Robert Downey Jr. admitted that he tried different career paths and was fired once before landing a Hollywood role.
Downey Jr.’s first leading role was in 1987’s The Pickup Artist, but he had several other roles before that.
“Well, I worked at a sandwich shop. I also worked at a shoe store, and I got fired after two weeks because my fingers were sticky,” said film critic Leonard Maltin at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival. told People magazine. “This is in front of closed-circuit cameras that monitor who’s sitting. … I wasn’t very good at that.”
“And I worked in clubs, I worked at Thrifty’s in Santa Monica,” Downey Jr. added. “I was told that although I had made it to the level of busboy, I had no dignity as a waiter, so I had to resort to acting.”
Robert Downey JR. reflects on his year in prison and says, “You could feel the evil in the air.”
Robert Downey Jr. was once fired from his job for having “sticky fingers.” (Getty Images)
Asked if his career success was due to “fate,” Downey Jr. replied, “Yeah, I think this is what I was meant to do.”
The “Oppenheimer” star was no stranger to Hollywood when it came to huge success.
Downey Jr. is the son of director Robert Downey Sr., who passed away in 2021. The filmmaker was known for films such as “Putney Swope,” “Boogie Nights,” “The Family Man,” and “Living and Dying in Los Angeles.”
Downey Jr. appeared in his first film, Pound, at the age of five. The 1970 film was directed by his father.
Robert Downey Jr. made his first screen appearance at the age of five in his father Robert Downey Sr.’s film Pound. (Getty Images)
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Before Downey Jr. landed his big role, the actor spent time in prison.
Downey Jr. He was arrested in 1996 and charged with driving under the influence. Police also found heroin, cocaine, crack and .357 magnum ammunition in his car.
California’s governor pardoned Downey in 2016, ultimately restoring his right to vote. The governor’s office said the pardon does not vacate the actor’s conviction, but rather publicly declares that he has exhibited “exemplary conduct.”
Robert Downey Jr. in a mugshot taken at the California Department of Corrections on September 25, 1999. (Photo courtesy of Kypros/Getty Images)
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He served only one year of a three-year sentence.
“It was like being in a really bad neighborhood, where there were no opportunities, only threats,” Downey Jr. recalled on an episode of the Armchair Expert podcast. “Okay then, everyone. teeth I’ll take my wallet with me, so be careful. ”
The Avengers star also shared his first moments in the prison facility.
“When I step into the garden for the first time in over a year, what I imagine is being transported to a distant planet and having no way back until the planets align,” the actor explained.
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