Scarlett Johansson, co-star in "Iron Man 2"

He possesses a quality that is both self-assured and off the cuff, something that is almost frighteningly exciting to work opposite. He's an enigma, a sort of verbal and emotional magician.

Chris Hemsworth, co-star in "The Avengers"
Robert operates about 10 steps ahead of everyone else. The energy coming out of him when he's acting could power a small city.

Garry Shandling, co-star in "Iron Man 2"
He's unbelievable. He is so fast, funny and facile at playing in the moment. That is very, very special, and that's exactly where I like to be.

Lionel Wigram, screen story writer for "Sherlock Holmes"
Downey deserves mention, if not credit as a writer on this movie. So much of what's amazing about this film comes from him - taking what was the script and embellishing it and making it better with his own particular brilliant form of improvisational style. He taught me more about character writing than I've learned in the 20 years I have been in the business. He's extraordinary, he really is.

Michelle Monaghan, co-star in "Due Date" and "Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang"
Robert has a way of making everyone around him feel very special and comfortable. Whenever I see him, I walk away smiling. Those beautiful brown eyes may have something to do with it.

Jamie Foxx, co-star in "Due Date" and "The Soloist"

Oh man, he is so much better than I am. And I say this because he's so effortless. With Robert, there are no non-authentic moments. Everything was real. We had great conversations. It was amazing.

Nicolas Cage
I always felt that Val Kilmer was, along with Robert Downey, Jr., something of a genius.

Gary Foster, producer on "The Soloist"
I have never seen anyone on set as detailed as Robert. He works so hard. He looks for every moment and every beat of every scene and tries to find every opportunity to give you options. It's been an unbelievable pleasure and honor to watch him create.

Ben Stiller, director and co-star in "Tropic Thunder"
I feel as if by some gift from a higher power, Robert Downey Jr. was sent down to Earth to help us all realize through his work that the human experience is a sad, funny, beautiful thing, full of imperfection and irony. I have had a chance to work with one of the greats, and he tricked me into actually thinking I was keeping up.

Robert is very cynical and sardonic while always giving 200% and being brilliant at the same time. He sees the humor in the obsession with minutiae that filmmakers have, and will at once give you shit about it, and then indulge you with a mind-blowing performance.

Jon Poll, director of "Charlie Bartlett"
I used to wake up in the mornings and say, “Robert Downey, Jr. is in my movie. Is this really real? Is this happening”? It was kind of astounding. Robert was amazing to work with. He was incredibly generous.

Terrence Howard, co-star in "Iron Man"
He's brilliant. Every day he rewrites his script, every single day. We have great writers, but every day he would sit there and spend the first hour and a half making it perfect, making it better. He has this light, jovial nature about him that floats everywhere, and then for when he's focusing in on something, it's powerful, it's magical. He's really, probably one of the best actors I've ever worked with in my life and I look forward to learning a little more from him.

Gwyneth Paltrow, co-star in "Iron Man"
Robert is totally insane, and brilliant, and hilarious. I’m madly in love with him. Working with him everyday was very refreshing. He's not a prankster but he's very funny, very witty, and he talks in these funny analogies.

Leslie Bibb, co-star in "Iron Man"
Robert brings his "A" game, and on top of that he's a swell guy. I'm a nerd - I really think the sun shines out of his behind. I had these moments where I got really excited during a scene. The words were coming out of my mouth that were written on the page, but inside my head there was this voice that was like, "Oh my God, that's Robert Downey Jr."

Jake Gyllenhaal, co-star in "Zodiac"
Robert pisses lemonade in my opinion. His heart and his mind are so big that I find it amazing to be around him.

Mark Ruffalo, co-star in "Zodiac"
It's like all of whatever he got from everything he's done to totally professional with that wit and his sazzle fazzle imagination and style. He is so exciting to work with because the guy's so sensitive. I mean, nothing is the same. Every take is different. I mean the words are the same but the intent, what he does physically, his playfulness. He's about as good as a dance partner as you can get.

Nicole Kidman, co-star in "Fur"
You hope, as an woman actor, that you get to share the screen with men who intrigue you. And obviously Robert is one of those men. He's very seductive, he has the most beautiful eyes.

Steven Shainberg, director of "Fur"
He was always the guy for me. When you think about the gracefulness of his body, and how articulate he is gesturally. And when you think of the expressiveness and the tenderness of his eyes, and his incredibly beautiful voice...

Richard Linklater, director of "A Scanner Darkly"
Robert is his own unique specimen. One human body is almost not a large enough vessel for all he contains. His mind is so rich with so many thoughts about so many things and ideas. That's why acting is a really good outlet for him.

Brian Robbins, director of "The Shaggy Dog"
He's just magical. He really is so talented. And, on top of that, he could not have been a nicer guy. Truly. I feel like I made a friend for life. He's a special sweet soul.

Tim Allen, co-star in "The Shaggy Dog"
And Robert Downey Jr., what a find that was. He's an interesting guy. I didn't think of him as being funny, but at times he's funnier than me; which isn't a good thing. [laughs] He's an unbelievable mimic. He's really quite brilliant.

Joshua Leonard, co-star in "The Shaggy Dog"
The highlight of working on the film was being able to meet Robert Downey Jr. and watch him perform. I got to sit and watch him work, and it made me want to quit acting because he was so spectacular at it.

