tropic Thunder (2008); for the latter he was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. Downey gained global recognition for starring as Tony Stark / Iron Man in ten films within the Marvel Cinematic Universe, beginning with Iron Man (2008). He has also played the title character in Guy Ritchie's Sherlock Holmes (2009), which earned him his second Golden Globe, and its sequel, Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows (2011).

I like mainstream movies that are completely off the wall.

--Robert Downey, Jr.

Half the people that were out there saying 'No nukes' and 'Shut down the power plants' are now realizing that, some would say, nuclear is the best way to go for energy for the future. So I think it's natural to reexamine your beliefs as you age up.

--Robert Downey, Jr.

There are some parents who have really done it right and told their kid, 'You know, we have this dough, none of this is for you. You have to get your own.

--Robert Downey, Jr.

I felt like a fighter who was training for a title bout that had not been booked yet.

--Robert Downey, Jr.

I'm not a method guy. I can't be bothered to have a method. I just want to be a part of a good movie and I can't stand to be surrounded by morons.

--Robert Downey, Jr.

I know if you talk faster and use more ten-dollar words than everyone around you, you convince half of them that they should shut up because you know what you're talking about.

--Robert Downey, Jr.

The audience can feel the subtleties of the characters.

--Robert Downey, Jr.

I, personally, would be shocked if we went to the end of the tape now and I didn't have at least one... Look, even if I don't get one directly, eventually they're just going to have to give me one when I get old. So no matter how you slice it, I'm getting one.

--Robert Downey, Jr.

I know who I am. I'm a dude playing a dude disguised as another dude.

--Robert Downey, Jr.

I think a hero is someone who, if abroad or traveling, they go to the GOOP website to see what shops to go to, what restaurants to eat at, what clothes to buy, and they do that not fearlessly but in spite of their fear.

--Robert Downey, Jr.

I never know when the seeds are being laid, I'm just like, Wow, that's a pretty cool scene. Is that? Are we laying seeds here?

--Robert Downey, Jr.

Violent ground-acquisition games such as football are in fact a crypto-fascist metaphor for nuclear war.

--Robert Downey, Jr.

Nobody learns a German aria overnight, except Jared Harris.

--Robert Downey, Jr.

I'm an actor, a husband, a father of two, and a full-time Avenger.

--Robert Downey, Jr.

Job one is get out of that cave. A lot of people do get out but don't change.

--Robert Downey, Jr.

Mediocrity is my biggest fear. I'm not afraid of total failure because I don't think that will happen. I'm not afraid of success because that beats the hell out of failure. It's being in the middle that scares me.

--Robert Downey, Jr.

You know, when you're part of a comedic duo, you can take breaks. It's kind of like having a partner that is good with a kid.

--Robert Downey, Jr.

Pick a dysfunction and it's a family problem.

--Robert Downey, Jr.

Everyone has a story, and the story changes, and the more I can root into the truth of things -- it's so hard -- I don't think anyone ever really puts it all together. But somewhere along the way it all became fused.

--Robert Downey, Jr.

People rise out of the ashes because, at some point, they are invested with a belief in the possibility of triumph over seemingly impossible odds.

--Robert Downey, Jr.

It's like I have a loaded gun in my mouth and I like the taste of metal.

--Robert Downey, Jr.

At the end of the day, anything I think I'm sacrificing I'm just giving up because it makes me feel better.

--Robert Downey, Jr.

You can't go from a $2,000-a-night suite at La Mirage to a penitentiary, and really understand it, and come out a liberal.

--Robert Downey, Jr.

It's become this really odd thing where even some of the folks who build the things that we wear for entertainment are contacted by DARPA-esque companies who are saying, Yeah, we're really doing that, and we want to talk to you.

--Robert Downey, Jr.

Addiction's not about placating the bad dog -- it's about feeding the good dog. You still have to feed the bad dog, but only enough so that the ASPCA doesn't bring you up on charges.

--Robert Downey, Jr.

If I was a Pokemon, I'll either be a Psyduck or a Jigglypuff.

--Robert Downey, Jr.

I need a lot of support... Life is really hard, and I don't see some active benevolent force out there. I see it as basically a really cool survival game. You get on the right side of the tracks, and you now are actually working with what some people would call magic.

--Robert Downey, Jr.

I'm not used to studios being ecstatic about we did and saying, Please go do that again.

--Robert Downey, Jr.

Smoking dope and smoking coke, you are rendered defenseless. The only way out of that hopeless state is intervention.

--Robert Downey, Jr.

Tofu is the root of all evil, and there's only one thing that can change a man's mind, and that's a modified Uzi with an extra-long clip.

