From ‘Iron Man’ to gold man: Robert Downey Jr. (‘Oppenheimer’) wins Oscar for Best Supporting Actor

Just as Gold Derby predicted, Robert Downey Jr. (“Oppenheimer”) has prevailed at the 2024 Oscars in the category of Best Supporting Actor. Earlier this awards season, the 58-year-old performer, who is perhaps best known for playing Marvel’s “Iron Man,” claimed victory at the Golden Globes, Critics Choice, BAFTA and SAG Awards for his role as Rear Admiral Lewis Strauss in Christopher Nolan‘s biopic about the life of theoretical physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer. This marks Downey’s first career Oscars win; he was previously nominated for “Chaplin” (lead, 1992) and “Tropic Thunder” (supporting, 2008).

Downey was the overwhelming favorite to triumph on Sunday, March 10 by all 29 of Gold Derby’s Oscar Experts from major media outlets: Andrea Mandell (People Magazine), Anne Thompson (Indiewire), Brian Truitt (USA Today), Christopher Rosen (Gold Derby), Claudia Puig (KPCC), Clayton Davis (Variety), Eric Deggans (NPR), Erik Davis (Fandango), Grae Drake (Moviefone), Jazz Tangcay (Variety), Joyce Eng (Gold Derby), Keith Simanton (IMDb), Kevin Polowy (CBR), Matt Neglia (Next Best Picture), Michael Musto (Queerty), Nikki Novak (Fandango), Perri Nemiroff (Collider), Pete Hammond (Deadline Hollywood), Peter Travers (ABC), Ray Richmond (Gold Derby), Sasha Stone (Awards Daily), Scott Mantz (KTLA-TV), Shawn Edwards (WDAF-TV Fox), Susan King (Gold Derby), Susan Wloszczyna (Gold Derby), Tariq Khan (Gold Derby), Thelma Adams (Gold Derby), Tom O’Neil (Gold Derby) and Wilson Morales (BlackFilmandTV).

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The other four Academy Award nominees this year for Best Supporting Actor were Sterling K. Brown (“American Fiction”) as Clifford “Cliff” Ellison, Robert De Niro (“Killers of the Flower Moon”) as William King Hale, Ryan Gosling (“Barbie”) as Ken, and Mark Ruffalo (“Poor Things”) as Duncan Wedderburn.

Downey now follows directly in the footsteps of these recent supporting actor Oscar champions: Ke Huy Quan (“Everything Everywhere All at Once”), Troy Kotsur (“CODA”), Daniel Kaluuya (“Judas and the Black Messiah”), Brad Pitt (“Once Upon a Time in Hollywood”), Mahershala Ali (“Green Book” and “Moonlight”) and Sam Rockwell (“Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri”).

“Oppenheimer” from Universal Pictures led all other movies this year with a whopping 13 Oscar nominations: picture, director, adapted screenplay, actor (Cillian Murphy), supporting actor, supporting actress (Emily Blunt), cinematography, costume design, film editing, makeup & hairstyling, production design, score and sound. The film tells the story of J. Robert Oppenheimer, aka the father of the atomic bomb.

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