A son of independent filmmaker Robert Downey Sr. and actress Elsie Ford, acting inevitably has become an inseparable part in Robert's life from the day he was born on April 4, 1965 in New York City. Gradually getting familiar with show business supported by his mother's influence, surely it did not take a long time for him to develop a fascination in performing, even to begin his initial step in the field, thanks to his father's decision to include him in his 1970 effort of "Pound" at a mere age of 5. The fact that he had to live in different places like Connecticut, Paris, Woodstock, London, and California due to Downey Sr.'s profession apparently did not prevent him to nurture his interest for the boy then enthusiastically joined the Stagedoor Manor, a performing arts summer camp, to hone his skills in portraying characters, improvisation, also vocal technique.
Entering his early teen, Robert was forced to face the divorce ...
of his parents in 1978, followed by the departure of his father also sister Allyson to California as he chose to remain with his mother in New York. However, the teen later decided to rejoin them four years later and entered the state's Santa Monica High School where he frequently was selected to perform in its stage productions. By this time, his desire to pursue an acting career had become really hard to resist so that he recklessly left his study earlier upon Downey Sr.'s approval before headed back to New York to start working his path in the entertainment world. After a handful of small parts in productions of either local or off-Broadway theaters, including those of "American Passion" and "Alms for the Middle Class", a good chance struck him when an agent who spotted his potentiality helped him to try out for film auditions in Los Angeles.
Managed to obtain his first credited role in Rosanna Arquette's vehicle of "Baby It's You" (1983), Robert moved forward to grab a bigger turn in "Firstborn" (1984) in which he shared the screen with Sarah Jessica Parker whom he dated shortly thereafter. Also appeared in "Weird Science", "Tuff Turf", plus "Mussolini.
The Untold Story" throughout 1985, this brown-eyed guy then made his way to hit higher when he successfully impressed the casting panel of "Saturday Night Live" (1975) and in consequence became the show's member for one season. Lucky for him, one of his performances there attracted director James Toback who subsequently gave him the second billing to play the male lead in his 1986 picture, "The Pick-Up Artist", alongside Molly Ringwald and Dennis Hopper. It was such a relief for the struggling actor as the flick not only enabled him to gain audience's notice but also served as a good stepping-stone to secure a challenging role of Julian Wells in "Less Than Zero" (1987).
Wonderfully delivered a compelling dramatic enactment in that feature of Marek Kanievska, Robert in turn received huge praise from critics which unmistakably brought him to more public attention and exposure, leading him to land major roles in "Rented Lips" (1988), "True Believer" (1989), "Air America" (1990), also "Soapdish" (1991). By this time, his relationship with Sarah did not run well enough for them to keep staying on each other's side so that he finally ended the romance in August 1991 to afterwards grow a new love ...
in model-turned-actress Deborah Falconer thus married her joyously by 1992, the same year his next film, "Chaplin", saw its release. It was through this particular picture that he eventually came to the highlight of his career when it directed him to get a nomination for Best Actor in a Leading Role category at Academy Awards and another of Golden Globe Awards in Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture-Drama along with the Best Actor title at BAFTA Awards in 1993.
Completed his accomplishment with the arrival of his son, Indio, on September 7, 1993, Robert firmly maintained his status in Hollywood during half of the '90s, starring in a series of high-profile movies, like "Short Cuts" (1993), "Natural Born Killers" (1994), "Richard III" (1995), and "Restoration" (1995). Sadly, the glory he encountered on screen was tainted by his awful behavior in real life, especially that of his dependence on drugs, as he got arrested for possessing Mexican black tar heroin, crack, cocaine also an unloaded .357 Magnum revolver while driving in intoxicated condition in June 1996. Sentenced to three years probation, he instead ended up in jail for six months after a Malibu municipal judge declared him guilty of violating parole on December 8, 1997 and later even was convicted to three years imprisonment in July 1999 for the same deed. However, he was released by summer 2000 when a California state appellate court discovered a sentencing error made by his trial judge.
