title: Georgia (country)

text: The 1989 census recorded 341,000 ethnic Russians, or 6.3 per cent of the population, 52,000 Ukrainians and 100,000 Greeks in Georgia. The population of Georgia, including the breakaway regions, has declined by more than 1 million due to net emigration in the period 1990–2010. Other factors in the population decline include birth-death deficits for the period 1995–2010 and the exclusion of Abkhazia and South Ossetia from the statistics. Russia received by far the most migrants from Georgia. According to United Nations data, this totalled 625,000 by 2000, declining to 450,000 by 2019. Initially the out-migration was driven by non-Georgian ethnicities but increasing numbers of Georgians emigrated as well, due to the war, the crisis-ridden 1990s, and the subsequent bad economic outlook. The 2010 Russian census recorded about 158,000 ethnic Georgians living in Russia, with approximately 40,000 living in Moscow by 2014. There were 184 thousand immigrants in Georgia in 2014 with most of them hailing from Russia (51.6%), Greece (8.3%), Ukraine (8.11%), Germany (4.3%), and Armenia (3.8%).


title: Georgia (country)

text: In the early 1990s, following the dissolution of the Soviet Union, violent separatist conflicts broke out in the autonomous region of Abkhazia and Tskhinvali Region. Many Ossetians living in Georgia left the country, mainly to Russia's North Ossetia. On the other hand, at least 160,000 Georgians left Abkhazia after the break-out of hostilities in 1993. Of the Meskhetian Turks who were forcibly relocated in 1944, only a tiny fraction returned to Georgia .


title: Georgia (country)

text: The most widespread language group is the Kartvelian family, which includes Georgian, Svan, Mingrelian and Laz. The official languages of Georgia are Georgian, with Abkhaz having official status within the autonomous region of Abkhazia. Georgian is the primary language of 87.7 per cent of the population, followed by 6.2 per cent speaking Azerbaijani, 3.9 per cent Armenian, 1.2 per cent Russian, and 1 per cent other languages. Azerbaijani once served as a "lingua franca" for communication among various nationalities inhabiting Eastern Caucasus.


title: Georgia (country)

text: Today 83.4 per cent of the population practices Eastern Orthodox Christianity, with the majority of these adhering to the national Georgian Orthodox Church. The Georgian Orthodox Church is one of the world's most ancient Christian Churches, and claims apostolic foundation by Saint Andrew. In the first half of the 4th century, Christianity was adopted as the state religion of Iberia (present-day Kartli, or eastern Georgia), following the missionary work of Saint Nino of Cappadocia. The Church gained autocephaly during the early Middle Ages; it was abolished during the Russian domination of the country, restored in 1917 and fully recognized by the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople in 1989.


title: Georgia (country)

text: The special status of the Georgian Orthodox Church is officially recognized in the Constitution of Georgia and the Concordat of 2002, although religious institutions are separate from the state.


title: Georgia (country)

text: Religious minorities of Georgia include Muslims (10.7 per cent), Armenian Christians (2.9 per cent) and Roman Catholics (0.5 per cent). 0.7 per cent of those recorded in the 2014 census declared themselves to be adherents of other religions, 1.2 per cent refused or did not state their religion and 0.5 per cent declared no religion at all.


title: Georgia (country)

text: Islam is represented by both Azerbaijani Shia Muslims (in the south-east) ethnic Georgian Sunni Muslims in Adjara, and Laz-speaking Sunni Muslims as well as Sunni Meskhetian Turks along the border with Turkey. In Abkhazia, a minority of the Abkhaz population is also Sunni Muslim, alongside the faithful of the revived Abkhaz pagan faith. There are also smaller communities of Greek Muslims (of Pontic Greek origin) and Armenian Muslims, both of whom are descended from Ottoman-era converts to Turkish Islam from Eastern Anatolia who settled in Georgia following the Lala Mustafa Pasha's Caucasian campaign that led to the Ottoman conquest of the country in 1578. Georgian Jews trace the history of their community to the 6th century BC; their numbers have dwindled in the last decades due to high levels of immigration to Israel.


title: Georgia (country)

text: Despite the long history of religious harmony in Georgia, there have been instances of religious discrimination and violence against "nontraditional faiths", such as Jehovah's Witnesses, by followers of the defrocked Orthodox priest Basil Mkalavishvili.


title: Georgia (country)

text: In addition to traditional religious organizations, Georgia retains secular and irreligious segments of society (0.5 per cent), as well as a significant portion of religiously affiliated individuals who do not actively practice their faith.


title: Georgia (country)

text: The education system of Georgia has undergone sweeping, though controversial, modernisation since 2004. Education in Georgia is mandatory for all children aged 6–14. The school system is divided into elementary (six years; ages 6–12), basic (three years; ages 12–15), and secondary (three years; ages 15–18), or alternatively vocational studies (two years). Access to higher education is given to students who have gained a secondary school certificate. Only those students who have passed the Unified National Examinations may enroll in a state-accredited higher education institution, based on ranking of the scores received at the exams.


title: Georgia (country)

text: Most of these institutions offer three levels of study: a bachelor's programme (three to four years); a master's programme (two years), and a doctoral programme (three years). There is also a certified specialist's programme that represents a single-level higher education programme lasting from three to six years. , 75 higher education institutions are accredited by the Ministry of Education and Science of Georgia. Gross primary enrolment ratio was 117 per cent for the period of 2012–2014, the 2nd highest in Europe after Sweden.


title: Georgia (country)

text: Tbilisi has become the main artery of the Georgian educational system, particularly since the creation of the First Georgian Republic in 1918 permitted the establishment of modern, Georgian-language educational institutions. Tbilisi is home to several major institutions of higher education in Georgia, notably the Tbilisi State Medical University, which was founded as Tbilisi Medical Institute in 1918, and the Tbilisi State University (TSU), which was established in 1918 and remains the oldest university in the entire Caucasus region. The number of faculty and staff (collaborators) at TSU is approximately 5,000, with over 35,000 students enrolled. The following four universities are also located in Tbilisi: Georgian Technical University, which is Georgia's main and largest technical university, The University of Georgia (Tbilisi), as well as Caucasus University and Free University of Tbilisi.


title: Georgia (country)

text: Georgian culture evolved over thousands of years from its foundations in the Iberian and Colchian civilizations. Georgian culture enjoyed a renaissance and golden age of classical literature, arts, philosophy, architecture and science in the 11th century. Georgian culture was influenced by Classical Greece, the Roman Empire, the Byzantine Empire, the various Iranian empires (notably the Achaemenid, Parthian, Sassanian, Safavid, and Qajar empires), and later, from the 19th century, by the Russian Empire. This history which has shaped its cultural, religious, and political evolution translated into Georgians considering themselves a European nation.


title: Georgia (country)

text: The Georgian language, and the Classical Georgian literature of the poet Shota Rustaveli, were revived in the 19th century after a long period of turmoil, laying the foundations of the romantics and novelists of the modern era such as Grigol Orbeliani, Nikoloz Baratashvili, Ilia Chavchavadze, Akaki Tsereteli, and Vazha-Pshavela. The Georgian language is written in three unique scripts which, according to traditional accounts, were invented by King Pharnavaz I of Iberia in the 3rd century BC.


title: Georgia (country)

text: Georgia is known for its folklore, traditional music, dances, theatre, cinema, and art. Notable painters from the 20th century include Niko Pirosmani, Lado Gudiashvili, Elene Akhvlediani; notable ballet choreographers include George Balanchine, Vakhtang Chabukiani, and Nino Ananiashvili; notable poets include Galaktion Tabidze, Lado Asatiani, and Mukhran Machavariani; and notable theatre and film directors include Robert Sturua, Tengiz Abuladze, Giorgi Danelia, and Otar Ioseliani.


title: Georgia (country)

text: Georgian architecture has been influenced by many civilizations. There are several architectural styles for castles, towers, fortifications and churches. The Upper Svaneti fortifications, and the castle town of Shatili in Khevsureti, are some of the finest examples of medieval Georgian castle architecture. Other architectural features of Georgia include Rustaveli Avenue in Tbilisi and the Old Town District.


title: Georgia (country)

text: Georgian ecclesiastic art is one of the most notable aspects of Georgian Christian architecture, which combines the classical dome style with the original basilica style, forming what is known as the Georgian cross-dome style. Cross-dome architecture developed in Georgia during the 9th century; before that, most Georgian churches were basilicas. Other examples of Georgian ecclesiastic architecture can be found outside Georgia: Bachkovo Monastery in Bulgaria (built in 1083 by the Georgian military commander Grigorii Bakuriani), Iviron monastery in Greece (built by Georgians in the 10th century), and the Monastery of the Cross in Jerusalem (built by Georgians in the 9th century). One of the most famous late 19th/early 20th century Georgian artists was primitivist painter Niko Pirosmani.


title: Georgia (country)

text: Television, magazines, and newspapers in Georgia are all operated by both state-owned and for-profit corporations which depend on advertising, subscription, and other sales-related revenues. The Constitution of Georgia guarantees freedom of speech. The media environment of Georgia remains the freest and most diverse in the South Caucasus, despite the long-term politicization and polarisation affecting the sector. The political struggle for control over the public broadcaster have left it without a direction in 2014 too.


