Robert Downey Jr. Bio

Schooling: Went to Santa Monica High School, but dropped out when he was 17.

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'm not used to feeling like I belong where I am."

Spouse: Deborah Falconer (April 1992 - April 1996) (divorced); 1 child (Indio)

Trivia:He studied ballet in London when he was young. Lived with Sarah Jessica Parker for 7 years during the 1980s.

Dubious Claim to Fame: Downey's on-again off-again drug addiction problems have translated into several high-profile run-ins with the law and even meant time behind bars for the star.

Filmography: click here to read about his other roles

Robert Downey Jr.: Show business was in Robert's blood. He was born to actor Robert Downey Sr. in 1965 and made his big-screen debut just five years later with an uncredited part in his father's Pound. By age 20, the younger Downey had landed a role as a regular on NBC's Saturday Night Live sketch comedy series. His big break came in 1987 on the big screen with his critically acclaimed portrayal of a drug addict in the film Less Than Zero. Ironically, the public later learned that this role hit Downey very close to home. His work in feature films continued through the latter half of the 1980s, with turns in such films as The Pick-Up Artist, Johnny Be Good and Chances Are garnering attention from audiences around the world. In the 1990s, he went on to star in many more successful films, including 1992's Chaplin, for which he received an Oscar nomination.

Downey's personal life, however, has not run as smoothly as his career.

The actor wed Deborah Falconer in April 1992. The marriage ended exactly four years later, and produced one child — a boy named Indio, who was born in 1994. Several months after his divorce, in August of 1996, the actor was stopped for speeding and wound up being arrested for drunk driving, possession of heroin and possession of an unloaded pistol in his pickup truck. This would be the first of his numerous run-ins with the law in the years to come. At the time, when Downey was 31 years old, he was given a suspended prison sentence of three years and granted probation with requirements of random drug testing and drug counseling — which included his being remanded to a secure drug rehabilitation center. The following year, in October 1997, his probation was revoked when it was revealed that he was still using drugs. He served his first round of jail time beginning in December 1997, which amounted to 180 days for violating the probation. In 2000 the actor completed a jail sentence and managed to resurrect his acting career with a high-profile role on Fox's Ally McBeal series.

However, he ran into trouble with the law again in the fall of that year when an anonymous tip alerted the police to the fact that he was holed up in a Palm Springs hotel room with drugs, shattering the public's belief that he had been rehabilitated from his addiction.

Downey's career, however, was still going full steam ahead thanks to his role on Ally McBeal and his critically acclaimed turn opposite Michael Douglas on the big screen in Wonder Boys.