Apart from his acting career, Robert has also developed another profession as a music artist through the launching of his debut album, "The Futurist", under Sony Classical on November 23, 2004. In addition, this charming actor of Jewish, Irish, German and Scottish descent also had made a duet with Sting on The Police's "Every Breath You Take" and with Vonda Shepard on "Chances Are" for "Ally McBeal: For Once in My Life" soundtrack (2001).
Angelina
Jolie Voight was born in Los Angeles, California. Her father Jon Voight
was an established Hollywood actor, who had earned worldwide fame for
his performances in 'Midnight Cowboy', 'Deliverance' and 'Coming Home' -
the latter winning him an Oscar.
At school, she joined
a gang called the Kissy Girls who hunted boys down and kissed them
until they begged for mercy - until the school called a halt and the
gang broke up! Money was tight while Angelina was growing up, but
Marcheline made a point of taking her children to the movies as often as
possible. Angelina claims that these family movie outings were what
first inspired her to dream of becoming an actress.
At
the age of 16, Angelina split up with her boyfriend, and decided to
revive her childhood dreams of becoming an actress. She moved into an
apartment opposite her mother and secured her first on-stage role as a
German S&M dominatrix! For the first time ever, she also began to
make the peace with her father.
She realised that when it came to
acting he had a great deal to teach her. With her braces and glasses
gone, she succeeded in landing work as a model and even appeared in the
video for Meat Loaf’s 'Rock’n’Roll Dreams Come Through'. She also
appeared in promo videos for Lenny Kravitz and the Rolling Stones.
Jolie's
brother James (who now called himself James Haven) had pursued his
ambition of going to film school, and Angelina gained her first taste of
screen acting by starring in no less than five of her brother's student
films. She made her movie debut proper in 1993 in the role of Casella
'Cash' Reese alongside Jack Palance in 'Cyborg 2'. Angelina's role
capitalised on her screen charisma and brash, upfront sex appeal, and
before long she was offered another plum role in 'Hackers', a sci-fi
computer thriller. While on set shooting Hackers, she met British actor
Johnny Lee Miller, of 'Trainspotting' fame, who played a computer wizard
on the run from the police. Jolie and Miller worked closely together
(she played a member of his team) and, before long, the couple were
announcing their engagement in the press.
In
1997, she played the role of George Wallace's wife in the biographical
movie 'George Wallace', which told the story of the segregationist
Governor of Alabama who was shot and paralysed during his campaign to
become President, a performance which achieved considerable critical
acclaim. But whilst her career was going from strength to strength, her
private life was starting to fall apart. Johnny Lee Miller was finding
her emotional excesses harder and harder to deal with, especially while
she was playing the lead role in 'Gia', a biopic about the life of Gia
Carangi, a lesbian supermodel from the 1970s who eventually died of
AIDS.
Next came Jolie's first blockbuster role - 'Tomb
Raider'. This was probably her most challenging role to date, for she
not only had to learn how to speak with an English, upper-class accent,
but also had to master a wide range of physically demanding disciplines,
including kick-boxing, street fighting, yoga, ballet, car-racing and
dog-sledding.
In 2004, she starred in 'Taking Lives'
where she played an intuitive detective, co-starring with Ethan Hawke.
Hawke's marriage to Uma Thurman collapsed around the same time and Jolie
was blamed - but she denied the rumours, and was later proved right.
Also
during 2005, Jolie found time to get involved in Live8 and visited
post-earthquake Pakistan. She adopted Zaharah Marley, a little Ethiopian
girl as a sister for Maddox and, to her delight, Brad Pitt decided to
adopt both children as his own. And in May 2006, Angelina also gave
birth to her own child by Brad Pitt, Shiloh Nouvel, who was born in
Namibia whilst the couple were in Africa.
With
Brad Pitt, Jolie has finally found a partner with whom she can share
her humanitarian goals and ideals, as well as her dazzling Hollywood
success. While it's certain that the twin challenges of her motherhood
and her charity work will continue to take up much of Jolie's time, the
movie offers just keep coming.
She is currently
promoting 'Maleficent', which tells the story of Sleeping Beauty from
the point of view of her evil nemesis 'Maleficent', played by Jolie. It
is set for release in 2014.