title: Georgia (country)

text: Georgia has an ancient musical tradition, which is primarily known for its early development of polyphony. Georgian polyphony is based on three vocal parts, a unique tuning system based on perfect fifths, and a harmonic structure rich in parallel fifths and dissonances. Three types of polyphony have developed in Georgia: a complex version in Svaneti, a dialogue over a bass background in the Kakheti region, and a three-part partially-improvised version in western Georgia. The Georgian folk song "Chakrulo" was one of 27 musical compositions included on the Voyager Golden Records that were sent into space on Voyager 2 on 20 August 1977.


title: Georgia (country)

text: Georgian cuisine and wine have evolved through the centuries, adapting traditions in each era. One of the most unusual traditions of dining is supra, or "Georgian table", which is also a way of socializing with friends and family. The head of "supra" is known as tamada. He also conducts the highly philosophical toasts, and makes sure that everyone is enjoying themselves. Various historical regions of Georgia are known for their particular dishes: for example, khinkali (meat dumplings), from eastern mountainous Georgia, and khachapuri, mainly from Imereti, Samegrelo and Adjara.


title: Georgia (country)

text: Georgia is one of the oldest wine-producing countries in the world. Archaeology indicates that fertile valleys and slopes in and around Georgia have been home to grapevine cultivation and neolithic wine production (, "ɣvino") for millennia. Local traditions associated with wine are entwined with its national identity. In 2013, UNESCO added the ancient traditional Georgian winemaking method using the Kvevri clay jars to the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage Lists.


title: Georgia (country)

text: Georgia's moderate climate and moist air, influenced by the Black Sea, provide the best conditions for vine cultivation. The soil in vineyards is so intensively cultivated that the grapevines grow up the trunks of fruit trees eventually hanging down along the fruit when they ripen. This method of cultivation is called "maglari". Among the best-known Georgian wine regions are Kakheti (further divided into the micro-regions of Telavi and Kvareli), Kartli, Imereti, Racha-Lechkhumi and Kvemo Svaneti, Adjara and Abkhazia.


title: Georgia (country)

text: Georgian wine has been a contentious issue in recent relationships with Russia. Political tensions with Russia have contributed to the 2006 Russian embargo of Georgian wine, Russia claimed Georgia produced counterfeit wine. It was an "official" reason, but instability of economic relations with Russia is well known, as they use the economic ties for political purposes. Counterfeiting problems stem from mislabelling by foreign producers and falsified “Georgian Wine” labels on wines produced outside of Georgia and imported into Russia under the auspices of being Georgian produced. The shipment of counterfeit wine has been primarily channelled through Russian managed customs checkpoints in Russian occupied Georgian territories Abkhazia and South Ossetia, where no inspection and regulation occurs.


title: Georgia (country)

text: The most popular sports in Georgia are football, basketball, rugby union, wrestling, judo, and weightlifting. Rugby is considered Georgia's national sport. Historically, Georgia has been famous for its physical education; the Romans were fascinated with Georgians' physical qualities after seeing the training techniques of ancient Iberia. Wrestling remains a historically important sport of Georgia, and some historians think that the Greco-Roman style of wrestling incorporates many Georgian elements.


title: Georgia (country)

text: Within Georgia, one of the most popularized styles of wrestling is the Kakhetian style. There were a number of other styles in the past that are not as widely used today. For example, the Khevsureti region of Georgia has three styles of wrestling. Other popular sports in 19th century Georgia were polo, and Lelo, a traditional Georgian game very similar to rugby.


title: Georgia (country)

text: The first and only race circuit in the Caucasian region is located in Georgia. Rustavi International Motorpark originally built in 1978 was re-opened in 2012 after total reconstruction costing $20 million. The track satisfies the FIA Grade 2 requirements and currently hosts the Legends car racing series and Formula Alfa competitions.


title: Georgia (country)

text: Basketball was always one of the notable sports in Georgia, and Georgia had a few very famous Soviet Union national team members, such as Otar Korkia, Mikheil Korkia, Zurab Sakandelidze and Levan Moseshvili. Dinamo Tbilisi won the prestigious Euroleague competition in 1962. Georgia had five players in the NBA: Vladimir Stepania, Jake Tsakalidis, Nikoloz Tskitishvili, Tornike Shengelia and current Golden State Warriors centre Zaza Pachulia. Other notable basketball players are two times Euroleague champion Giorgi Shermadini and Euroleague players Manuchar Markoishvili and Viktor Sanikidze. Sport is regaining its popularity in the country in recent years. Georgia national basketball team qualified to EuroBasket during the last three tournaments since 2011.


title: Succession (TV series)

text: Succession is an American satirical black comedy-drama and family saga television series created by Jesse Armstrong. It premiered on June 3, 2018, on HBO. The series centers on the Roy family, the owners of Waystar RoyCo, a global media and entertainment conglomerate, who are fighting for control of the company amid uncertainty about the health of the family's patriarch, Logan Roy (Brian Cox). The series has been renewed for a fourth season, which is set to premiere in spring 2023.


title: Succession (TV series)

text: Among the series's cast are Jeremy Strong as Kendall, Kieran Culkin as Roman, and Sarah Snook as Siobhan ('Shiv'), Logan's children employed by the company. Matthew Macfadyen stars as Tom Wambsgans, Shiv's husband and Waystar executive; Nicholas Braun as Greg Hirsch, Logan's grandnephew also employed by the company; Alan Ruck as Connor, Logan's eldest child; and Hiam Abbass as Marcia Roy, Logan's third and current wife. Peter Friedman, Natalie Gold, and Rob Yang also star, while Dagmara Domińczyk, Arian Moayed, J. Smith-Cameron, Justine Lupe, David Rasche, and Fisher Stevens featured in recurring roles before being promoted to the main cast.


title: Succession (TV series)

text: "Succession" has been widely acclaimed by critics for its writing, acting, musical score, production values, and examination of its subject matter. The series has received several awards and nominations, including the British Academy Television Award for Best International Programme and two wins for both, the Golden Globe for Best Television Series – Drama and the Primetime Emmy for Outstanding Drama Series in 2020 and 2022. Both Cox and Strong received the Golden Globe for Best Actor – Television Series Drama and Snook the Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actress – Series, Miniseries or Television Film, with Strong and Macfadyen receiving the Primetime Emmy Awards for their performances – in addition to Armstrong's three wins for Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series.


title: Succession (TV series)

text: "Succession" follows the Roy family, owners of media conglomerate Waystar RoyCo. The family patriarch, Logan Roy (Cox), has experienced a decline in health. His four children – removed oldest son Connor (Ruck), power-hungry Kendall (Strong), irreverent Roman (Culkin), and politically savvy Shiv (Snook) – all with varying degrees of connection to the company, begin to prepare for a future without their father, and each begins vying for prominence within the company.


title: Succession (TV series)

text: Showrunner Jesse Armstrong initially conceived the series as a feature film about the Murdoch family, but the script never went into production. Armstrong eventually expanded the scope of the story to include the larger landscape of Wall Street, which he felt better suited for a television format. Armstrong wrote a new script centered on original characters loosely inspired by various powerful media families such as the Murdochs, the Redstones and the Sulzbergers. On June 6, 2016, it was announced that HBO had given the production a pilot order. The episode was written by Armstrong and directed by Adam McKay. Executive producers for the pilot include Armstrong, McKay, Will Ferrell, Frank Rich, and Kevin Messick. On May 16, 2017, it was announced that HBO had given the production a series order for a first season consisting of ten episodes. The previously announced creative team continued their involvement as the series entered into production.


title: Succession (TV series)

text: On November 17, 2017, it was reported that Nicholas Britell would serve as the series' composer. On April 26, 2018, it was announced that the series would premiere on June 3, 2018. On June 11, 2018, HBO renewed the series for a second season. On May 23, 2019, it was announced that the second season would premiere on August 11, 2019.


title: Succession (TV series)

text: On August 20, 2019, HBO renewed the series for a third season. On March 28, 2020, HBO announced the third season's production was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The third season premiered on October 17, 2021. In June 2021, executive producer Georgia Pritchett commented that the series would not go beyond five seasons, and possibly would end after season four. On October 26, 2021, HBO renewed the series for a fourth season.


title: Succession (TV series)

text: On October 6, 2016, it was announced that Brian Cox, Jeremy Strong, Kieran Culkin, Sarah Snook, Nicholas Braun, and Matthew Macfadyen had been cast in lead roles in the series' pilot. On November 4, 2016, it was announced that Hiam Abbass, Alan Ruck, Rob Yang, Parker Sawyers, and Peter Friedman had also joined the main cast of the pilot. On January 24, 2018, it was reported that Ashley Zukerman had joined the series in a recurring role. On May 21, 2019, Holly Hunter joined the cast in a recurring role in the second season.


title: Succession (TV series)

text: In January 2021, it was announced Sanaa Lathan, Linda Emond and Jihae had joined the cast of the series in recurring roles in the third season. In February 2021, it was reported that Hope Davis was cast in a recurring role in the third season. In March, Dasha Nekrasova was reported to have a recurring role in the third season. In May 2021, Alexander Skarsgård was cast in a recurring role while Adrien Brody was cast to guest star for the third season. In August 2021, it was announced Ella Rumpf would guest star in the third season.


