On this historic day, April 4, 1965, Robert Downey Jr., the acclaimed actor, was born to his parents Elsie Ford and Robert Downey Sr. in Manhattan, New York. His father was a critically acclaimed independent filmmaker, famous for creative social commentary such as Putney Swope. Her mother was an actress who acted in very independent films, some directed by her husband. His father was born Robert Elias, but changed his name at a young age when we wanted to join the army but was too young. He changed it to Downey in honor of his stepfather Joseph Downey. Robert Downey Jr will appear in his first acting role in 1970 at the age of 5 in his father Pound's film, in which human actors dressed as normal humans play dogs in a kennel. His only line in the entire film was asking if an adult dog had hair on his unmentionables in very different terms. This would be the first of many controversial roles for nominations and three Golden Globe wins, as well as starring in two of the highest-grossing films of all time, one could say his 40-year career has been highly successful. It was not an easy life for Downey Jr., however, few actors' pasts have hardly changed as Downey Jr. Downey was introduced to drugs at the age of six with marijuana by his father. While Downey Sr. said he regrets that incident, Downey Jr. said drugs were his father's way of communicating his love to young Downey Jr. in the only way he knew how. Indeed Downey Sr. was a distant father, always working on his latest film, this combined with the deep emotional scars suffered in Vietnam that would later lead to his eccentricities, rampant drug use and constant travel, and you you have a man maybe not the best candidate for Raisi...... middle of paper...... powerful man in Hollywood right now. In April of this year Downey opened a Twitter account. Within 24 hours he had one million followers, the fastest ever. In less than 10 years Downey has gone from former criminal to the top of the world. At this point, the sky is the limit. He overcame his adversities. He has reconciled with his father and is trying to lead with him. He donates a quarter of his entire salary to rehabilitation and children's charities and volunteers at pharmacy clinics. He goes to children's hospitals in the Iron Man suit and talks to them. All without alerting the media. Tony Stark/Robert Downey Jr. Superhero, no matter how you look at it. As he told Rolling Stone in 2008, soon after the release of Iron Man: "I'm a soldier who didn't know how bad the battle would be, and now I have a purple heart and I'm back." (Rolling Stone August 2008).