--Robert Downey, Jr.

The greatest thing my dad taught me came from when I called him from a phone booth and said, 'Hungry. No bus token. Please. Out of options.' He said, 'Pfft, get a job.

--Robert Downey, Jr.

There is unpanned gold in every soul you run into, no matter what walk of life they are from.

--Robert Downey, Jr.

Wing Chun teaches you what to concentrate on, whether you're here or out in the world dealing with problems. It's second nature for me now. I don't even get to the point where there's a problem.

--Robert Downey, Jr.

I've always felt that if you're not on your side, why should anyone else be. So I always encourage people to be confident, and sometime even a little falsely so, just so you can give yourself an opportunity.

--Robert Downey, Jr.

I just think it's good to be confident. If I'm not on my team why should anybody else be?

--Robert Downey, Jr.

I wouldn't want to see anything irreparable happen, but I also like it when seemingly irreparable thing occur and men and women find a way to move past it.

--Robert Downey, Jr.

I think paranoia goes from generation to generation. It's convenient to imagine that there's a few people controlling everything, that way it's manageable and small. But that's not life, life is messy.

--Robert Downey, Jr.

Sometimes if you're wanting to look just a little bit taller, then you want to dress with just more of a thin cut.

--Robert Downey, Jr.

A lot of my peer group think I'm an eccentric bisexual, like I may even have an ammonia-filled tentacle somewhere on my body. That's okay.

--Robert Downey, Jr.

Sometimes you're not supposed to enjoy it acting. You're supposed to cooperate with misery and proceed anyway. But what I do enjoy is a sense of well-being and just participating in life and life's turns.

--Robert Downey, Jr.

I understand reversal of fortune; that usually has come through my own hand, but you know, you live life on life's terms.

--Robert Downey, Jr.

Every time I feel that I really hit critical mass and I'm in the right place is when I feel like the director and I become a third thing, and that's the character.

--Robert Downey, Jr.

All I want, and I think all any parent with a semblance of a moral psychology wants, is for my kid to have his own experience, uninhibited.

--Robert Downey, Jr.

Give me a scotch, I'm starving.

--Robert Downey, Jr.

I guess the main thing is, you unconsciously take things for granted, and you think the audience is with you, because you're with yourself.

--Robert Downey, Jr.

It was a democracy in the truest and most frustrating and most rewarding sense of the word. Anybody could come in and say, You know, I'm just not cool with that. We'd be like, Who's that? Oh, I was just cleaning the trailers. It was nuts.

--Robert Downey, Jr.

I am in the continual process of transcending fear-based rituals.

--Robert Downey, Jr.

People never change because they are under threat or under duress. Never. They change because they see something that makes their life seem valuable enough to start moving toward a life worth living.

--Robert Downey, Jr.

McDonald's being the official restaurant of the Olympics is like smoking being the official medicine of cancer.

--Robert Downey, Jr.

I'm not a poster boy for good behavior and recovery in Hollywood, I'm just a guy who knows he has a lot to be grateful for.

--Robert Downey, Jr.

I saw School of Rock, and I was like, why haven't I worked with Richard Linklater already? Then by the time I got him I was like, I'm really pissed off I feel like you owe me some retroactive swag. He gave me the 10-year anniversary Dazed and Confused T-shirt, which I still wear with relish.

--Robert Downey, Jr.

I thought that the grounded-ish nature of the first Iron Man and where I think the success of it was based was I think people got excited that this was a technologically possible occurrence; and didn't Obama order an Iron Man?

--Robert Downey, Jr.

I don't need an Iron Man suit. I'm already a weapon of mass seduction.

--Robert Downey, Jr.

My old man had a philosophy: peace means having a bigger stick than the other guy.

--Robert Downey, Jr.

I don't want to go all Michael Jackson on you, but I never really had a childhood.

--Robert Downey, Jr.

I don't drink these days. I am allergic to alcohol and narcotics. I break out in handcuffs.

--Robert Downey, Jr.

I'm a soldier who didn't know how nasty the battle was going to be, and now, I've got a purple heart and I'm back.

--Robert Downey, Jr.

If you're doing a drama that has some comedic elements you can't forget that it's primarily a very serious film that has some light relief.

--Robert Downey, Jr.

But I will agree that I think that things happen with people in relationships, that you might have been able to enjoy Morocco, say, if you weren't getting out of a bad marriage. You know what I mean?

--Robert Downey, Jr.

I'm very good at deconstructing. I'm a very good troubleshooter for why something is unlikely to work. And most everything is unlikely to work.

--Robert Downey, Jr.

In movies, people seem to be more emotional than they would ever be if that situation was actually happening to them.

