ROBERT DOWNEY JR.' This Is What I was Born to Do'

THE OPPENHEIMER STAR REFLECTS ON HIS JOURNEY TO OSCAR GOLD AND SHARES HOW FAMILY HAS CHANGED HIS LIFE

- ERIC ANDERSSON and ANDREA MANDELL

The day before the March 10 Oscars, Robert Downey Jr. was faced with making a major decision. Not about whom to thank in another potential acceptance speech—he’d already delivered several with humor and self-deprecation as he swept the awards circuit for his portrayal of scheming bureaucrat Lewis Strauss in Oppenheimer. No, Downey and his wife of 18 years, Susan, “had to make the real high-level executive call,” he says: Which parent would accompany son Exton, 12, to Little League, and which would cheer on daughter Avri, 9, at her softball game? Both were starting pitchers—this was serious business. In the end Downey rooted on Exton, and Susan supported Avri. Says the actor, “We had to divide and conquer.”

He conquered the next day, too, winning the trophy for Best Supporting Actor and delivering an entertaining address that was sweet, salty and full of heart—much like the man himself. “I’d like to thank my terrible childhood and the Academy, in that order,” he said to laughter before extending his gratitude to his family, including his three kids (Downey, 58, is also a father to Indio, 30, from a previous marriage) and his “veterinarian, I mean wife,” Susan. “She found me a snarling rescue pet and loved me back to life. That’s why I’m here.”

Here being the pinnacle of his career—and Downey is clearly savoring the love coming his way after more than four decades in show business. “This is what I was born to do,” Downey tells