Robert Downey Jr
Robert Downey Jr. (born April 4, 1965) is an American actor. Born in New York City, he is the son of director Robert Downey Sr. Having appeared in several small film roles from an early age, at 20 he joined the cast of Saturday Night Live, but only appeared there for one season. He went on to star in The Pick-up Artist in 1987. The same year, he portrayed the drug-addicted rich boy in Less Than Zero, a role which came close to his later public life. In 1992 Downey starred as Charlie Chaplin in Chaplin, a role which garnered him an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor. His other films include Only You, Natural Born Killers and lead-role as a seventeenth century doctor in adaptation of Rose Tremain's novel of the same name Restoration.
In 2000, he became an acclaimed regular on the television series Ally McBeal, but he was fired after a drug-related arrest in April 2001. Downey has had a public battle with drug addiction throughout his adult life. He has been in and out of prison and rehab centers several times.
Drug Addiction
On June 23, 1996, Robert Downey, Jr. was arrested for driving drunk and being in possession of Mexican Black Tar heroin, crack, cocaine and a .357 Magnum revolver.
A few weeks later, on July 20, Downey broke into a Malibu, California home and fell asleep in a child's bed. When he was arrested for trespassing, Downey claimed his limo driver dropped him off at the wrong address.
On November 6, Malibu Municipal Judge Lawrence Mira sentences Downey to three years probation for weapons and drugs charges. However, on December 8, 1997, Judge Mira sentences Downey to six months in jail for violating parole. Downey returns to Corcoran State Prison to serve a three-year sentence for a parole violation again on July 16, 1999.
Downey is arrested again in a Palm Springs, California hotel for cocaine and Valium possession and being under the influence of a controlled substance on November 25, 2000.
On April 24, 2001, he was arrested for being under the influence of a controlled substance in Los Angeles after he was found wandering in an alley.