--Robert Downey, Jr.

Dad's Jewish and Irish, Mom's German and Scotch. I couldn't say I was anything. My last name isn't even Downey. My dad changed his name when he wanted to get into the Army and was underage. My real name is Robert Elias. I feel like I'm still looking for a home in some way.

--Robert Downey, Jr.

It's hard to get out of the barrel. It's slippery around the edges and people are happy to see you fall back in.

--Robert Downey, Jr.

'Shaggy Dog' was a very, very important movie for me. It was a very enjoyable experience.

--Robert Downey, Jr.

I take some pride in... representing myself exactly how I would like to have my son remember me to his kids.

--Robert Downey, Jr.

I know very little about acting. I'm just an incredibly gifted faker.

--Robert Downey, Jr.

I'm not 40 yet. I wouldn't even bother comparing myself to Chaplin.

--Robert Downey, Jr.

Acting is always a challenge.

--Robert Downey, Jr.

I'm not particularly tall, strong, fast, or aggressive.

--Robert Downey, Jr.

I had this bad-boy-from-New York vibe going, dressed like a punk rocker with spiky hair.

--Robert Downey, Jr.

There are some parents who have really done it right and told their kid, 'You know, we have this dough, none of this is for you. You have to get your own.'

--Robert Downey, Jr.

I'm in a happy relationship, me and my ex are on really good terms, my kid and I are in a good spot.

--Robert Downey, Jr.

Does any new parent, even if you're not a first-time parent, ever really know what to do?

--Robert Downey, Jr.

With a terrible script you hustle and try to make it better. But with a good script it can be trouble because you rest on your laurels, so to speak, you think it's going to translate easily.

--Robert Downey, Jr.

I think I just never wanted to be the creepy guy where people say, 'Why do his leading ladies keep getting younger and younger, and why do they think he's so hot even though we know that the girl who's playing this part actually has a handsome boyfriend?'

--Robert Downey, Jr.

I always think part of success is being able to replicate results, taking what is interesting or viable about yourself as a professional person and seeing if you bring it into different situations with similar results.

--Robert Downey, Jr.

Life is just so painful and messy and hard and worth it and all that stuff.

--Robert Downey, Jr.

I was kind of like chasing my tail and trying to do the right thing, and was a little bit stupid. Or irresponsible, which is the same thing I guess. It's just been really busy and I had a lot of great opportunities.

--Robert Downey, Jr.

But I think Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang really got that thing where, if a movie reads really funny and then has some dramatic or violent or sinister stuff in it, you can't forget that primarily it has to be even funnier than you read it or that other stuff doesn't work.

--Robert Downey, Jr.

I think that the power is the principle. The principle of moving forward, as though you have the confidence to move forward, eventually gives you confidence when you look back and see what you've done.

--Robert Downey, Jr.

Acting is the most wildly overpaid position imaginable.

--Robert Downey, Jr.

Nothing pleases me more than when somebody who was awe-inspired to be working with me realizes I'm just another schmuck that they're bored of hanging out with on a set. I love that moment. I like it when that persistent illusion is smashed.

--Robert Downey, Jr.

If you're raised with a poverty mentality, nothing is going to change it. I do know some really stingy billionaires. I come from such a generation of hand-to-mouthers.

--Robert Downey, Jr.

I want to give myself the freedom not to have to be projecting my whole life ahead.

--Robert Downey, Jr.

I think life changes every year. This is just a little more comfortable.

--Robert Downey, Jr.

I grew up with a lot of people whose whole prime mover was dad rage. I never really had it -- it always seemed so empty. It always seemed to be masking something else, which was really their own lack of initiative.

--Robert Downey, Jr.

I walk by studio heads and they actually look and put their hand out now, like maybe I should be on their radar.

--Robert Downey, Jr.

When you have a good script you're almost in more trouble than when you have a terrible script.

--Robert Downey, Jr.

I loved it, it's such fun. I like that people are seeing it and then talking about it. Like when I took my son and his friends to see Napoleon Dynamite last year, we spent the next six weeks trying to explain it.

--Robert Downey, Jr.

I think that we all do heroic things, but hero is not a noun, it's a verb.

--Robert Downey, Jr.

I just don't like big guys who speak cryptically and act like they understand the language better than me.

--Robert Downey, Jr.

In the marathon obstacle course of a career, it's just good to have all the stats on paper for why you're not only a team player but also why it makes sense to support you in the projects you want to do -- because you've made so much damned money for the studio.

--Robert Downey, Jr.

I've noticed that worrying is like praying for what you don't want to happen.

--Robert Downey, Jr.

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