Robert Downey Jr in The Soloist
To say that Robert Downey Jr has had an up and down career would be a little bit of an understatement.
Downey Jr. is an Academy Award nominated actor who is known for his versatility moving between independent movies and blockbusters.
However during the mid 1990s Downey Jr. was more well known for his substance abuse and criminal record than he was for his movie roles.
Despite having worked in a string of movies in the late eighties it was 1992's Chaplin that was the actor's breakthrough role.
Chaplin was a dramatised biography of the highs and lows in the life of one of the foremost comic geniuses the screen has ever known, and it was a performance that saw him nominated for an Oscar.
But in 1996 he was arrested for drink driving and being in possession of black tar heroin, cocaine and an unloaded .357 Magnum revolver.
He was sentenced to three years probation on weapons and drugs charges. But just twelve months later he was sent to jail six months in for violating parole.
Eighteen months later, after repeated offences, he was sentenced to three years in jail.
He was released in 2000 when an appeal ruled that he had served more than enough time to fulfil his sentence. Over the next few years he tried to put the past behind him and rebuild his shattered career.
But over the last year or so the actor has turned it all around, thanks to the Marvel movie Iron Man and he is now one of the most wanted actors in Hollywood.
Iron Man, which was released in May of last year, was the actor's first chance to take on a blockbuster role with the character of Tony Stark.
Tony Stark. Stark is a billionaire weapons manufacturer who is injured by a landmine. He is captured by Afgan forces and a dying Stark is forced to build them a weapon.
He builds an suit which acts as a life support machine for Stark who escapes and returns to the America. Here he uses the suit to fight crime.
It was a critical success and in the opening weekend it broke through the $100 million barrier in America, and the rest they say is history.
He returns this week alongside Jamie Foxx in Joe Wright's latest movie The Soloist, and it's a performance that is already surrounded in Oscar whispers.
Downey Jr stars as journalist Steve Lopez discovers Nathaniel Anthony Ayers , a former classical music prodigy, playing his violin on the streets of L.A.
As Lopez endeavours to help the homeless man find his way back, a unique friendship is formed, one that transforms both their lives.
And that's not all for 2009 as the cheeky chappie will be back as Christmas with Guy Ritchie's take on Sherlock Holmes, a movie that's already got a possible sequel in the pipeline, before returning to the Marvel universe with Iron Man 2 next summer.
And with Due Date, Cowboys and Aliens and The Avengers all on the horizon Robert Downey Jr has produced one of the most amazing career turnarounds.
The Soloist is released 25th September
Helen Earnshaw
Tagged in Robert Downey Jr