title: Succession (TV series)

text: The series is primarily filmed in New York City, and shot on 35 mm film. Director Adam McKay filmed the pilot in late 2016, while principal photography for the rest of the first season of the series began in October 2017. Locations used throughout the series include the American Irish Historical Society on Fifth Avenue as the location for Logan's apartment, 714 Broadway as the location of Shiv's season 1 apartment, and the Downtown Manhattan Heliport on the East River for scenes of the Roys departing on their helicopters. For scenes depicting the interiors of the Waystar RoyCo offices, the crew uses towers 4 and 7 of the World Trade Center, while 28 Liberty Street is used for exterior shots. Silvercup Studios in Queens houses many of the sets used for the series.


title: Succession (TV series)

text: Other filming locations for the first season included Bellevue Hospital (where the second episode took place), the Cunard Building on 25 Broadway (which houses Cipriani S.A., the venue for a gala in the fourth episode), the East New York Freight Tunnel (the entrance of a bachelor party in the eighth episode), and the Financial District of Manhattan. From mid-January 2018 to the end of the month, the production moved from New York to New Mexico for the episode "Austerlitz", which was primarily filmed in Santa Fe. On February 22, 2018, filming took place in New Jersey which required the closing of the Atlantic City-Brigantine tunnel. On February 25, 2018, filming took place at Eastnor Castle near Ledbury in Herefordshire, England, which served as the setting for the last two episodes of the season.


title: Succession (TV series)

text: The second season saw a significant increase in location shifts. The opening scenes of the season premiere were shot on location in Iceland, while Henry Ford II's 1960 estate in the Hamptons was used as the Roys' summer home. Oheka Castle in Huntington, New York, stood in for the Roys' hunting lodge in Hungary, as depicted in the episode "Hunting". Filming also occurred in Long Island, with a mansion once belonging to Junius Spencer Morgan featuring prominently in the episode "Tern Haven". The estate is one of several in the area used as filming locations for the second season. From April through May 2019, the production recruited extras for filming in Lake Placid, and Lake George, New York, where the episode "Argestes" was shot. Production moved to Dundee for the eighth episode, with additional filming taking place in Glasgow and Ayr for the preceding episode (which takes place in England). Starting from July 17, 2019, the crew filmed in Korčula, Croatia, for the second-season finale, including extensive scenes on a yacht.


title: Succession (TV series)

text: Filming for season 3, which was slated to begin in April 2020, was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In early November 2020, star Alan Ruck announced that filming would begin in mid-November in New York City. The season had begun filming in New York as of December 2020. Filming locations in the city included the Woolworth Building in Tribeca, The Shed in Hudson Yards, and a number of hotels including the Marriott Marquis in Times Square and the Plaza Hotel on Fifth Avenue. Production also returned to the Hamptons, at locations including Montauk and Wainscott. In May, additional filming for season 3 occurred in Richmond, Virginia, primarily at the Jefferson Hotel. In June, production on the third season moved to Italy for the final two episodes, with filming primarily taking place in the Val d'Orcia region of Tuscany – where a wedding reception was filmed at the estates La Foce and Villa Cetinale. Additional filming took place in other nearby "comuni" in the province of Siena – including Pienza, Montalcino and Chianciano Terme – as well as in Cortona, Lake Como, Milan, and Florence (the lattermost of which was used for establishing shots in the opening episodes).


title: Succession (TV series)

text: Production on the 10-episode fourth season began in New York City on June 27, 2022, with Mark Mylod directing the first episode. In October 2022, it was confirmed that filming occurred in western Norway, including locations such as the Atlantic Ocean Road, Romsdalen Gondola and Juvet Landscape Hotel, as part of a storyline involving Skarsgård's character. The series also filmed in Los Angeles for the fourth season.


title: Succession (TV series)

text: On April 27, 2018, the series held its official world premiere during the Series Mania Festival in Lille, France, in which the pilot episode was screened. On May 22, 2018, the series held its official US premiere at the Time Warner Center in New York City. HBO released a DVD version of season 1, branded "Succession: The Complete First Season", on August 6, 2018, which included special features. A Blu-ray release was made available on November 6 of the same year.


title: Succession (TV series)

text: HBO issued a DVD release for season 2, branded "Succession: The Complete Second Season", on September 15, 2020. A DVD release for season 3, branded "Succession: The Complete Third Season", was issued on May 17, 2022.


title: Succession (TV series)

text: The series has received an average score of 94% on Rotten Tomatoes and a score of 83 on Metacritic. In 2022, "Rolling Stone" ranked "Succession" number 11 on its list of the 100 greatest TV shows.


title: Succession (TV series)

text: The first season was met with a positive response from critics. On the review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes, the season holds an approval rating of 89% with an average rating of 7.9 out of 10, based on 87 reviews. The website's critical consensus reads, "Peppering its pathos with acid wit, "Succession" is a divine comedy of absolute power and dysfunction – brought to vivid life by a ferocious ensemble." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the season a score of 70 out of 100 based on 29 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".


title: Succession (TV series)

text: The second season received critical acclaim. On Rotten Tomatoes, the season holds a 97% rating with an average rating of 8.95 out of 10, based on 236 reviews. The website's critical consensus reads, ""Succession" returns in darkly funny form, with sharp writing, exceptional performances, and a surprising new level of sympathy for some of television's least likable characters." On Metacritic, the season has a weighted average score of 89 out of 100, based on 19 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".


title: Succession (TV series)

text: The third season received widespread critical acclaim. On Rotten Tomatoes, the season holds a 97% approval rating with an average rating of 9.35 out of 10, based on 141 reviews. The website's critical consensus reads, "Fans already buying what "Succession" is selling will be pleasantly surprised to find its third season in crackling form – even if it gets a little too real from time to time." On Metacritic, the season has a weighted average score of 92 out of 100, based on 31 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".


title: Succession (TV series)

text: The series premiere episode drew 582,000 live viewers, down from the 1.39 million viewers that watched its lead-in, "Westworld". The season 2 finale drew 1.1 million viewers across all viewing platforms. Season 3 premiered to 1.4 million viewers across various platforms and ended with 1.7 million viewers across all viewing platforms, a record high for the show.


title: Mark Wahlberg

text: Mark Robert Michael Wahlberg (born June 5, 1971), former stage name Marky Mark, is an American actor, businessman, and former rapper. He has received multiple accolades, including a BAFTA Award, and nominations for two Academy Awards, three Golden Globe Awards, nine Primetime Emmy Awards, and three Screen Actors Guild Awards.


title: Mark Wahlberg

text: Wahlberg was born in Boston, Massachusetts in 1971. In the 1990s, Wahlberg was a member of the music group Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch, with whom he released the albums "Music for the People" (1991) and "You Gotta Believe" (1992). Wahlberg made his screen debut in "Renaissance Man" (1994) and had his first starring role in "Fear" (1996). He received critical praise for his performance as porn actor Dirk Diggler in "Boogie Nights" (1997).


title: Mark Wahlberg

text: In the early 2000s, he ventured into big-budget action movies, such as "The Perfect Storm" (2000), "Planet of the Apes" (2001), and "The Italian Job" (2003). He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for playing a police officer in the crime drama "The Departed" (2006). He was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor for the sports drama biopic "The Fighter" (2010), in which he starred as Micky Ward. In the 2010s, he landed successful comedy roles with "The Other Guys" (2010), "Ted" (2012), "Ted 2" (2015), "Daddy's Home" (2015), and "Daddy's Home 2" (2017). He also became the protagonist in two films in the "Transformers" live-action film franchise, "" and "". He was the world's highest-paid actor in 2017.


title: Mark Wahlberg

text: Wahlberg served as executive producer of five HBO series: the comedy-drama "Entourage" (2004–2011), the period crime drama "Boardwalk Empire" (2010–2014), the comedy-dramas "How to Make It in America" (2010–2011) and "Ballers" (2015–2019), and the documentary "McMillions" (2020). He is co-owner of the Wahlburgers chain and co-starred in the reality TV series about it. He received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2010.


title: Mark Wahlberg

text: Mark Robert Michael Wahlberg was born on June 5, 1971, in the Dorchester neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts. He is the youngest of nine children, including actor Robert and singer/actor Donnie. His mother, Alma Elaine (née Donnelly; 1942–2021), was a bank clerk and a nurse's aide, and his father, Donald Edmond Wahlberg Sr. (1930–2008), was a delivery driver and U.S. Army veteran of the Korean War. Wahlberg's parents divorced in 1982; afterward, he divided his time between them.


title: Mark Wahlberg

text: Wahlberg is of Swedish descent through his father, and of Irish descent through his paternal grandmother. His mother was of Irish, English and French-Canadian ancestry. On his mother's side of the family, he is distantly related to author Nathaniel Hawthorne. Wahlberg was raised Catholic, and attended Copley Square High School on Newbury Street in Boston. By age 13, he had developed an addiction to cocaine and other substances; he did not receive his high school diploma until June 2013, at the age of 42.


title: Mark Wahlberg

text: In June 1986, a 15-year-old Wahlberg and three friends chased after three black children while yelling "Kill the nigger, kill the nigger" and throwing rocks at them. The next day, Wahlberg and the others followed a group of mostly black fourth-graders (including one of the victims from the previous day) taking a field trip on a beach, yelled racial epithets, threw rocks at them, and "summoned other white males who joined" in the harassment. In August 1986, civil action was filed against Wahlberg for violating the civil rights of his victims, and the case was settled the next month.


