Editing Robert Downey Jr. (section)

==Early life==
Robert John Downey Jr. was born on April 4, 1965,<ref>{{cite web|title=Robert Downey Jr. Biography|url=http://www.biography.com/people/robert-downey-jr-9542052#awesm=~oCxqtKtfHvhoGj|publisher=[[The Biography Channel]]|access-date=April 26, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161115153523/http://www.biography.com/people/robert-downey-jr-9542052#awesm=~oCxqtKtfHvhoGj|archive-date=November 15, 2016|url-status=live}}</ref> in [[Manhattan]], [[New York City]], the younger of the two children.<ref name="toughest">{{cite news |year=2004 |title=Actor's toughest role |url=http://www.cnn.com/CNN/Programs/people/shows/downey/profile.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120129152632/http://www.cnn.com/CNN/Programs/people/shows/downey/profile.html |archive-date=January 29, 2012 |access-date=May 1, 2008 |work=CNN}}</ref> His father, [[Robert Downey Sr.]] (né Elias), was a filmmaker, while his mother, Elsie Ann (née Ford), was an actress who appeared in Downey Sr.'s films.<ref>{{cite web|first=Natalie|last=Finn|title=Robert Downey Jr.'s Mother Dies: Read His Moving, Candid Tribute to Elsie Ann Downey|url=http://www.eonline.com/news/583342/robert-downey-jr-s-mother-dies-read-his-moving-candid-tribute-to-elsie-ann-downey|publisher=[[E!]]|access-date=November 5, 2014|date=September 26, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141030135231/http://www.eonline.com/news/583342/robert-downey-jr-s-mother-dies-read-his-moving-candid-tribute-to-elsie-ann-downey|archive-date=October 30, 2014|url-status=live}}</ref> Downey's father was of one half [[History of the Jews in Lithuania|Lithuanian Jewish]], one quarter [[History of the Jews in Hungary|Hungarian Jewish]], and one quarter Irish, ancestry, and Downey's mother had Scottish, German, and Swiss roots.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Obituaries |first=Telegraph |date=July 8, 2021 |title=Robert Downey Sr, counterculture film-maker who gave his son Robert Jr his first acting role – obituary |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/obituaries/2021/07/08/robert-downey-sr-counterculture-film-maker-gave-son-robert-jr/ |access-date=March 6, 2024 |work=The Telegraph |issn=0307-1235 |archive-date=July 15, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210715130241/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/obituaries/2021/07/08/robert-downey-sr-counterculture-film-maker-gave-son-robert-jr/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="times1992">{{cite news |last=Diamond |first=Jamie |title=Film: Robert Downey Jr. Is Chaplin (on Screen) and a Child (Off) |url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E0CE2DB1039F933A15751C1A964958260 |work=The New York Times |date=December 20, 1992 |access-date=February 18, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090301180045/http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E0CE2DB1039F933A15751C1A964958260 |archive-date=March 1, 2009 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="hgatesbookref1">{{cite book |last1=Gates |first1=Henry Louis |author-link1=Henry Louis Gates, Jr. |title=Finding Your Roots: The Official Companion to the PBS Series |publisher=UNC Press Books |year=2014 |isbn=978-1469618012 |edition=1st |chapter=Robert Downey Jr. |access-date=March 29, 2015 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IDVcBAAAQBAJ&q=%22The+Ormay+family+gravestones%22&pg=PT187 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170215102917/https://books.google.com/books?id=IDVcBAAAQBAJ&pg=PT187&dq=%22The+Ormay+family+gravestones%22&hl=en&sa=X&ei=i14YVb-LOMOuggSFkoCYBw&ved=0CBsQ6AEwAA |archive-date=February 15, 2017 |url-status=live |orig-year=First published 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Hungarian Roots: Hollywood Legend Robert Downey Jr. |url=https://hungarytoday.hu/robert-downey-jr-hungarian-descent-roots-origin-hollywood-actors/ |website=Hungary Today |access-date=7 February 2025 |date=10 April 2022}}</ref>

