Mickey Rourke In Iron Man 2
Mickey Rourke's has had somewhat of a turbulent career that saw him become one of the most exciting talents in the eighties, only to throw it all away.
But with a certain little movie called The Wrestler, for which he was Oscar nominated, Mickey Rourke has seen his career reach new heights.
And he his back on the big screen this week with the release of Iron Man 2, in which he takes on the role of Ivan Vanko aka Whiplash, in his first big budget blockbuster movie.
But it was Darren Aronofsky's picture The Wrestler, in which he fought to get Rourke cast, which saw the actor make a triumphant return as the film lit up the festival circuit winning over audiences and critics. And for his performance Rourke collected his very first Golden Globe and has been honoured with a sting of nominations.
Despite this current success Rourke had a passion for boxing as a young man, a passion that he gave up to pursue an acting career. After taking private acting lessons in New York Rourke made his film debut in 1979 in Steven Spielberg's comedy 1941.
He moved between television and movies in the early days of his career and his role in Body Heat did bring him to the attention of audiences. But a string of roles followed that would cement him as a talent to keep an eye on; this began with Francis Ford Coppola's The Outsiders and then Rumble Fish
During the eighties he gained sex symbol status, and this was helped by controversial 9 and a half weeks which, despite being panned by the critics, was a hit at the box office.
But the eighties did bring critical success for the actor with role in Barfly as the alcoholic writer Henry Chinaski and in Year of the Dragon from Oliver Stone.
But into the late eighties and early nineties Rourke's career started to go a little pear shaped as his personal-life began to overshadow his big screen performances. His role choices became more and more random as he turned down Tom Cruise's part in Rain Man, a part in Platoon and Nick Nolte's role in 45 Hrs.
In 1991 he turned his back on acting and returned to his first love of boxing and turned professional. But it wasn't long before his age became an issue with promoters and in 1995 he retired from the sport.
Returning to acting he took up supporting roles in The Rainmaker and Buffalo '66 as well as Sean Penn's The Pledge and the remake of Get Carter.
In 2002 he collaborated with director Robert Rodriguez for Once Upon A Time in Mexico, the sequel to Desperado, before going on to work on Man on Fire. But his big mainstream return came in 2005 when he took on the role of Marv in the adaptation of Frank Miller's graphic novel Sin City, this project reunited him with Rodriguez.
He went on to work with Tony Scott for a second time, after Man on Fire, in Domino alongside Keira Knightley as a bounty hunter.
But it's The Wrestler which sees a real return to form for the actor and it was a two horse race between him and Sean Penn for the Best Actor Oscar.
But it's the big budget blockbuster which we will see the actor in this week as Iron Man 2 hit the big screen
The world now knows that billionaire inventor Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr) is the armoured superhero named Iron Man.
Under pressure from the government, the media and the public to share his technology, Stark is unwilling to divulge the secrets behind Iron Man's armour for fear that the information will fall into the wrong hands.
With Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow) and James 'Rhodey' Rhodes (Don Cheadle) at his side, Starks forges new alliances and confronts powerful new forces including armoured titan Whiplash (Mickey Rourke) and seductive adventurer The Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson).
And the actor looks set to be kept busy as The Expendables, which sees him star alongside Sylvester Stallone, Jason Statham, Jet Li and Arnold Schwarzenegger, is released later this summer.
13, a remake of 13 Tzameti, is also in the pipeline and he had has just completed work on Passion Play, which saw him team up with Megan Fox.
He is currently filming Immortals and has been linked to Pretty, Baby, machine, Potsdamer Platz and Broken Horse.
Iron Man 2 is released 30th April
FemaleFirst Helen Earnshaw
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