Robert Downey, Jr on Sunday won his first Academy Award, a best supporting actor statuette for his villainous turn in “Oppenheimer” — a golden moment in a decades-long career of highs and lows, on and off the screen.<\/p>\n
The Oscar triumph for the 58-year-old American capped a glittering awards season, during which he snared a slew of prizes for his portrayal of Lewis Strauss, the jealous rival who orchestrated the blacklisting of the father of the atomic bomb.<\/p>\n
“I’d like to thank my terrible childhood and the Academy — in that order,” Downey joked in his acceptance speech before turning serious and thanking director Christopher Nolan and his producer wife Emma Thomas.<\/p>\n
“Here’s my little secret. I needed this job more than it needed me. Chris knew it. Emma made sure that she surrounded me with one of the great casts and crews of all time… It was fantastic. And I stand here before you a better man because of it.
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\nDowney bested a stacked field that included two-time Oscar winner Robert De Niro (“Killers of the Flower Moon”), fan favorite Ryan Gosling (“Barbie”), Mark Ruffalo (“Poor Things”) and Sterling K. Brown (“American Fiction”).<\/p>\n