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Robert Downey Jr., 59, who won his first Oscar for Oppenheimer, has an almost chameleonic gift for disappearing into a dizzying variety of roles – from screen legend Charlie Chaplin to Marvel superhero Iron Man. In the new HBO drama series The Sympathizer, based on a Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, Downey plays no less than four different characters, each involved in the story of the Vietcong spy protagonist (Hoa Xuande): a shady CIA operative at the end of the Vietnam War, a professor, a right-wing congressman who sounds suspiciously like Dirty Harry-era Clint Eastwood, and a narcissistic Hollywood director. That beats Peter Sellers playing three different roles in Dr. Strangelove.
It’s a bravura turn for a star who has racked up many highlights on his increasingly impressive résumé. Let’s take a look at Downey’s 10 best performances over the years.
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10. Joe Wershba, Good Night, and Good Luck (2005)
Downey is best known for his outsize performances, but he went the opposite way in this fact-based drama from director George Clooney. In this story set during the Red Scare of the 1950s, Downey plays a CBS reporter working for David Strathairn’s Edward R. Murrow, who has his own secret he wants to maintain: his marriage to a colleague (Patricia Clarkson). His magnetic understatement stands out.
Watch it: on Apple TV, Prime Video
9. Thomas Reilly, Heart and Souls (1993)
Remember that 1984 movie All of Me, in which Steve Martin played a lawyer whose body is magically inhabited by Lily Tomlin’s dying millionaire? Well, Downey four-upped Martin in this underrated comedy, playing a guy whose body is invaded by the souls of four different dead people stuck in postmortal limbo: from a skeevy Tom Sizemore to a sultry Kyra Sedgwick to a typically put-upon Charles Grodin. In one hilarious scene, he pivots between all four lost souls while trying to keep a crucial boardroom presentation on track.
Watch it: DVD on Amazon
8. Larry Paul, Ally McBeal (2001)
Downey joined the fourth season of the legal dramedy Ally McBeal as a lawyer whom Calista Flockhart’s Ally initially mistakes for a therapist. Before long, witty banter and romantic sparks are flying between the two – though Downey’s time on the series was cut short after his 2001 arrest on drug charges. He later admitted that he was in the throes of a serious addiction while working on the show – but still managed to pull off an impressive performance that earned him a Golden Globe award and an Emmy nomination.
Watch it: on Disney+, Prime Video
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