Robert Downey Jr.'s quirkiest characters

The best of Robert Downey Jr.

By S. James Snyder, Special to Metromix

While most movie stars are suave and smooth, Robert Downey Jr. is wily and unpredictable, full of manic intensity. He never seems to be working to impress the audience, aiming instead to make the most unusual characters entirely believable.

In his latest film, "Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows," Downey returns to his characteristically idiosyncratic, Golden Globe-winning portrayal of one of fiction's greatest detectives. In celebration of this consistently surprising actor, we've selected ten of his quirkiest big screen characterizations.

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