A versatile and sardonic actor, Downey has often been as famous for his struggle with drugs as for his appearances onscreen. He was a hot young actor in the late 1980s, starring with equal success in dramas including Less Than Zero (1987) and Oliver Stone's Natural Born Killers (1994), and in comedies including Soapdish (1991, with Sally Field) and Bowfinger (1999, with Steve Martin). Downey was nominated for an Academy Award as best actor for playing Charlie Chaplin in the 1992 film Chaplin. In the 1990s he began piling up drug- and alcohol-related arrests; he was placed on probation, spent time in rehab clinics, and finally was jailed for his offenses. Released in 2000, he made a triumphant return as a star on the TV show Ally McBeal before being arrested twice more on drug charges in November of 2000 (in a Palm Springs resort) and April of 2001. In July of 2001 he was again placed on probation and ordered into rehab. Downey again managed to bounce back, starring in the hallucinatory musical The Singing Detective (2003, with Mel Gibson). His other films have included the murder mystery Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang (2005), the Edward R. Murrow biopic Good Night, and Good Luck (with David Strathairn as Murrow) and A Scanner, Darkly (2006, based on the novel by Philip K. Dick).
Extra credit: Downey was a cast member of TV's Saturday Night Live during the 1985-86 season... Downey married producer Susan Levin in August of 2005. It was his second marriage. He married actress Deborah Falconer in 1992; they separated in 1996 and were officially divorced in 2004... His father, Robert Downey Sr., is an occasional actor and director of offbeat films... He is unrelated to 1980s TV talk show host Morton Downey Jr.