Downey moved often, mainly due to his father's film projects, living in places such as [[Woodstock, New York|Woodstock]], New York, London, [[New Mexico]], California, [[Connecticut]], and [[Greenwich Village]].<ref>{{Cite magazine |date=August 1, 2000 |title=Robert Downey Jr. Speaks From Prison |url=https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2000/08/robert-downey-jr-prison |access-date=March 7, 2024 |magazine=Vanity Fair |archive-date=March 29, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230329131535/https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2000/08/robert-downey-jr-prison |url-status=live }}</ref> The family experienced both periods of near-poverty and wealth, depending on the success of the films.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |url=http://archive.org/details/robertdowneyjrfr0000unse |title=Robert Downey Jr. from brat to icon : essays on the film career |date=2014 |location=Jefferson, North Carolina : McFarland & Company Inc. |publisher= Publishers |isbn=978-0-7864-7549-0}}</ref> As a child, Downey was "surrounded by drugs."<ref>{{Cite web |title=CNN Programs - People in the News |url=https://www.cnn.com/CNN/Programs/people/shows/downey/profile.html |access-date=March 7, 2024 |website=www.cnn.com |archive-date=October 1, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231001045842/http://www.cnn.com/CNN/Programs/people/shows/downey/profile.html |url-status=live }}</ref> His father was a drug addict, and his mother was an alcoholic.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Couch |first=Aaron |date=September 26, 2014 |title=Robert Downey Jr. Pens Heartfelt Tribute to His Late Mother |url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/general-news/robert-downey-jr-pens-heartfelt-736090/ |access-date=March 7, 2024 |website=The Hollywood Reporter |archive-date=September 2, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230902035947/https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/general-news/robert-downey-jr-pens-heartfelt-736090/ |url-status=live }}</ref> His father allowed him to use drugs at a young age; he said that he gave Downey [[marijuana]] for the first time at age six and also gave Downey cocaine as a child.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Stern |first=Marlow |date=November 26, 2014 |title=The Renegade: Robert Downey Sr. on His Classic Films, Son's Battle with Drugs, and Bill Cosby |url=https://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/11/26/the-renegade-robert-downey-sr-on-his-classic-films-son-s-battle-with-drugs-and-bill-cosby |access-date=March 7, 2024 |work=The Daily Beast |archive-date=May 22, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170522121919/http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/11/26/the-renegade-robert-downey-sr-on-his-classic-films-son-s-battle-with-drugs-and-bill-cosby |url-status=live }}</ref> His father later said that he regretted it.<ref name="toughest" /> Downey stated that he and his father did drugs together for the first time when he was eight, and that drug use became an emotional bond between him and his father: "When my dad and I would do drugs together, it was like him trying to express his love for me in the only way he knew how."<ref name="Bystedt 1988">{{Cite book |last=Bystedt |first=Karen Hardy |url=http://archive.org/details/newbreedactorsco0000byst |title=The new breed : actors coming of age |date=1988 |location=New York  |publisher= H. Holt |isbn=978-0-8050-0774-9}}</ref><ref name="Hitting Bottom">{{cite web |last=Gliatto |first=Tom |date=August 19, 1996 |title=Hitting Bottom |url=https://people.com/archive/hitting-bottom-vol-46-no-8/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170102010030/http://people.com/archive/hitting-bottom-vol-46-no-8/ |archive-date=January 2, 2017 |access-date=January 26, 2011 |work=People}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Robert Downey Jr. Talks About Addiction and Passing It to His Son |url=https://abcnews.go.com/blogs/entertainment/2014/09/robert-downey-jr-talks-about-addiction-and-passing-them-to-his-son |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220211042742/https://abcnews.go.com/blogs/entertainment/2014/09/robert-downey-jr-talks-about-addiction-and-passing-them-to-his-son |archive-date=February 11, 2022 |access-date=September 11, 2020 |website=ABC News}}</ref>

