Three
decades
after
receiving
his
first
Academy
Award
nomination,
Robert
Downey
Jr.
has
won
his
first
Oscar.
Downey
won
best
supporting
actor
on
Sunday
for
his
portrayal
of
Rear
Adm.
Lewis
Strauss
in
“Oppenheimer,”
hailed
as
one
of
Downey's
best
performances
in
years.
It
was
the
third
career
Oscar
nomination
for
a
veteran
actor
known
as
one
of
Hollywood's
most
versatile
performers
but
before
Sunday
had
never
won
an
Academy
Award.
He
was
nominated
in
1993
for
best
actor
for
“Chaplin”
and
in
2008
for
best
supporting
actor
in
“Tropic
Thunder.”
Downey
gave
a
light-hearted
speech
as
he
accepted
his
award.
“I'd
like
to
thank
my
terrible
childhood”
he
said,
pausing
for
the
audience's
laughter,
“and
the
academy,
in
that
order.”
He
also
thanked
his
wife,
Susan.
“You
loved
me
back
to
life
and
that's
why
I'm
here.”
“Oppenheimer,”
Christopher
Nolan's
three-hour
deep
dive
into
the
development
and
fallout
of
the
atomic
bomb
during
World
War
II,
led
the
Academy
Awards
with
13
nominations.
Downey
beat
Sterling
K.
Brown
for
“American
Fiction,”
Ryan
Gosling
for
“Barbie,”
Mark
Ruffalo
for
“Poor
Things”
and
Robert
De
Niro
for
“Killers
of
the
Flower
Moon.”
The
win
solidified
Downey's
frontrunner
status
this
awards
season.
He
also
took
home
the
top
honor
for
supporting
actor
at
the
Golden
Globes,
BAFTA
Film
Awards,
SAG
Awards
and
Critics
Choice
Awards.
“Why
me?
Why
now?
Why
do
things
seem
to
be
going
my
way?”
he
said
while
accepting
his
SAG
Award.
Downey
has
been
open
about
his
past
struggles
with
drug
addiction.
He
revealed
in
his
2022
documentary
“Sr.,”
which
pays
tribute
to
his
filmmaker
father,
that
he
was
addicted
to
drugs
by
age
8.
A
series
of
arrests
for
drug-related
charges
and
a
year
in
prison
followed
Downey's
first
Oscar
nod
30
years
ago,
when
he
was
28.
The
actor
said
recently
that
he's
grateful
he
didn't
end
up
winning
in
1993.
“I
was
young
and
crazy," he
said
on
“The
View.”
“It
would
have
put
me
under
the
impression
that
I
was
on
the
right
track.”
(AP)
RDS
RDS