5 Acting Performances That Defied The Years

2. Robert Downey, Jr. - Iron Man

He may well be the youngest member of the list, but Robert Downey, Jr. is also the one that had the most to come back from. A young Downey first began to gain notoriety with appearances in the Brat Pack related films, Less Than Zero and Weird Science. From here it looked like he began to forge a promising career for himself in both supporting and leading roles. After appearing in high profile films like Air America and Soapdish, Downey played the lead role in Chaplin and received an Oscar nomination for best lead actor. It looked like this would be the role that set him on his way as a leading man, but his ever present personal problems would soon derail the momentum that he had worked so hard to build.

Downey was long considered a bad boy in Hollywood-his drug problems were no secret- but things would get progressively worse, as his issues began to lead him into trouble with the law. His various arrests are too many in number to list here, but the long and the short of it is that he ended up in jail and his career seemed to be over. Following his release from prison he looked to be getting his life back on track with a stint on Ally McBeal, but following another arrest he was fired and would be right back as square one all over again. Finally after years of trying, in 2003 Robert Downey, Jr. got himself clean and took on the challenge of restarting a career that had shown so much promise, before his demons got in the way. The road to redemption for Downey would be complicated one- studios were reluctant to hire him due to the risk that his problems presented- the majority of his salary for Gothika was withheld until completion as insurance. He would receive similar treatment for years to come. Eventually after rebuilding trust within the industry and interest from the public, with roles such as Harry Lockhart in Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, he was trusted with the lead role in a major blockbuster. There are many that feel Downey was born to play the role of Tony Stark, the look and the larger than life charisma combined to exude everything that Iron Man fans imagined and the movie launched both franchise and the actor into the stratosphere. There is no explaining how much of a gamble this was, Iron Man was the launch of a potentially billion dollar franchise and its lead star was a drug addict with a history off legal problems. He repaid Marvel faith with a brilliant performance and he has looked back since, as of this moment there are few bigger stars than Robert Downey, Jr..