title: Mark Wahlberg

text: Wahlberg perpetrated another racist assault in April 1988. Then 16, he assaulted a middle-aged Vietnamese-American man on the street, calling him a "Vietnam fucking shit" and knocking him unconscious with a large wooden stick. Later the same day, Wahlberg attacked Johnny Trinh, another Vietnamese-American, punching him in the eye. When Wahlberg was arrested and returned to the scene of the first assault, he told police officers: "I'll tell you now that's the mother-fucker whose head I split open." Later, Wahlberg would explain that he was on PCP at the time. Investigators also noted that Wahlberg "made numerous unsolicited racial statements about 'gooks' and 'slant-eyed gooks. Wahlberg was charged with attempted murder, pleaded guilty to felony assault, and was sentenced to two years in jail, but served only 45 days of his sentence. Wahlberg believed he had left the second victim permanently blind in one eye, though Trinh later said that he had lost his eye in the Vietnam War, while serving in the South Vietnamese Army, who were fighting alongside American troops.


title: Mark Wahlberg

text: In August 1992, Wahlberg fractured the jaw of his neighbor Robert Crehan in an attack. Court documents state that in 1992, Wahlberg, "without provocation or cause, viciously and repeatedly kicked" Crehan in the face, while another man, Derek McCall, held the victim on the ground. Wahlberg's attorney claimed that Wahlberg and McCall, who is black, were provoked after McCall was called a racial slur by Crehan. The lawsuit was settled between the two parties, avoiding a criminal trial.


title: Mark Wahlberg

text: In 2006, Wahlberg said the right thing for him to do would be to meet with Trinh and make amends, though he had not done so. In 2016, while requesting a pardon for his conviction for the assault on Trinh, Wahlberg said he had met with Trinh and apologized "for those horrific acts." Trinh released a public statement forgiving Wahlberg.


title: Mark Wahlberg

text: In 2014, Wahlberg applied for a pardon from the State of Massachusetts for his convictions. His pardon application engendered controversy. According to the BBC, the debate about his suitability for a pardon raised "difficult issues, with the arguments on both sides being far-reaching and complex". One individual attacked by Wahlberg when she was a child opposed the pardon, saying: "a racist will always be a racist." Judith Beals, who had been the prosecutor in some of the cases, argued that "Wahlberg has never acknowledged the racial nature of his crimes" and that pardoning Wahlberg would undermine his charity work, saying: "a formal public pardon would highlight all too clearly that if you are white and a movie star, a different standard applies. Is that really what Wahlberg wants?"


title: Mark Wahlberg

text: In 2016, Wahlberg said he regretted his attempt to obtain a pardon, and his petition was closed after he failed to answer a request from the pardon board as to whether he wanted it to remain open.


title: Mark Wahlberg

text: Wahlberg first came to fame as the younger brother of Donnie Wahlberg of the successful boy band New Kids on the Block. Mark, at age 13, was one of the group's original members, along with Donnie, but quit after a few months. Danny Wood, Jordan Knight, Jonathan Knight and Joey McIntyre all joined the group after Mark had left.


title: Mark Wahlberg

text: In 1990, Wahlberg began recording with dancers/rappers Scott Ross (Scottie Gee), Hector Barros (Hector the Booty Inspector), Anthony Thomas (Ashley Ace), and Terry Yancey (DJ-T) as Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch, earning a hit with "Good Vibrations" from their debut album "Music for the People". The record, produced by brother Donnie, hit number one on the "Billboard" Hot 100, later becoming certified as a platinum single. The second single, "Wildside", peaked at number five on "Billboard"s Hot Singles Sales chart and at number 10 on the "Billboard" Hot 100. It was certified as a gold single. Marky Mark opened for the New Kids on the Block during their last tour. Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch also had their own video game, titled "Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch: Make My Video", which despite the band's success, was a huge flop. The second Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch LP, "You Gotta Believe", was not as successful as the first, yielding only a minor hit single in the title track.


title: Mark Wahlberg

text: In December 1992, while performing on the British TV show "The Word", Wahlberg praised Shabba Ranks, who had stated gay people should be crucified. GLAAD condemned him and berated Calvin Klein for using him to promote their products. A self-titled autobiographical picture book, "Marky Mark", with images taken by Lynn Goldsmith and statements mostly by him, was also released. Trying to resuscitate his music career, he had shifted to Hamburg, where he was produced under the label of East West Records by Frank Peterson and Alex Christensen.


title: Mark Wahlberg

text: Wahlberg later collaborated with the late reggae/ragga singer Prince Ital Joe on the album "Life in the Streets". The project combined rap vocals, electronic-infused ragga, and "European dancefloor" music, delivering the singles "Happy People", German number one hit "United", "Life in the Streets", and "Babylon", with Peterson and Christensen as producers. Many of these tracks featured on the film "Renaissance Man", starring Wahlberg and Danny Devito.


title: Mark Wahlberg

text: In 1995, he released a single titled "No Mercy", in support of his friend Dariusz Michalczewski, whom he had befriended earlier in the 1990s. Michalczewski also appears in the music video of the song. Wahlberg and Prince Ital Joe released another album in 1995 for Ultraphonic Records. Titled "The Remix Album", it featured remixes from the duo's previous album, "Life in the Streets", as well as Mark's solo track, "No Mercy".


title: Mark Wahlberg

text: After his album with Ital Joe became a hit in Germany, he started putting together a musical act called One Love with him as its producer and also sometimes its lead singer. He also started production on a third studio album. He featured in their song titled "That's the Way I Like It". In 1996, Wahlberg returned to Hamburg to record a solo single titled "Hey DJ" with producer Toni Cottura. Two more solo tracks titled "Feel the Vibe" and "Best of My Love" were released in 1997.


title: Mark Wahlberg

text: In 2000, he was featured in the Black Label Society music video for "Counterfeit God", as a stand-in for the band's bassist.


title: Mark Wahlberg

text: Wahlberg first displayed his physique in the "Good Vibrations" music video and most prominently in a series of underwear ads for Calvin Klein (1992) shot by Herb Ritts, following it with Calvin Klein television advertisements. Magazine and television promotions sometimes featured Wahlberg exclusively or accompanied by model Kate Moss. Annie Leibovitz also shot a famous session of Wahlberg in underwear for "Vanity Fair"'s annual Hall of Fame issue. He also made a workout video titled "The Marky Mark Workout: Form... Focus... Fitness" ().


title: Mark Wahlberg

text: In 2012, Wahlberg began serving as a brand ambassador for Marked, a line of sports nutrition supplements by GNC.


title: Mark Wahlberg

text: In March 2017, AT&T announced that Wahlberg would become a spokesman and he would create original content for the mobile network division. The deal reportedly paid Wahlberg more than $10 million.


title: Mark Wahlberg

text: In 1993, Wahlberg made his acting debut in the television film "The Substitute". After this appearance, he dropped the "Marky Mark" name. His big screen debut came the next year, with the Danny DeVito feature "Renaissance Man". A basketball fanatic, he caught the attention of critics after appearing alongside Leonardo DiCaprio in "The Basketball Diaries" (1995), a film adaptation of the Jim Carroll book of the same name, playing the role of Mickey. He had his first starring role in James Foley's thriller film "Fear" (1996).


title: Mark Wahlberg

text: He earned positive reviews after films such as "Boogie Nights", "Three Kings", "The Perfect Storm", and "Four Brothers". During the early 2000s, Wahlberg appeared in remakes of 1960s films such as "Planet of the Apes", "The Truth About Charlie" (a remake of the 1963 film "Charade"), and "The Italian Job". His performance in "I Heart Huckabees" was voted the best supporting performance of the year in the 2004 "The Village Voice" Critics Poll. Wahlberg was originally cast as Linus Caldwell in "Ocean's Eleven", but Matt Damon played the role instead. The two later worked together in "The Departed". Wahlberg was also considered for a role in the film "Brokeback Mountain". It was originally intended to star Wahlberg and Joaquin Phoenix (with whom he appeared in the 2000 film "The Yards") as Ennis Del Mar and Jack Twist, respectively, but both actors were uncomfortable with the film's sex scenes. The roles ultimately went to Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal, both of whom were nominated for Academy Awards for their performances.


title: Mark Wahlberg

text: Wahlberg starred in the American football drama "Invincible", based on the true story of bartender Vince Papale. He was also the executive producer of the HBO series "Entourage" (2004–2011), which was loosely based on his experiences in Hollywood. In 2006, he appeared as Sean Dignam, an unpleasant, foul-mouthed Massachusetts State Police staff sergeant in Martin Scorsese's critically acclaimed thriller, "The Departed", which netted him an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor, a Golden Globe nomination for Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture, and a National Society of Film Critics Best Supporting Actor award. Wahlberg was reunited with his "The Basketball Diaries" co-star Leonardo DiCaprio.


