Robert Downey Jr. recently looked back on his career path and the jobs he worked before becoming an established actor.
The "Oppenheimer" star, 58, opened up about his road to riches with film critic Leonard Maltin after receiving the Maltin Modern Master Award at the 2024 Santa Barbara International Film Festival on Friday.
"I worked at a sandwich shop. I worked at a shoe store, but I had sticky fingers, and I got fired after two weeks," he said, according to People. "This is before those closed-circuit cameras where they monitor who might be sitting. … I was not very good at it."
Downey Jr. also held down a variety of other jobs before pursuing an acting career.
"And I worked in clubs and I worked at Thrifty's in Santa Monica," he added. "I made it to busboy, but I didn't really have the panache to be a waiter, I was told, so I had to resort to theater."
Downey Jr., the son of director Robert Downey Sr., grew up in the entertainment industry. He made his onscreen debut at age 5 while appearing in his father's 1970 movie "Pound," noted by Maltin during their conversation, who then asked whether the actor felt as if he owed his career's success to "destiny."
"Yeah, I think this is what I was supposed to do," Downey Jr. said.
During their conversation, Downey Jr. also spoke about his experience working alongside "Oppenheimer" co-star Cillian Murphy.
"Cillian is straight man to no one. He is just, I think, beginning to understand by the reaction he gets when he comes to places that he's a [expletive] force of nature," the "Iron Man" actor said.
Speaking with People last year, Downey Jr. praised Murphy for the sacrifices involved in taking on the role of J. Robert Oppenheimer, an American physicist who led the U.S. effort to create an atomic bomb during World War II, in "Oppenheimer."
"I have never witnessed a greater sacrifice by a lead actor in my career," Downey Jr., who plays Atomic Energy Commission Chairman Lewis Strauss, told People. Downey Jr. further praised Murphy's impressive commitment to Christopher Nolan's three-hour epic.
"He knew it was going to be a behemoth ask when Chris called him. But I think he also had the humility that is required to survive playing a role like this," Downey Jr. said.
"We'd be like, 'Hey, we got a three-day weekend. Maybe we'll go antiquing in Santa Fe. What are you going to do?' 'Oh, I have to learn 30,000 words of Dutch. Have a nice time.' But that's the nature of the ask."