On the heels of his blockbuster performance in Iron Man, Robert Downey Jr. can currently be seen in The Soloist with Jamie Foxx -- a film already generating Oscar buzz -- and later in 2009 he'll star as fiction's most acclaimed sleuth in Guy Ritchie's Sherlock Holmes.
In appreciation of his evident talents, as well as his many ups and downs, we present 5 things you didn't know about Robert Downey Jr.
1- Robert Downey Jr. began using drugs at age 6
The first thing you didn't know about Robert Downey Jr. is that he was introduced to drugs at around the same time most kids are starting the first grade.His father, Robert Downey Sr., is a film director who wrote and directed a number of underground films in Greenwich Village dating back to the early 1960s. He cast his son in a string of his films, beginning with 1970's Pound, and shortly after this film he gave his six-year-old son his first hit of weed, a decision he told CNN he later regretted. In 1999, prior to being sentenced to prison for three years for breaking parole related to a prior conviction, Robert Downey Jr. told the court he'd been addicted to drugs since he was eight.
2- Robert Downey Jr. is the only ex-SNL member nominated for best actor
Robert Downey Jr.'s time as an SNL cast member was brief -- lasting only a single season. He was among the new cast that creator Lorne Michaels introduced in 1985, when he returned to the show after having left five years earlier. Although numerous SNL cast members have made scores of films both during and after their tenure at SNL, they have rarely found any favor with the Academy.At least four ex-cast members have been nominated for a Best Supporting Oscar (Joan Cusack, Dan Ackroyd, Albert Brooks, and most recently Downey himself), yet Robert Downey Jr. is the only one with a Best Actor nomination, given in 1993 for his brilliant starring role in Chaplin.
3- Robert Downey Jr. released a solo album
Another thing you didn't know about Robert Downey Jr. is that in 2004 he released a solo album on Sony, entitled The Futurist. Although he had contributed music to both film and television, the album marked his debut as a singer/songwriter and it featured, in his words: "highbrow pop with jazz and classical influences."In 2006, Downey Jr. told the Guardian (arguably tongue-in-cheek): "I don't see why I'd want to do another album. The Futurist came out and made its money back, but I worked my ass off and I was not compensated in the fashion I was accustomed to."
4 - Robert Downey Jr. bought Chaplin's house in 1988
In 1988, a few years before taking on the role that brought him so much acclaim, Robert Downey Jr. was living large as a young, rich and successful Hollywood actor. That year, Rolling Stone published a profile that at times reads as disturbing in light of what was known about his lifestyle. In it, his publicist revealed that he was in the process of buying a Spanish-deco home that had originally been built for Charlie Chaplin.5- Robert Downey Jr. buried his Less Than Zero clothes in his backyard
The last thing you didn't know about Robert Downey Jr. is what he's got buried in his backyard. Following his filming of Chaplin, Robert Downey Jr. buried the clothes he'd worn during the filming of 1987's Less Than Zero as a means of symbolically cutting ties with his debauched Brat Pack past.He related the aftermath to GQ in 1993, saying: "The next day I was, like: 'F*ck, why did I do that?' But four days later, I felt something drift away. (The burial) represents acknowledging how a lack of self-nurturing leads to gruesome results. It's one thing to see the train coming, and another to get out of the way."
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