title: Mark Wahlberg

text: Despite his felony conviction, which legally prohibits him from handling firearms, Wahlberg prepared for his role in "Shooter" by attending long-range shooting training at Front Sight Firearms Training Institute near Pahrump, Nevada. He was able to hit a target at 1,100 yards on his second day, a feat which usually takes weeks to achieve. He had said in a number of interviews that he would retire at the age of 40 to concentrate on parenthood and professional golf. However, in early 2007, he indicated that the latter was no longer the plan as "his golf game is horrible". He played Jack Salmon, the father of the protagonist, Susie, in Peter Jackson's "The Lovely Bones", a film adaptation of the Alice Sebold book of the same name. In 2007, he starred opposite Joaquin Phoenix in "We Own the Night", a movie about a family of police officers in New York City.


title: Mark Wahlberg

text: He starred in M. Night Shyamalan's "The Happening" as Eliot Moore, which premiered in movie theaters on June 13, 2008. The same year, he played the title role in "Max Payne", based on the video game of the same name. While promoting "Max Payne", Wahlberg became involved in a playful feud with The Lonely Island's Andy Samberg. Samberg had done an impression of Wahlberg in a "Saturday Night Live" sketch titled "Mark Wahlberg Talks to Animals". Wahlberg later appeared in a follow-up sketch parodying the original one, Samberg's impression of Wahlberg, and his own threats to Samberg.


title: Mark Wahlberg

text: In 2012, Wahlberg starred in Seth MacFarlane's hit comedy "Ted", reprising the same role in its 2015 sequel. Wahlberg later starred as Navy SEAL Marcus Luttrell in the war film "Lone Survivor" (2013), based on Luttrell's 2007 book of the same name. The film received commercial success and mostly positive reviews, and Wahlberg's performance was highly praised. In 2014, Wahlberg starred in the remake of "The Gambler", the 1974 James Caan film that was loosely inspired by the Dostoyevsky novella. In 2014, Wahlberg was the producer of the reality show "Breaking Boston", which was pulled off the air after its premiere had 311,000 viewers. He executive-produced one episode of "Wahlburgers", while co-starring in it. In 2015, he starred opposite Will Ferrell in the comedy "Daddy's Home". In 2016, he starred in two Peter Berg films, "Deepwater Horizon", a film about the 2010 "Deepwater Horizon" oil spill, and "Patriots Day," a film about the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing.


title: Mark Wahlberg

text: Wahlberg topped the list of the world's highest-paid actors in 2017. In 2018, his salary of $1.5 million for the reshoots for "All the Money in the World" stirred a gender pay gap controversy, as his co-star Michelle Williams had received less than $1,000 for the same reshoots. Wahlberg donated the money to the Time's Up initiative, a movement against sexual harassment co-founded by Williams.


title: Mark Wahlberg

text: Walhberg produced and starred in the espionage film "Mile 22" (2018), and appeared in the Netflix film "Spenser Confidential" (2020), and the animated movie "Scoob!" (2020), which was his first voice acting role. In 2022, Wahlberg starred in the "Uncharted" film, as Victor Sullivan, having originally been cast to play Nathan Drake years prior.


title: Mark Wahlberg

text: Wahlberg is a co-owner of Wahlburgers, along with his brothers Donnie and Paul. It was Mark's idea to expand Paul's restaurant in Hingham, Massachusetts into a full-fledged chain, with a reality show to promote it.


title: Mark Wahlberg

text: In July 2013, Wahlberg bought an equity interest of the Barbados Tridents cricket team. Wahlberg was introduced to the game by his friend Ajmal Khan, the club's chairman and Caribbean Premier League founder. Following the announcement, Wahlberg stated, "I am a huge cricket fan now. I'm excited to be a part of the Limacol Caribbean Premier League because I know cricket is huge in the Caribbean and a rich part of the region's heritage. Sports and entertainment are a powerful combination, and the LCPL will appeal to a huge audience worldwide."


title: Mark Wahlberg

text: In 2015, Wahlberg recruited rapper Sean Combs and billionaire Ronald Burkle to join him in investing in Aquahydrate, a bottled water brand Wahlberg discovered. Together, the three men own a majority stake in the company. Wahlberg, together with former GNC executive Tom Dowd, co-founded Performance Inspired, a sports nutrition company launched in 2016. In February 2017, Wahlberg was one of the investors who took part in a $6 million funding round for StockX, a sneaker resale marketplace. In March 2019, Wahlberg bought a stake in the F45 fitness franchise.


title: Mark Wahlberg

text: On July 20, 2018, Wahlberg and his business partner, Jay Feldman, announced the purchase of Bobby Layman Chevrolet in Columbus, Ohio. The dealership was renamed Mark Wahlberg Chevrolet. Due to the success of the dealership, local ABC affiliate WSYX reported in March 2020 that Haydocy Buick-GMC, right across the street from Mark Wahlberg Chevrolet, had filed paperwork with Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose to rename itself Mark Wahlberg Buick-GMC; Feldman later confirmed that he and Wahlberg were purchasing their second General Motors dealership in the city. The deal became official on June 29, 2020, and also included Haydocy's Airstream and RV dealership, located next door at the car dealership's former Oldsmobile showroom. Shortly afterward, Wahlberg and Feldman announced they were purchasing Jack Maxton Chevrolet in nearby Worthington, Ohio, their fourth Columbus-area dealership, with plans to rename it Mark Wahlberg Chevrolet of Worthington. A fifth dealership, Mark Wahlberg Chevrolet of Avon, was added in Avon, Ohio in July 2021; unlike the other dealerships, the Avon location is located in Greater Cleveland, marking Wahlberg and Feldman's entry into Northeast Ohio.


title: Mark Wahlberg

text: In 2021, Wahlberg, along with his producing partner/manager Stephen Levinson, launched Ballers Report, an online platform (and spin-off of their HBO series Ballers) that features inspiring business, entertainment and sports articles, videos and podcasts.


title: Mark Wahlberg

text: Wahlberg started dating Rhea Durham in 2001. They had three children during the first seven years of their relationship, and married on August 1, 2009, at the Good Shepherd Catholic Church in Beverly Hills, near where they live. They had another child five months after their wedding in January 2010.


title: Mark Wahlberg

text: Wahlberg was booked to fly on American Airlines Flight 11 on September 11, 2001, but his plans changed the day before and he canceled his reservation. He received backlash for stating in a 2012 interview, "If I was on that plane with my kids, it wouldn't have went down like it did". He added that "there would have been a lot of blood in that first-class cabin and then me saying, 'OK, we're going to land somewhere safely, don't worry. He issued an apology after family members of those killed on the flight expressed outrage.


title: Mark Wahlberg

text: Wahlberg is Catholic, and has described his religion as "the most important part" of his life; he often goes to Mass twice on Sundays.


title: Mark Wahlberg

text: Wahlberg established the Mark Wahlberg Youth Foundation in May 2001 for the purpose of raising and distributing funds to youth service and enrichment programs. Wahlberg is active with The Good Shepherd Center for Homeless Women and Children.


title: Robert Downey Jr.

text: Robert John Downey, Jr. (born April 4, 1965) is an American actor and producer. His career has been characterized by critical and popular success in his youth, followed by a period of substance abuse and legal troubles, before a resurgence of commercial success later in his career. In 2008, Downey was named by "Time" magazine among the 100 most influential people in the world, and from 2013 to 2015, he was listed by "Forbes" as Hollywood's highest-paid actor.


title: Robert Downey Jr.

text: At the age of five, he made his acting debut in his father Robert Downey Sr.'s film "Pound" in 1970. He subsequently worked with the Brat Pack in the teen films "Weird Science" (1985) and "Less than Zero" (1987). In 1992, Downey portrayed the title character in the biopic "Chaplin", for which he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor and won a BAFTA Award. Following a stint at the Corcoran Substance Abuse Treatment Facility on drug charges, he joined the TV series "Ally McBeal", for which he won a Golden Globe Award. He was fired from the show in the wake of drug charges in 2000 and 2001. He stayed in a court-ordered drug treatment program and has maintained his sobriety since 2003.


title: Robert Downey Jr.

text: Initially, completion bond companies would not insure Downey, until Mel Gibson paid the insurance bond for the 2003 film "The Singing Detective". He went on to star in the black comedy "Kiss Kiss Bang Bang" (2005), the thriller "Zodiac" (2007), and the action comedy "Tropic Thunder" (2008); for the latter, he was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.


title: Robert Downey Jr.

text: Downey gained global recognition for starring as Tony Stark/Iron Man in ten films within the Marvel Cinematic Universe, beginning with "Iron Man" (2008), and leading up to "" (2019). He has also played the title character in Guy Ritchie's "Sherlock Holmes" (2009), which earned him his second Golden Globe, and its sequel, "" (2011).


title: Robert Downey Jr.

text: Downey was born in Manhattan, New York City, the younger of two children. His father, Robert Downey Sr., was an actor and filmmaker, while his mother, Elsie Ann (née Ford), was an actress who appeared in Downey Sr.'s films. Downey's father was of half Lithuanian Jewish, one-quarter Hungarian Jewish, and one-quarter Irish descent, while Downey's mother had Scottish, German, and Swiss ancestry. Robert's original family name was Elias which was changed by his father to enlist in the Army. Downey and his older sister Allyson grew up in Greenwich Village.


title: Robert Downey Jr.

text: As a child, Downey was "surrounded by drugs." His father, a drug addict, allowed Downey to use marijuana at age six, an incident which his father later said he regretted. Downey later stated that drug use became an emotional bond between him and his father: "When my dad and I would do drugs together, it was like him trying to express his love for me in the only way he knew how." Eventually, Downey began spending every night abusing alcohol and "making a thousand phone calls in pursuit of drugs".


