Robert Downey Jr. Trivia
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66 free Robert Downey Jr. trivia questions with answers — entertainment quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
Robert Downey Jr. has lived several careers in one: the teenage Brat Pack-adjacent breakout of Weird Science and Less Than Zero, the Oscar-nominated Chaplin, the lost years of arrests and rehab, then the most lucrative comeback in Hollywood history as Tony Stark, capped by an Academy Award for Oppenheimer and a return to Marvel as Doctor Doom. This quiz walks that whole arc in 66 questions. Early rounds are easy for anyone who has seen the Marvel films; later ones dig into his 1980s and 90s filmography, his court cases, his one studio album, his Broadway debut and the business ventures he runs with his wife Susan. Difficulty runs from a warm-up 20 to expert-level 90. Every answer was checked against his Wikipedia biography, with the sentence that establishes it quoted alongside each question, so you can trust the facts before you argue about them at trivia night.
30 of 66 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01In which year was Robert Downey Jr. born?
1965
He was born in Manhattan on April 4, 1965, into a filmmaking family, and was on screen before he started school.
Q 02At age five he made his acting debut in which film directed by his father?
Pound
Pound (1970), his father Robert Downey Sr.'s absurdist comedy in which actors play dogs, gave the five-year-old his first role as a puppy.
Q 03What was his first credited film role, in 1983?
Baby It's You
Baby It's You (1983), John Sayles's coming-of-age drama, gave him his first credited film role after he left high school in California to act full-time in New York.
Q 04His breakthrough came playing a bully in which 1985 John Hughes film?
Weird Science
Weird Science (1985) cast him as Ian, one of the two bullies tormenting the leads; it was his first notable role in a John Hughes film.
Q 05Which sketch show hired him in 1985, then dismissed most of its new cast after one season?
Saturday Night Live
Saturday Night Live's 1985–86 season, Lorne Michaels's first back as producer, is often ranked among its worst; Downey, Anthony Michael Hall and Joan Cusack were all gone by the next autumn.
Q 06His first leading role was in which 1987 film?
The Pick-up Artist
The Pick-up Artist (1987), James Toback's comedy, gave him his first lead as a womanizer pursuing Molly Ringwald; he was 22.
Q 07Roger Ebert called his performance in which 1987 film 'so real, so subtle and so observant'?
Less Than Zero
Less Than Zero (1987) cast him as Julian, the drug-addicted rich kid in the Bret Easton Ellis adaptation; the performance was widely seen as the film's strongest element.
Q 08His first Academy Award nomination came for portraying which real-life figure in 1992?
Charlie Chaplin
He played Charlie Chaplin in Richard Attenborough's biopic, losing the Oscar to Al Pacino but winning the BAFTA for Best Actor.
Q 09In Natural Born Killers (1994) he played a sensationalist TV reporter with what name?
Wayne Gale
Wayne Gale, the Australian-accented host of the tabloid show American Maniacs, follows the killers into the prison riot in Oliver Stone's 1994 film.
Q 10Which 1989 comedy paired him with Cybill Shepherd and Ryan O'Neal?
Chances Are
In Chances Are he plays a young man who is the reincarnation of Shepherd's late husband, one of several romantic leads he took around the turn of the 1990s.
Q 11Robert Downey Jr.'s 1996 incident of falling asleep on a neighbor's child's bed became known as what?
Goldilocks
The 'Goldilocks' incident of July 1996 saw him wander into a neighbour's Malibu house and fall asleep in a child's bed, a month after his Sunset Boulevard arrest for drugs and an unloaded pistol.
Q 12A week after his unexpected release from prison in 2000, he joined the cast of which TV series?
Ally McBeal
On Ally McBeal he played lawyer Larry Paul, Ally's love interest; the run lifted the show's ratings and won him a Golden Globe but ended with his April 2001 arrest.
Q 13In April 2001 he was found wandering barefoot where, an arrest that got him fired from his TV series?
Culver City
Q 21His performance as a drug addict in which 2006 rotoscoped film was praised by critics?
