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Robert Downey Jr. Made The Comeback Of A Lifetime To Win An Oscar
Robert Downey Jr. won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor in 2024 – but his journey to success has been anything but straightforward.
For his work in Christopher Nolan’s movie Oppenheimer, Downey took home the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor.
This victory completed an awards season sweep, as the 59-year-old also triumphed at the Golden Globes, Critic’s Choice Awards, SAG Awards and BAFTA Film Awards.
But his emotional acceptance speech drew attention to the tragedies of Downey’s past, and the incredible comeback he has made.
The actor previously opened up to Vanity Fair about his ‘interesting’ childhood.
Both of his parents struggled with addiction, which it seems as though Downey inherited.
His dad, Robert Downey Sr., later admitted to The Guardian: “I passed him a joint. And suddenly I knew I had made a terrible, stupid mistake… giving a little kid a toke of grass just to be funny.”
Downey’s addiction worsened when he was cast in Less Than Zero.
“For me, the role was like the ghost of Christmas future,” he told The Guardian.
“The character was an exaggeration of myself. Then things changed, and, in some ways, I became an exaggeration of the character. That lasted far longer than it needed to last.”
Downey’s drug issues continued to spiral out of control, leading to brushes with the law.
The Sherlock Holmes actor was first arrested in 1996, three years after his first Oscar nomination for Best Actor in Chaplin – which lost to Al Pacino for Scent of a Woman.
Per UPI: “Sheriff’s deputies said he was driving erratically and appeared to be under the influence of alcohol. During the traffic stop, officers found black tar heroin, crack and powdered cocaine and an unloaded .357 Magnum handgun in his pickup truck.”
Later on, Downey’s ‘Goldilocks Incident’ would hit the headlines.
The Iron Man star broke into a neighbor’s home, took off his clothes and neatly folded them, then climbed into a child’s empty bed – while under the influence of drugs, as per The Washington Post.
The family refused to file trespassing charges.
Downey was sent to court-mandated rehab and ordered to undergo compulsory drug testing. However, after missing one of these tests, the judge had had enough.
Downey was sent to a state prison and spent time behind bars in Los Angeles.
On his time in prison, The Avengers star said in an exclusive interview with Vanity Fair‘s Steve Garbarino: “I’m just sinking deeper into my depression sessions.
Sometimes I’m just dead, living in a f***ing warehouse. I’m ready to get out.”
But following his legal troubles, Downey managed to get clean and turn his life around.
Downey made his acting comeback in the 2003 film The Singing Detective, thanks in large part to Mel Gibson, who personally paid his insurance bond to ease the studio’s concerns.
The arrangement meant that if Downey failed to complete the film, Gibson would be financially responsible. Downey later publicly thanked Gibson for not only helping revive his career but also playing a key role in his journey to sobriety.
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), which earned him an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor.
Downey achieved global stardom for his portrayal of Tony Stark, appearing as Iron Man in ten films within the Marvel Cinematic Universe, from Iron Man (2008) to Avengers: Endgame (2019).
He also took on the iconic role of Sherlock Holmes in Guy Ritchie’s Sherlock Holmes (2009), which earned him his second Golden Globe, a role he reprised in the film’s 2011 sequel.
And, upon winning the Best Supporting Actor award at the 96th Academy Awards, Downey made reference to how his troubled past got him where he is today.
“I’d like to thank my terrible childhood and the Academy – in that order,” Downey quipped in his acceptance speech.
He added: “I’d like to thank my veterinarian – I meant wife, Susan Downey over there. She found me a snarling rescue pet and you loved me back to life. That’s why I’m here.”
