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Background[]
Filmography[]
- Pound (1970)
- Greaser's Palace (1972)
- Up the Academy (1980)
- Baby It's You (1983)
- Firstborn (1984)
- Tuff Turf (1985)
- Girls Just Want to Have Fun (1985)
- Weird Science (1985)
- Mussolini: The Untold Story (1985)
- Deadwait (1985)
- Saturday Night Live (1985-86) 18 episodes
- Back to School (1986)
- America (1986)
- The Pick-up Artist (1987)
- Less Than Zero (1987)
- Johnny Be Good (1988)
- Rented Lips (1988)
- 1969 (1988)
- That's Adequate (1989)
- True Believer (1989)
- Chances Are (1989)
- Air America (1990)
- Too Much Sun (1990)
- Soapdish (1991)
- Chaplin (1992)
- Heart and Souls (1993)
- Short Cuts (1993)
- Hail Caesar (1994)
- Natural Born Killers (1994)
- Only You (1994)
- Richard III (1995)
- Home for the Holidays (1995)
- Mr. Willowby's Christmas Tree (1995)
- Restoration (1995)
- Danger Zone (1996)
- One Night Stand (1997)
- Two Girls and a Guy (1997)
- Hugo Pool (1997)
- The Gingerbread Man (1998)
- U.S. Marshals (1998)
- In Dreams (1999)
- Friends & Lovers (1999)
- Bowfinger (1999)
- Black and White (1999)
- Wonder Boys (2000)
- Auto Motives (2000)
- Ally McBeal (2000-02) 25 episodes
- Lethargy (2002)
- Whatever We Do (2003)
- The Singing Detective (2003)
- Gothika (2003)
- Eros (2004)
- Game 6 (2005)
- Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (2005)
- Good Night, and Good Luck. (2005)
- Family Guy (2005) 1 episode
- A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints (2006)
- The Shaggy Dog (2006)
- A Scanner Darkly (2006)
- Fur: An Imaginary Portrait of Diane Arbus (2006)
- Zodiac (2007)
- Lucky You (2007)
- Charlie Bartlett (2007)
- Iron Man (2008)
- The Incredible Hulk (2008)
- Tropic Thunder: Rain of Madness (2008)
- Tropic Thunder (2008)
- The Soloist (2009)
- Sherlock Holmes (2009)
- Iron Man 2 (2010)
- Love & Distrust (2010)
- Due Date (2010)
- Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows (2011)
- The Avengers (2012)
- Iron Man 3 (2013)
- Chef (2014)
- Marvel Studios: Assembling a Universe (2014)
- The Judge (2014)
- Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015)
- Captain America: Civil War (2016)
- Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)
- Avengers: Infinity War (2018)
- All-Star Weekend (2018)
- Avengers: Endgame (2019)
- Dolittle (2020)
- Oppenheimer (2023)
- The Sympathizer (2024) 7 episodes
Trivia[]
- His father introduced him to drugs, offering him a marijuana joint when he was age 8.
- While drunk, he wandered into a neighbor's Malibu home that he thought was his own, and fell asleep in their child's bed. He was arrested for being under the influence of drugs, which was a third violation of his probation.
- He took daily drug tests during the filming of Two Girls and Guy.
- Kept a great deal of the authentic vintage clothing he wore in the movie Chaplin.
- Childhood friends with Moby.
- Was approached to play the role as Zaphod Beeblebrox in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.
- Is the first regular cast member of Saturday Night Live to be nominated for an Academy Award in the category "Best Actor in a Leading Role".
- Sting and Billy Idol performed at his wedding to Susan Downey.
- Ranked #60 in Time magazine's 100 Most Influential People in the World (2008).
- Was roommates with Kiefer Sutherland in the early 1980s.
- Is the first actor to win a Golden Globe for portraying Sherlock Holmes.
- Was a huge fan of the Iron Man comics as a child.
- He was offered the lead role in Oz the Great and Powerful, but declined, as he was not interested.
- He was originally set to star in Cowboys & Aliens, but had to drop out due to his commitment to Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows. The role went to Daniel Craig instead.
- He was considered for the lead role in Ferris Bueller's Day Off, which went to Matthew Broderick.
- He was considered for Tom Cruise's roles in Legend and Top Gun.
- During the promotion of Avengers: Age of Ultron, famously walked out of an interview with Krishnan Guru-Murthy when pressed about his "dark" past because he felt it was inappropriate that children would be watching. He told Howard Stern he would leave again if that ever happened in the future.
- He was considered for the role of Batman in Batman, which went to Michael Keaton.
- He was almost cast as Duckie in Pretty in Pink, when the ending had Andie getting together with Duckie. Per Molly Ringwald, this ending may have stuck if Downey won the role, because he didn't give her the "brother vibe" Jon Cryer did.
- He was considered for the title role in Edward Scissorhands, which went to Johnny Depp.
- He came dead last in Rolling Stone's ranking of all 141 cast members of Saturday Night Live.
Quotes[]
- "I've always felt like such an outsider in this industry. Because I'm so insane, I guess."
- "The higher the stakes, the happier I am, the better I will be."
- "I've become a picky little bitch. I've never bothered to plan projects before. I just used to throw the script across the room and say, "Why do they keep sending me this horseshit?" And then I'd start rehearsals two weeks later."
- "I know very little about acting. I'm just an incredibly gifted faker."
- "A stage slap from Mike Tyson is like a shovel whack from a normally fortified male."
- "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."
- "I don't want to go all Michael Jackson on you, but I never really had a childhood."
- "Discipline for me is about respect. It's not even about self-respect; it's about respect for life and all it offers. And not indulging. I have happily reconsidered my position on a bunch of things I didn't want on my "no" list despite all evidence that I couldn't handle them. At the end of the day, anything I think I'm sacrificing I'm just giving up because it makes me feel better."
- "I've noticed that worrying is like praying for what you don't want to happen. I don't worry, but I observe where my mind tends to go. I have such an overwhelming sense that if you're in the right state of heart, which I have been for a little while, the next right thing appears to you."
- "It's hard for me to watch Kiss Kiss Bang Bang and not get nostalgic about it. It's not perfect but in some ways, I think it's the best thing I've ever done. I don't know why."
- "I don't drink these days. I am allergic to alcohol and narcotics. I break out in handcuffs."