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. And he was one of the most exciting new actors in Hollywood at that time.
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 couple of years 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 was released back in May 2008 and was a surprise box office success, the character being one of the lesser known marvel creations.
It was a change of role of the actor who found himself in a big budget blockbuster movie for the first time in his career at the age of forty three.
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.
Since the role of Tony Stark the actor has seen his career soar as he has gone on to become one of Hollywood's most in demand and bankable stars.
After Iron Man came comedy Tropic Thunder, which saw him star alongside Jack Black and Ben Stiller; who also directed the movie.
For his role as actor Kirk Lazarus, who under goes a pigmentation alteration to play an African American, he was nominated for a Best Supporting Actor Oscar.
It was a change of pace for Downey Jr next as starred alongside Jamie Foxx in Joe Wright's movie The Soloist.
Based on a true story Downy Jr took on the role of journalist Steve Lopez who discovers Nathaniel Anthony Ayers , a former classical music prodigy, playing his violin on the streets of L.A.
But his biggest box office success since Iron Man came at Christmas of 2009 when he took on the role of Sherlock Holmes in Guy Ritchie's version of Sherlock Holmes.
Starring alongside Jude Law, who took on the role of Watson, the movie was a critical and commercial hit and Downey Jr went on to win a Best Actor in a Musical or Comedy Golden Globe.
So with things going better than ever Downey Jr returns to the role that turned it all around as Iron Man 2 is released this week.
Two years after the success of the original the iron clad hero is back as Jon Favreau returns to the director's chair for a second time.
The world is aware that billionaire inventor Tony Stark is the armoured super hero Iron Man. Under pressure from the government, the press and the public to share his technology with the military, Tony is unwilling to divulge the secrets behind the Iron Man armour because he fears that it will slip into the wrong hands.
With huge anticipation surrounding the film Iron man 2 looks set to be even more successful than it's predecessor.
And the next twelve months looks set to be very busy for the actor as he stars in Due Date, which will be released later this year, before moving onto work on a second Sherlock Holmes movie and the The Avengers.
Iron Man 2 is released 30th April.
Helen Earnshaw
Tagged in Robert Downey Jr Iron Man