During his childhood, Downey had minor roles in his father's films. He made his acting debut at the age of five, playing a sick puppy in the [[Surreal humour|absurdist comedy]] film ''[[Pound (film)|Pound]]'' (1970), and then, at seven, appeared in the [[surrealism|surrealist]] [[Western (genre)|Western]] film ''[[Greaser's Palace]]'' (1972).<ref name="times1992" /> He went to [[Stagedoor Manor]], a summer acting camp in upstate New York, when he was eleven and twelve.<ref name=":0" /> Downey's parents divorced in 1977, when he was twelve. He went and lived with his mother in a fifth-floor apartment in New York, as she "needed" him after the divorce, while his sister went to live with their father in California.<ref name="Bystedt 1988"/> After a few years, Downey went to live with his father and began attending [[Santa Monica High School]], but dropped out in 1982.<ref>{{Cite web |date=January 15, 2024 |title=Robert Downey Jr. Reveals He Was 'Jealous' Of Rob Lowe During Their High School Days; Says He Thought It Was 'High Functioning' |url=https://www.pinkvilla.com/entertainment/hollywood/robert-downey-jr-reveals-he-was-jealous-of-rob-lowe-during-their-high-school-days-says-he-thought-it-was-high-functioning-1271686 |access-date=March 7, 2024 |website=PINKVILLA |archive-date=February 27, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240227143400/https://www.pinkvilla.com/entertainment/hollywood/robert-downey-jr-reveals-he-was-jealous-of-rob-lowe-during-their-high-school-days-says-he-thought-it-was-high-functioning-1271686 |url-status=live }}</ref> At the age of 17, he moved back to New York to pursue an acting career full-time.<ref name="CNN profile">{{cite news |url=https://transcripts.cnn.com/show/pitn/date/2002-08-17/segment/00 |title=CNN People in the News&nbsp;– Profile of Robert Downey Jr. |work=CNN |access-date=May 2, 2008 |date=August 17, 2002 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121023015346/http://edition.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0208/17/pitn.00.html |archive-date=October 23, 2012 |url-status=live }}</ref> Downey worked a number of different jobs to support himself while going to auditions, including clearing tables at Central Falls restaurant, working in a shoe store, and performing as "living art" at the nightclub [[Area (nightclub)|Area]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=July 14, 2006 |title=Robert Downey Jr. |url=https://freshairarchive.org/segments/robert-downey-jr |access-date=March 7, 2024 |website=Fresh Air Archive: Interviews with Terry Gross}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Morales |first=Tatiana |date=November 21, 2003 |title=Robert Downey Jr.'s 'Gothika'|url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/robert-downey-jrs-gothika/ |access-date=March 7, 2024 |website=CBS News|archive-date=October 24, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201024124216/https://www.cbsnews.com/news/robert-downey-jrs-gothika/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=November 15, 2023 |title="They cut all my scenes out": Robert Downey Jr Went Through Absolute Humiliation After Telling All His Friends He Was a Major Star in Hollywood |url=https://fandomwire.com/they-cut-all-my-scenes-out-robert-downey-jr-went-through-absolute-humiliation-after-telling-all-his-friends-he-was-a-major-star-in-hollywood/ |access-date=March 7, 2024 |website=fandomwire.com |archive-date=March 13, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240313123130/https://fandomwire.com/they-cut-all-my-scenes-out-robert-downey-jr-went-through-absolute-humiliation-after-telling-all-his-friends-he-was-a-major-star-in-hollywood/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Meanwhile, Downey got a few parts in local theater and off-Broadway productions. He got his first credited film role in the 1983 film ''[[Baby It's You (film)|Baby It's You]];'' however, his scenes ended up being cut.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Watson |first=Stephanie |url=http://archive.org/details/robertdowneyjrbl0000wats |title=Robert Downey Jr. : blockbuster movie star |date=2012 |location=Minneapolis, Minn.  |publisher= ABDO Pub. Co. |isbn=978-1-61783-322-9}}</ref><ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Hirschberg |first=Lynn |date=May 19, 1988 |title=Robert Downey Jr.'s Weird Science of Acting |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/tv-movies/tv-movie-news/robert-downey-jr-s-weird-science-of-acting-179642/ |access-date=March 7, 2024 |magazine=Rolling Stone |archive-date=February 13, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240213164808/https://www.rollingstone.com/tv-movies/tv-movie-news/robert-downey-jr-s-weird-science-of-acting-179642/ |url-status=live }}</ref>