Actor Robert Downey Jr. was nominated for Best Supporting Actor at the 2024 Academy Awards for Oppenheimer, but it wasn’t his first time at the ceremony. Downey is one of Hollywood’s most well-known actors for his performances in films such as Weird Science, Chaplin, Zodiac, Tropic Thunder, and the Iron Man movies. Additionally, he made a name for himself on television in the series Ally McBeal, which won him a Golden Globe Award. The Oscars are considered the pinnacle of acting awards, and Robert Downey Jr. has been chasing one of his own for years.
Outside the Oscars, Downey has won two British Academy Film (BAFTA) Awards, two Critics’ Choice Movie Awards, four Golden Globe Awards, and three Screen Actors Guild Awards. With Robert Downey Jr.’s critically acclaimed and popular filmography, it would be easy to assume that he has an Oscar on his shelf as well. Oppenheimer has been called Robert Downey Jr.’s best performance in years, if not his entire career, with the movie giving him perhaps his best shot at an Oscar win.
Robert Downey Jr. Has Won 1 Oscar For Oppenheimer
Over 50 years after his acting debut at the young age of five, Robert Downey Jr. won his first Oscar for Oppenheimer. Downey won Best Supporting Actor for his performance as Lewis Strauss in Oppenheimer, the paranoid high-ranking member of the US Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) who was determined to take the titular character down. Oppenheimer had a star-studded ensemble cast, which could have made it hard to stand out, but Downey did just that. In addition to the Oscar, he also took home a Golden Globe and BAFTA for his performance.
Why It Has Taken Robert Downey Jr. So Long To Win An Oscar
Oppenheimer was the third Oscar nomination for Robert Downey Jr., having previously been nominated for Best Actor in 1993 for Chaplin and Best Supporting Actor in 2009 for Tropic Thunder. For his first Oscar nomination, Robert Downey Jr. went into the ceremony as a favorite, but Chaplin was an unfortunate flop and winner Al Pacino was a much more established actor. Downey’s 2009 loss told a different story. Not only had Heath Ledger given a legendary performance in The Dark Knight, but his death about a year before made him the second person to win a posthumous acting Oscar.
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Robert Downey Jr. primarily spent the 15 years between his 2009 and 2024 Oscar nominations in the MCU as Tony Stark/Iron Man. Though Downey turned in great performances and made the character synonymous with himself in the wildly successful franchise, the films weren’t viewed as Oscar-worthy. Angela Bassett is the only performer to earn an acting nomination for an MCU film so far, having been nominated last year for Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. Oppenheimer marked Robert Downey Jr’s return to so-called serious, prestige films, and his Academy Award win proved that it was a welcome one.
