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Robert Downey Jr.
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Born to the underground film director Robert Downey in New York in 1965, Robert Downey Jr. is one of the most talented actors of his generation, though his off-screen exploits often garnered him more attention than his on-screen performances.

After a youth spent wandering the country with his father, and occasionally appearing in his films ("Pound"), Downey Jr. dropped out of Santa Monica High School at the age of 17 to try his luck as an actor. He moved to New York and began appearing around town in various stage roles. Returning to Los Angeles for a short time, he appeared in a few Hollywood films (most notably "Weird Science"), but it wasn't until after SNL that he started to break out as a major actor.

His performance as a drug addict in the film "Less Than Zero" earned him critical accolades, while his turn as Charlie Chaplin in Richard Attenborough's "Chaplin" biopic earned him an Academy Award nomination. His career seemed to be going well, but a drug problem continually got in his way. In the late '90s, his role on TV's Ally McBeal earned him an Emmy nomination, but like other times in the past, personal issues got in the way of his career.

Today, Downey Jr. is clean and sober, engaged to movie producer Susan Levin, and slated to appear in a variety of upcoming films.
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