title: Robert Downey Jr.

text: During his childhood, Downey had minor roles in his father's films. He made his acting debut at the age of five, playing a sick puppy in the absurdist comedy "Pound" (1970), and then at seven appeared in the surrealist Western "Greaser's Palace" (1972). At the age of 10, he was living in England and studied classical ballet as part of a larger curriculum. He attended the Stagedoor Manor Performing Arts Training Center in upstate New York as a teenager. When his parents divorced in 1978, Downey moved to California with his father, but in 1982, he dropped out of Santa Monica High School, and moved back to New York to pursue an acting career full-time.


title: Robert Downey Jr.

text: Downey and Kiefer Sutherland, who shared the screen in the 1988 drama "1969", were roommates for three years when he first moved to Hollywood to pursue his career in acting.


title: Robert Downey Jr.

text: Downey began building upon theater roles, including in the short-lived off-Broadway musical "American Passion" at the Joyce Theater in 1983, produced by Norman Lear. In 1985, he was part of the new, younger cast hired for "Saturday Night Live", but following a year of poor ratings and criticism of the new cast's comedic talents, he and most of the new crew were dropped and replaced. "Rolling Stone" magazine named Downey the worst "SNL" cast member in its entire run, stating that the "Downey Fail sums up everything that makes "SNL" great." That same year, Downey had a dramatic acting breakthrough when he played James Spader's character's sidekick in "Tuff Turf" and then a bully in John Hughes's "Weird Science". He was considered for the role of Duckie in John Hughes's film "Pretty in Pink" (1986), but his first lead role was with Molly Ringwald in "The Pick-up Artist" (1987). Because of these and other coming-of-age films Downey did during the 1980s, he is sometimes named as a member of the Brat Pack.


title: Robert Downey Jr.

text: In 1987, Downey played Julian Wells, a drug-addicted rich boy whose life rapidly spirals out of his control, in the film version of the Bret Easton Ellis novel "Less than Zero". His performance, described by Janet Maslin in "The New York Times" as "desperately moving", was widely praised, though Downey has said that for him "the role was like the ghost of Christmas Future" since his drug habit resulted in his becoming an "exaggeration of the character" in real life. "Zero" drove Downey into films with bigger budgets and names, such as "Chances Are" (1989) with Cybill Shepherd and Ryan O'Neal, "Air America" (1990) with Mel Gibson, and "Soapdish" (1991) with Sally Field, Kevin Kline, and Whoopi Goldberg.


title: Robert Downey Jr.

text: In 1992, he starred as Charlie Chaplin in "Chaplin", a role for which he prepared extensively, learning how to play the violin as well as tennis left-handed. He had a personal coach in order to help him imitate Chaplin's posture, and a way of carrying himself. The role garnered Downey an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor at the Academy Awards 65th ceremony, losing to Al Pacino in "Scent of a Woman".


title: Robert Downey Jr.

text: In 1993, he appeared in the films "Heart and Souls" with Alfre Woodard and Kyra Sedgwick and "Short Cuts" with Matthew Modine and Julianne Moore, along with a documentary that he wrote about the 1992 presidential campaigns titled "The Last Party" (1993). He starred in the 1994 films, "Only You" with Marisa Tomei, and "Natural Born Killers" with Woody Harrelson. He then subsequently appeared in "Restoration" (1995), "Richard III" (1995), "Home for the Holidays" (1995), "Two Girls and a Guy" (1997), as Special Agent John Royce in "U.S. Marshals" (1998), and in "Black and White" (1999).


title: Robert Downey Jr.

text: From 1996 through 2001, Downey was arrested numerous times on charges related to drugs including cocaine, heroin, and marijuana. He went through drug treatment programs unsuccessfully, explaining in 1999 to a judge: "It's like I have a shotgun in my mouth, and I've got my finger on the trigger, and I like the taste of the gun metal." He said he had been addicted to drugs since the age of eight, due to the fact that his father, also an addict, had been giving them to him.


title: Robert Downey Jr.

text: In April 1996, Downey was arrested for possession of heroin, cocaine, and an unloaded .357 Magnum handgun while he was speeding down Sunset Boulevard. A month later, while on parole, he trespassed into a neighbor's home while under the influence of a controlled substance, and fell asleep in one of the beds. He received three years' probation and was ordered to undergo compulsory drug testing. In 1997, he missed one of the court-ordered drug tests and had to spend six months in the Los Angeles County jail.


title: Robert Downey Jr.

text: After Downey missed another required drug test in 1999, he was arrested again. Despite Downey's lawyer, Robert Shapiro, assembling the same team of lawyers that had successfully defended O. J. Simpson during his criminal trial for murder, Downey was sentenced to a three-year prison term at the California Substance Abuse Treatment Facility and State Prison in Corcoran, California. At the time of the arrest, all of Downey's film projects had wrapped and were close to release. He had been hired to provide the voice of the devil on the NBC animated television series "God, the Devil and Bob", but was fired when he failed to attend rehearsals.


title: Robert Downey Jr.

text: After spending nearly a year in the California Substance Abuse Treatment Facility and State Prison, Downey, on condition of posting a $5,000 bail, was unexpectedly freed when a judge ruled that his collective time in incarceration facilities (from the initial 1996 arrests) had qualified him for early release. A week after his 2000 release, Downey joined the cast of the hit television series "Ally McBeal", playing a new love interest. He was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series and won the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Series, Miniseries or Television Film. He also appeared as a writer and singer on Vonda Shepard's "Ally McBeal: For Once in My Life" album, and sang with Sting a duet of "Every Breath You Take" in an episode of the series. Despite the apparent success, Downey claimed that his performance on the series was overrated and said, "It was my lowest point in terms of addictions. At that stage, I didn't give a fuck whether I ever acted again." In January 2001, Downey was scheduled to play the role of Hamlet in a Los Angeles stage production directed by Mel Gibson.


title: Robert Downey Jr.

text: Before the end of his first season on "Ally McBeal", over the Thanksgiving 2000 holiday, Downey was arrested when his room at Merv Griffin's Hotel and Givenchy Spa in Palm Springs, California, was searched by the police, who were responding to an anonymous 911 call. Downey was under the influence of a controlled substance and in possession of cocaine and Valium. Despite the fact that, if convicted, he would have faced a prison sentence of up to four years and eight months, he signed on to appear in at least eight more "Ally McBeal" episodes.


title: Robert Downey Jr.

text: In April 2001, while Downey was on parole, a Los Angeles police officer found him wandering barefooted in Culver City. He was arrested for suspicion of being under the influence of drugs, but was released a few hours later, even though tests showed he had cocaine in his system. After this last arrest, "Ally McBeal" executives ordered last-minute rewrites and reshoots and fired Downey, despite the fact that Downey's character had resuscitated "Ally McBeal"s ratings. The Culver City arrest also cost him a role in the high-profile film "America's Sweethearts", and the subsequent incarceration prompted Gibson to cancel his "Hamlet" production. In July 2001, Downey pleaded no contest to the Palm Springs charges, avoiding jail time. Instead, he was sent into drug rehabilitation and received three years of probation, benefiting from California Proposition 36, which had been passed the year before with the aim of helping nonviolent drug offenders overcome their addictions instead of sending them to jail.


title: Robert Downey Jr.

text: The book "Conversations with Woody Allen" reports that director Woody Allen wanted to cast Downey and Winona Ryder in his film "Melinda and Melinda" in 2003, but was unable to do so, because he could not get insurance on them, stating, "We couldn't get bonded. The completion bonding companies would not bond the picture unless we could insure them. We were heartbroken because I had worked with Winona before [on "Celebrity"] and thought she was perfect for this and wanted to work with her again. And I had always wanted to work with Bob Downey and always thought he was a huge talent."


title: Robert Downey Jr.

text: In a December 18, 2000, article for "People" magazine entitled "Bad to Worse", Downey's stepmother Rosemary told author Alex Tresnlowski that Downey had been diagnosed with bipolar disorder "a few years ago" and added that this was "the reason he has a hard time staying sober. What hasn't been tried is medication and intensive psychotherapy". In the same article, Dr. Manijeh Nikakhtar, a Los Angeles psychiatrist and co-author of "Addiction or Self-Medication: The Truth", claimed she received a letter from Downey in 1999, during his time at Corcoran II, asking for advice on his condition. She discovered that "no one had done a complete [psychiatric] evaluation [on him] ... I asked him flat out if he thought he was bipolar, and he said, 'Oh yeah. There are times I spend a lot of money and I'm hyperactive, and there are other times I'm down.'"


title: Robert Downey Jr.

text: In an article for the March 2007 issue of "Esquire", Downey stated that he wanted to address "this whole thing about the bipolar" after receiving a phone call from "the Bipolar Association" asking him about being bipolar. When Downey denied he had ever said he was bipolar, the caller quoted the "People" article, to which Downey replied, "'No! "Dr. Malibusian" said [I said I was bipolar] ... ', and they go, 'Well, it's been written, so we're going to quote it.'" Downey flatly denied being "depressed or manic" and that previous attempts to diagnose him with any kind of psychiatric or mood disorder have always been skewed because "the guy I was seeing didn't know I was smokin' crack in his bathroom. You can't make a diagnosis until somebody's sober."