A Scanner Darkly
A Scanner Darkly, Richard Linklater's Philip K. Dick adaptation, was shot live and rotoscoped afterwards; he played the paranoid James Barris alongside Keanu Reeves and Woody Harrelson.
Q 22He appeared in which 2007 David Fincher mystery thriller?
Zodiac
Zodiac cast him as hard-drinking crime reporter Paul Avery opposite Jake Gyllenhaal's cartoonist Robert Graysmith as they track the 1970s serial killer.
Q 23Which character did he voice in a 2005 episode of Family Guy?
Patrick Pewterschmidt
Patrick Pewterschmidt, Lois's long-lost brother, is revealed as the killer in the 2005 episode 'The Fat Guy Strangler'; Downey reportedly called the show himself asking to appear.
He was found barefoot in Culver City on 24 April 2001, under the influence, and was dropped from his TV series within days; the case sent him back to court-ordered rehab.
Q 14His first acting job after rehab, in August 2001, was a music video for which musician?
Elton John
Elton John's 'I Want Love' video, directed by Sam Taylor-Wood, has him lip-sync the whole song in a single take while walking through an empty mansion.
Q 15Which star personally paid his insurance bond so he could be cast in The Singing Detective (2003)?
Mel Gibson
Mel Gibson, his Air America co-star from 1990, produced The Singing Detective and personally covered the insurance bond no studio would provide.
Q 16On a 2003 horror film, producer Joel Silver withheld what share of his salary against a relapse?
40 percent
Joel Silver withheld 40 percent of his fee until shooting wrapped as insurance against a relapse; the money was paid out once filming ended.
Q 17He met his wife Susan, a producer, on the set of which 2003 thriller?
Gothika
Gothika, the Halle Berry thriller from Silver Pictures, brought him together with producer Susan Levin, who reportedly turned him down twice before agreeing to a date.
Q 18Where did he marry Susan Levin in a Jewish ceremony in August 2005?
Amagansett, New York
They wed in Amagansett, New York on 27 August 2005; their son Exton arrived in 2012 and daughter Avri in 2014.
Q 19In which year did he marry singer and actress Deborah Falconer, his first wife?
1992
He married Deborah Falconer in 1992 after a 42-day courtship; their son Indio was born the next year, and the marriage ended in 2004 with Falconer getting custody.
Q 20In Good Night, and Good Luck (2005) he played a journalist at which network?
CBS
He played CBS reporter Joe Wershba in George Clooney's black-and-white Edward R. Murrow drama, secretly married to a colleague played by Patricia Clarkson.
Q 24Iron Man was released in US cinemas in which month and year?
May 2008
Iron Man opened in May 2008, on the 2nd, as the first feature produced by Marvel Studios itself; its success launched the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Q 25How much muscle did he reportedly gain over five months to play Tony Stark?
20 pounds
He gained more than 20 pounds of muscle over five months for the role; the director fought Marvel to cast him, saying he understood what makes the character tick.
Q 26Who directed Iron Man (2008)?
Jon Favreau
Jon Favreau directed Iron Man and also plays Happy Hogan, Stark's driver and bodyguard, a role he kept through the franchise.
Q 27He first reprised the role of Tony Stark with a brief appearance in which 2008 film?
The Incredible Hulk
In The Incredible Hulk, Stark walks into a bar in the final scene to tell General Ross that a team is being put together.
Q 28What was the name of the self-absorbed method actor he played in Tropic Thunder?
Kirk Lazarus
Kirk Lazarus, a five-time Oscar winner within the film, undergoes 'pigmentation alteration' surgery to play a Black sergeant; the role earned Downey a real Best Supporting Actor nomination.
Q 29In which 2009 biopic did he portray Los Angeles columnist Steve Lopez?
The Soloist
The Soloist cast him as Los Angeles Times columnist Steve Lopez, with Jamie Foxx as Nathaniel Ayers, the Juilliard-trained homeless musician Lopez befriended.
Q 30Who directed the 2009 Sherlock Holmes in which he played the detective?
Guy Ritchie
Guy Ritchie directed Sherlock Holmes, which became the eighth-highest-grossing film of 2009 and spawned the 2011 sequel A Game of Shadows.