From Drug Addict to Avenger, Robert Downey Jr.’s Career

On its first weekend in theaters, The Avengers had the best opening weekend of all time in terms of box office sales. Personally, my favorite character would have to be Iron Man. For those who have not a chance to see this special effects masterpiece, Iron Man is a character played by the famous actor Robert Downey Jr. On the screen, it seems that role of sarcastic, intellectual, billionaire may just Robert Downey Jr. being himself and not even trying to act the part. At the same time, he comes across as a crowd favorite for breaking up the monotony of typical super hero dialogue using his wit.

 I don’t know if this is common, but I tend to enjoy a movie more or less if I know any personal information about the actors or actresses in the film. For instance, Will Smith makes it a point to never take on a potentially risky role and jeopardize his career, so I tend to not enjoy his acting as much as someone willing to test themselves as a professional. On the other hand, Robert Downey Jr.’s past life has made the success of the Iron Man franchise that much more exciting. RDJ first started acting in his father’s films when he was 5, and was an A List movie star by the early 1990’s. Then, like far too many rich people in that time (prime example: Charlie Sheen), RDJ started using drugs. It got to a point where he was no longer hired to do movies or TV shows because he became known for being too drugged out to show up to rehearsals and even tapings. He was arrested in the early to late 90’s multiple times for charges such as marijuana, cocaine, heroin, and firearm possession. He went in and out of rehab on these charges, and even explained it to one judge as, “it’s like I’ve got a shotgun on my mouth with my finger on the trigger, and I like the taste of gun metal.” All of his erratic and illegal behavior culminated in a 1999 arrest that led to him spending a year in a California prison. Upon leaving prison, RDJ cleaned himself up and found some small movie and television roles over the ensuing years. After being sober since 2003, director and friend John Favreau recognized that RDJ was the actor that had to be Iron Man, stating that “Robert Downey Jr. will be to Iron Man, what Johnny Depp was to The Pirates of the Caribbean.” A couple of movies later and RDJ has become more than that and has used previous life experiences to motivate himself as a professional to be the best actor he can be. Hopefully, this blog doesn’t sound too much like a Wikipedia synopsis, rather than a reason to further appreciate any movie you see with Robert Downey Jr. being his charismatic self on the screen.