title: Robert Downey Jr.

text: After five years of substance abuse, arrests, rehab, and relapse, Downey was ready to work toward a full recovery from drugs and return to his career. In discussing his failed attempts to control his addictive behavior in the past, Downey told Oprah Winfrey in November 2004 that "when someone says, 'I really wonder if maybe I should go to rehab?' Well, uh, you're a wreck, you just lost your job, and your wife left you. Uh, you might want to give it a shot." He added that after his last arrest in April 2001, when he knew he would likely be facing another stint in prison or another form of incarceration such as court-ordered rehab, "I said, 'You know what? I don't think I can continue doing this.' And I reached out for help, and I ran with it. You can reach out for help in kind of a half-assed way and you'll get it and you won't take advantage of it. It's not that difficult to overcome these seemingly ghastly problems ... what's hard is to decide to do it."


title: Robert Downey Jr.

text: Downey got his first post-rehabilitation acting job in August 2001, lip-syncing in the video for Elton John's single "I Want Love". Video director Sam Taylor-Wood shot 16 takes of the video and used the last one because, according to John, Downey looked completely relaxed and "The way he underplays it is fantastic".


title: Robert Downey Jr.

text: Downey was able to return to the big screen after Mel Gibson, who had been a close friend to Downey since both had co-starred in "Air America", paid Downey's insurance bond for the 2003 film "The Singing Detective" (directed by his "Back to School" co-star Keith Gordon). Gibson's gamble paved the way for Downey's comeback and Downey returned to mainstream films in the mid-2000s with "Gothika", for which producer Joel Silver withheld 40% of Downey's salary until after production wrapped as insurance against his addictive behavior. Similar clauses became standard in his contracts throughout the 2000s. Silver, who was getting closer to Downey as he dated his assistant Susan Downey (née Levin), also got the actor the leading role in the comedy thriller "Kiss Kiss Bang Bang", the directorial debut of screenwriter Shane Black.


title: Robert Downey Jr.

text: After "Gothika", Downey was cast in a number of leading and supporting roles, including well-received work in a number of semi-independent films: "A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints", "Good Night, and Good Luck", Richard Linklater's dystopian, rotoscoped "A Scanner Darkly" (in which Downey plays the role of a drug addict), and Steven Shainberg's fictional biographical film of Diane Arbus, "Fur", where Downey's character represented the two biggest influences on Arbus's professional life, Lisette Model and Marvin Israel. Downey also received great notice for his roles in more mainstream fare such as "Kiss Kiss Bang Bang" and Disney's poorly received "The Shaggy Dog".


title: Robert Downey Jr.

text: On November 23, 2004, Downey released his debut musical album, "The Futurist", on Sony Classical, for which he designed the cover art and designed the track listing label on the CD with his son Indio. The album received mixed reviews, but Downey stated in 2006 that he probably will not do another album, as he felt that the energy he put into doing the album was not compensated.


title: Robert Downey Jr.

text: In 2006, Downey returned to television when he did voice acting on "Family Guy" in the episode "The Fat Guy Strangler". Downey had previously telephoned the show's production staff and asked if he could produce or assist in an episode creation, as his son Indio is a fan of the show. The producers of the show accepted the offer and created the character of Patrick Pewterschmidt, Lois Griffin's long lost, mentally disturbed brother, for Downey.


title: Robert Downey Jr.

text: Downey signed on with publishers HarperCollins to write a memoir, which in 2006, was already being billed as a "candid look at the highs and lows of his life and career". In 2008, however, Downey returned his advance to the publishers, and canceled the book without further comment.


title: Robert Downey Jr.

text: In 2007, Downey appeared in David Fincher's mystery thriller "Zodiac", which was based on a true story. He played the role of "San Francisco Chronicle" journalist Paul Avery, who was reporting the Zodiac Killer case.


title: Robert Downey Jr.

text: Despite all of the critical success Downey had experienced throughout his career, he had not appeared in a "blockbuster" film. That changed in 2008 when Downey starred in two critically and commercially successful films, "Iron Man" and "Tropic Thunder". In the article Ben Stiller wrote for Downey's entry in the 2008 edition of "The Time 100", he offered an observation on Downey's commercially successful summer at the box office:


title: Robert Downey Jr.

text: In 2007, Downey was cast as the title character in the film "Iron Man", with director Jon Favreau explaining the choice by stating: "Downey wasn't the most obvious choice, but he understood what makes the character tick. He found a lot of his own life experience in 'Tony Stark'." Favreau insisted on having Downey as he repeatedly claimed that Downey would be to "Iron Man" what Johnny Depp is to the "Pirates of the Caribbean" series: a lead actor who could both elevate the quality of the film and increase the public's interest in it. For the role, Downey had to gain more than 20 pounds (9 kilograms) of muscle in five months to look like he "had the power to forge iron".


title: Robert Downey Jr.

text: "Iron Man" was released worldwide between April 30 and May 3, 2008, grossing over $585 million worldwide and receiving rave reviews which cited Downey's performance as a highlight of the film. By October 2008, Downey had agreed to star in two "Iron Man" sequels, as part of the Iron Man franchise, as well as "The Avengers", featuring the superhero team that Stark joins, based on Marvel's comic book series "The Avengers". He first reprised the role in a small appearance as Iron Man's alter ego Tony Stark in the 2008 film "The Incredible Hulk", as a part of Marvel Studios' depicting the same Marvel Universe on film by providing continuity among the movies.


title: Robert Downey Jr.

text: After "Iron Man", Downey appeared alongside Ben Stiller and Jack Black in the Stiller-directed "Tropic Thunder". The three actors play a Hollywood archetypewith Downey playing self-absorbed multi-Oscar-winning Australian method actor Kirk Lazarusas they star in an extremely expensive Vietnam-era film called "Tropic Thunder". Lazarus undergoes a "controversial skin pigmentation procedure" in order to take on the role of African-American platoon sergeant Lincoln Osiris, which required Downey to wear dark makeup and a wig. Both Stiller and Downey feared Downey's portrayal of the character could become controversial:


title: Robert Downey Jr.

text: When asked by Harry Smith on CBS's "The Early Show" who his model was for Lazarus, Downey laughed before responding, "Sadly, my sorry-ass self."


title: Robert Downey Jr.

text: Released in the United States on August 13, 2008, "Tropic Thunder" received good reviews with 83% of reviews positive and an average normalized score of 71, according to the review aggregator websites Rotten Tomatoes and Metacritic, respectively. It earned US$26 million in its North American opening weekend and retained the number one position for its first three weekends of release. The film grossed $180 million in theaters before its release on home video on November 18, 2008. Downey was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his portrayal of Lazarus.


title: Robert Downey Jr.

text: Opening in late April 2009 was a film Downey finished in mid-2008, "The Soloist". The film was delayed from a November 2008 release by Paramount Pictures due to the studio's tight end-of-year release schedule. Critics who had seen the film in 2008 were mentioning it as a possible Academy Award candidate. Downey picked up an Academy Award nomination for the 2008 release year for his role in "Tropic Thunder".


title: Robert Downey Jr.

text: The first role Downey accepted after "Iron Man" was the title character in Guy Ritchie's "Sherlock Holmes". Warner Bros. released it on December 25, 2009. The film set several box office records in the United States for a Christmas Day release, beating the previous record-holder, 2008's "Marley & Me", by nearly $10M, and finished second to "Avatar" in a record-setting Christmas weekend box office. "Sherlock Holmes" ended up being the 8th highest-grossing film of 2009. When Downey won the Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Motion Picture Musical or Comedy from the Hollywood Foreign Press Association for his role as Sherlock Holmes, he noted in his acceptance speech that he had prepared no remarks because "Susan Downey (his wife and "Sherlock Holmes" producer) told me that Matt Damon (nominated for his role in "The Informant!") was going to win so don't bother preparing a speech".


title: Robert Downey Jr.

text: Downey returned as Tony Stark in the first of two planned sequels to "Iron Man", "Iron Man 2", which released in May 2010. "Iron Man 2" grossed over $623M worldwide, becoming the 7th highest-grossing film of 2010. Downey's other commercial film release of 2010 was the comedy road film, "Due Date". The movie, co-starring Zach Galifianakis, was released in November 2010 and grossed over $211M worldwide, making it the 36th highest-grossing movie of 2010. Downey's sole 2011 film credit was the sequel to the 2009 version of "Sherlock Holmes", "", which opened worldwide on December 16, 2011.


title: Robert Downey Jr.

text: In 2012, Downey reprised the role of Tony Stark in "The Avengers". The film received positive reviews and was highly successful at the box office, becoming the third highest-grossing film of all time both in the United States and worldwide. His film, the David Dobkin-directed dramedy "The Judge", a project co-produced by his production company Team Downey, was the opening film at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2014. Downey played Tony Stark again in "Iron Man 3" (2013), "" (2015), "" (2016), "" (2017), "" (2018), and "" (2019). Three of his scenes from "The Avengers" and "Avengers: Endgame" were used as archive footage in the first episode of the Disney+ series "Loki".


title: Robert Downey Jr.