Michael Hoffman, director of "Game 6", "Restoration" and "Soapdish"
He's one of the most intuitive people I've ever met, almost telepathic.

Val Kilmer, co-star in "Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang"
Hey, it's not like I could tell that guy anything about acting, you know. He's one of the best there is, and he may be one of the best there ever was. More importantly, though, he may be the funniest SOB I've ever met in my life.

Peter Gelb, president of Sony Classical
Robert is a brilliantly gifted songwriter who writes lyrics that are wise and moving. His burnished, smokey voice is an expressive and touching medium for the songs that he has written.

Halle Berry, co-star in "Gothika"
He's a genius, I mean, he's really, really, probably one of the pound for pound best actors I've ever worked with. And he's so smart that, when he talks, I don't even understand what he's saying. Nobody does! [laugh]
James Coburn, Academy Award-winning actorI like Robert Downey Jr. I think he is a genius.



Mel Gibson, co-star in "The Singing Detective" and "Air America"
He's a great talent, and he's gonna turn the world on its ear with what he does. I don't think he's ever really thrown his good stuff out there yet.

Sting, musician
Robert is a great singer, a great actor, a great human being.

Lucy Liu, co-star in "Ally McBeal"
I think Cate Blanchett is great. And Sean Penn is wonderful. Jude Law is fantastically talented. And Robert Downey, Jr. Every now and then I just say his name: Robert...Downey...Jr.

Calista Flockhart, co-star in "Ally McBeal"
Whenever he comes into the room and we begin the scene, you just know that something is going to happen. He's not an actor that's going to be bullied into conformity. There's just something so uninhibited and so free and so uncensored about him. And he's unequivocally bright and smart, so that combination is deadly.

Vonda Shepard, musician in "Ally McBeal"
Most people that encounter him just fall in love with him. He's an incredible man.

He's a whirlwind of energy. You walk in a room and are pushed against the wall with it.

Curtis Hanson, director of "Wonder Boys"
What pleases me most is the precision and specificity of his performance, punctuated like a diamond turning in the light with flashes of unmistakable, irrepressable Downey brilliance.

Scott Rudin, president at Twentieth Century Fox
I think of all his peers Robert seems to be the one with the widest range and the most natural electricity. Very few actors have that combination of mercurial energy and emotional depth.



James Toback, director of "Two Girls and A Guy"
If anything, Robert's torrid personal history makes him that much more freewheeling in the physicality and sexuality he brings to his roles. He doesn't act a role, he embodies it.

Ramon Estevez, actor
The first words that comes to mind about Downey are, extremely animated, extremely funny and colorful. Full of life. Always looking for the joke, always looking for the humor in everything.

Kyle Maclachlan, co-star in "One Night Stand"
He was great. He's such a talented man. So much of what he creates just flows from him. To be in a scene with him, you really just come and 'be,' that's all you have to do. You don't have to do a great deal of work because his stuff is so pure.

Annette Bening, co-star in "In Dreams"
He's delightful to be around. If anything, I get so silly when I'm around him. My lack of concentration gets even worse. It was wonderful and it was an interesting part for him to do. I had a lot of fun and looked forward to it if it was a day with Robert.

Neil Jordan, director of "In Dreams"
He's one of the most remarkable actors of his generation. He's hardworking and consistently concentrated. I'd work with him again in a minute. He's the best f***ing actor in America.

Ian McKellan, co-star in "Restoration" and "Richard III"
He’s one of the most beautiful men I know, physically and spiritually.

Robert Altman, director of "The Gingerbread Man"
Downey is America's best actor. I don't know anybody better.

Kenneth Branagh, co-star in "The Gingerbread Man"
He is an absolute delight. He's one of the nicest guys I've ever met, and he's certainly one of the most talented actors I've worked with. In addition to being an excellent actor, he's an accomplished musician and artist, and he does it all effortlessly - he never shows off and is really good company.

Jodie Foster, director of "Home for the Holidays"
I completely fell in love with him. I just have such a maternal, sisterly, totally deep feeling about that guy.

Norman Jewison, director of "Only You"
He can charm the pants off anybody.

Ron Underwood, director of "Heart and Souls"
Robert is a director's dream. He plays both comedy and drama movingly and convincingly. He has tremendous physical control. He's also an incredible mimic.

Sir Richard Attenborough, director of "Chaplin"
When Robert is committed, the house could fall down, his favorite aunt could die, but it would be utterly irrelivant. Robert is indentical to Charlie that way, his extraordinary search for what an artist believes to be perfection.

Geraldine Chaplin, co-star in "Chaplin"
Robert Downey is just devastating. He's so devastating. I mean, he captured everything there was. I don't know how he did it. I think he was possessed. That daddy took a trip down from heaven and got inside him. Because that couldn't have been just acting.

Joseph Ruben, director of "True Believer"
He's got the kind of expressiveness James Dean had. The camera registers everything in his face, the merest lift of an eyebrow. I cast Downey because he's got this current going on that's facinating to watch.

Emile Ardolino, director of "Chances Are"
Something happens in front of the camera that separates those people who are just good actors and those people who have that quality that makes them unique and I think he has it.