--- title: Robert Downey Jr Video: First Movie Role as Puppy in 'Pound' description: The future most-powerful actor in Hollywood started out playing a puppy canonical: https://time.com/2945149/robert-downey-jr-first-performance/ author: Lily Rothman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-07-01T15:28:28.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-21T08:55:11.359Z article:section: Entertainment og:title: Robert Downey Jr Video: First Movie Role as Puppy in 'Pound' og:description: The future most-powerful actor in Hollywood started out playing a puppy og:url: https://time.com/2945149/robert-downey-jr-first-performance/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Robert Downey Jr Video: First Movie Role as Puppy in 'Pound' twitter:description: The future most-powerful actor in Hollywood started out playing a puppy twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Robert Downey Jr.'s First-Ever Movie Appearance Was Pretty Absurd  by [Lily Rothman](https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Jul 1, 2014 3:28 PM UTC  by [Lily Rothman](https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Jul 1, 2014 3:28 PM UTC On June 30, Robert Downey Jr. was named Hollywood’s most-powerful actor [by _Forbes_](http://www.forbes.com/sites/dorothypomerantz/2014/06/30/robert-downey-jr-ranks-as-forbes-most-powerful-actor/). Between his supersized _Iron Man_ earnings and social media savvy, he’s proven his mettle as a guy who can make movies happen. But he didn’t start out that way — and there’s video evidence of that fact. (And he even trots it out[ on late-night shows as a funny story.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eA01LXjau9U)) In 1970, Downey appeared in the very trippy movie _Pound_, written and directed by his father, about a group of dogs waiting to be adopted or euthanized. The dogs are played by human actors, and a 5-year-old Downey played a puppy. He’s got a classic funny-because-it’s-a-kid-being-vulgar line, plus the very same quintessentially RDJ face he still has today. Downey’s second and third film appearances were also in his father’s projects; it wasn’t until 1983’s _Baby It’s You_ that he began branching out. This has been your daily reminder that Drake’s not the only one who started from the bottom. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/2945149/robert-downey-jr-first-performance/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/2945149/robert-downey-jr-first-performance/"},"headline":"Robert Downey Jr.'s First-Ever Movie Appearance Was Pretty Absurd","datePublished":"2014-07-01T15:28:28.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T08:55:11.359Z","description":"The future most-powerful actor in Hollywood started out playing a puppy","url":"https://time.com/2945149/robert-downey-jr-first-performance/","keywords":["movies","video","Robert Downey Jr."],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Lily Rothman","jobTitle":"Rothman is managing editor at TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/movies/","name":"movies"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/2945149/robert-downey-jr-first-performance/","name":"Robert Downey Jr.'s First-Ever Movie Appearance Was Pretty Absurd"}}]}] ```