text: Downey hosted "The Age of A.I.", a YouTube documentary series released in 2019. In 2020, he starred in "Dolittle", playing the titular character, depicted in the film as a 19th-century Welsh veterinarian who can communicate with animals. This was the second film from Team Downey. It was a box office disappointment, and received negative reviews from critics, who called it "too long [and] lifeless."


title: Robert Downey Jr.

text: Downey will appear in the sports comedy drama film "All-Star Weekend", directed by Jamie Foxx. He will reprise his role as Holmes in a third film, initially scheduled for release on December 22, 2021, but later put on hold indefinitely according to director Dexter Fletcher. On July 15, 2021, it was announced that Downey would co-star in the television adaptation of novelist Viet Thanh Nguyen's novel, "The Sympathizer". Later in 2021, it was revealed that Downey would play Lewis Strauss in Christopher Nolan's upcoming biographical film "Oppenheimer". It was also announced he would star in the film "Play Dirty," reuniting with Shane Black, the director of "Kiss Kiss Bang Bang" and "Iron Man 3".


title: Robert Downey Jr.

text: Downey has sung on several soundtracks for his films, including for "Chaplin", "Too Much Sun", "Two Girls and a Guy", "Friends and Lovers", "The Singing Detective", and "Kiss Kiss Bang Bang". In 2001, he appeared in the music video for Elton John's song, "I Want Love". He released a CD in 2004 called "The Futurist", and while promoting his film "Tropic Thunder", he and his co-stars Ben Stiller and Jack Black were back-up singers "The Pips" to Gladys Knight singing "Midnight Train to Georgia".


title: Robert Downey Jr.

text: Downey's most commercially successful recording venture to date (combining sales and radio airplay) has been his remake of the 1973 Joni Mitchell Christmas song "River", which was included on the "Ally McBeal" tie-in album "Ally McBeal: A Very Ally Christmas", released in 2000; Downey's character Larry Paul performs the song in the "Ally McBeal" episode "Tis the Season".


title: Robert Downey Jr.

text: On June 14, 2010, Downey and his wife Susan opened their own production company called Team Downey. Their first project was "The Judge".


title: Robert Downey Jr.

text: Downey started dating actress Sarah Jessica Parker in 1984 after meeting her on the set of "Firstborn". The couple later separated in 1991 due to his drug addiction.


title: Robert Downey Jr.

text: Downey married actress and singer Deborah Falconer on May 29, 1992, after a 42-day courtship. Their son, Indio Falconer Downey, was born in September 1993. The strain on their marriage from Downey's repeated trips to rehab and jail finally reached a breaking point; in 2001, in the midst of Downey's last arrest and sentencing to an extended stay in rehab, Falconer left Downey and took their son with her. Downey and Falconer finalized their divorce on April 26, 2004.


title: Robert Downey Jr.

text: In 2003, Downey met producer Susan Downey (née Levin), an executive vice-president of production at Joel Silver's film company, Silver Pictures, on the set of "Gothika". Though Susan twice turned down his amorous advances, she and Downey did quietly strike up a romance during production. Despite Susan's worries that the romance would not last after the completion of shooting given that "he's an actor; I have a real job", the couple's relationship continued after production wrapped on "Gothika", and Downey proposed to Susan on the night before her thirtieth birthday. In August 2005, the couple were married, in a Jewish ceremony, at Amagansett, New York. A tattoo on one of his biceps reads "Suzie Q" in tribute to her. The Downeys’ first child, a son named Exton Elias, was born in February 2012, and their second, a daughter named Avri Roel, was born in November 2014.


title: Robert Downey Jr.

text: Downey has been a close friend of Mel Gibson since they starred in "Air America". Downey defended Gibson during the controversy surrounding "The Passion of the Christ", and said "nobody's perfect" in reference to Gibson's 2006 DUI. Gibson said of Downey: "He was one of the first people to call and offer the hand of friendship. He just said, 'Hey, welcome to the club. Let's go see what we can do to work on ourselves.'" In October 2011, Downey was being honored at the 25th American Cinematheque Awards; Downey chose Gibson to present him with his award for his life's work and used his air time to say a few kind words about Gibson and explain why he chose him to present the award.


title: Robert Downey Jr.

text: Downey says he has been drug-free since July 2003, and credited his wife with helping him overcome his drug and alcohol habits, along with his family, therapy, meditation, twelve-step recovery programs, yoga, and the practice of Wing Chun kung fu, the martial art he learned from Eric Oram, who is also a fight consultant in several of Downey's movies. Oram was Downey's personal fight coordinator in "" and "". In December 2015, Downey received a full and unconditional pardon from Governor of California Jerry Brown for his prior drug convictions. Oram wrote a letter in support of Downey's pardon to Governor Brown. When asked why he was able to make his sobriety stick this time on "The Oprah Winfrey Show", Downey said, "It's really not that difficult to overcome these seemingly ghastly problems. What's hard is to decide to do it."


title: Robert Downey Jr.

text: Downey has described his religious beliefs as "Jewish Buddhist", and he is reported to have consulted astrologers. In the past, Downey has been interested in Christianity and the Hare Krishna movement.


title: Robert Downey Jr.

text: In a 2008 interview, Downey stated that his time in prison changed his political point of view somewhat, saying: "I have a really interesting political point of view, and it's not always something I say too loud at dinner tables here, but you can't go from a $2,000-a-night suite at La Mirage to a penitentiary and really understand it and come out a liberal. You can't. I wouldn't wish that experience on anyone else, but it was very, very, very educational for me and has informed my proclivities and politics ever since." However, when asked about the quote in a 2015 interview to promote "Avengers: Age of Ultron", he denied that his previous statement reflected any longstanding beliefs on his part, and stated: "I wouldn't say that I'm a Republican or a liberal or a Democrat."


title: Robert Downey Jr.

text: In January 2020, during the promotions of his film "Dolittle", Downey announced that he had made the decision to adopt a vegan diet, in response to the debate about the climate crisis, stating that "I'm a one-man carbon footprint nightmare colossus" and believes he can do his part to contribute. Downey previously announced his opening of The Footprint Coalition, an organization he launched to reduce carbon footprints around the world using advanced technology. The Footprint Coalition promotes technologies that protect the environment such as French insect-farming startup Ynsect, the bio-based alternative to plastic manufacturer RWDC, and bamboo toilet paper manufacturer Cloud Paper.


title: Moon Knight (TV series)

text: Moon Knight is an American television miniseries created by Jeremy Slater for the streaming service Disney+, based on the Marvel Comics featuring the character of the same name. It is the sixth television series in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) to be produced by Marvel Studios, sharing continuity with the films of the franchise. It follows Marc Spector and Steven Grant, two alters of a man with dissociative identity disorder (DID), as they are drawn into a mystery involving Egyptian gods. Slater serves as head writer with Mohamed Diab leading the directing team.


title: Moon Knight (TV series)

text: Oscar Isaac stars as Marc Spector / Moon Knight and Steven Grant / Mr. Knight, with May Calamawy, Karim El Hakim, F. Murray Abraham, Ethan Hawke, Ann Akinjirin, David Ganly, Khalid Abdalla, Gaspard Ulliel, Antonia Salib, Fernanda Andrade, Rey Lucas, Sofia Danu, and Saba Mubarak also starring. The series was announced in August 2019, with Slater hired in November. Diab was hired to direct four episodes in October 2020, with directing duo Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead joining in January 2021 to direct the other two. Isaac was confirmed to star at the time; he used different accents to differentiate Spector's various identities. Filming took place from April to October 2021, primarily in Budapest as well as in Jordan, Slovenia, and Atlanta, Georgia.


title: Moon Knight (TV series)

text: "Moon Knight" premiered on March 30, 2022, and ran for six episodes, concluding on May 4. It is part of of the MCU. The series received positive reviews, with particular praise for the performances (particularly Isaac, Calamawy and Hawke), the darker tone compared to previous MCU series, and its portrayal of DID.


title: Moon Knight (TV series)

text: Marc Spector, a mercenary who has dissociative identity disorder (DID), is drawn into a deadly mystery involving Egyptian gods with his multiple alters, such as Steven Grant.


title: Moon Knight (TV series)

text: Shaun Scott recurs in the series as the living statue . Also guest starring are Lucy Thackeray and Alexander Cobb as Grant's co-workers Donna and J.B., respectively, Díana Bermudez as Yatzil, the avatar of the Egyptian goddess of love Hathor, Declan Hannigan as the avatar of the Egyptian god of kinship Horus, Hayley Konadu as the avatar of the Egyptian goddess of moisture Tefnut, Nagisa Morimoto as the avatar of the Egyptian goddess of magic Isis, Loic Mabanza as Mogart's bodyguard Bek, Joseph Millson as Dr. Steven Grant from the fictional film "Tomb Buster", while Bill Bekele portrays his young assistant Rosser, Claudio Fabian Contreras as Spector's younger brother Randall, and Usama Soliman as Layla's father Abdallah El-Faouly.


title: Moon Knight (TV series)

text: The character Marc Spector / Moon Knight was to be introduced in the planned second season of "" before its cancellation in September 2006. A potential spin-off series for the character had also been in development. In October, Marvel Studios partnered with No Equal Entertainment to produce a separate television series featuring Moon Knight. Writer Jon Cooksey was hired to develop the series by 2008, but it did not move forward. James Gunn, the writer and director of Marvel's "Guardians of the Galaxy" films, said in January 2017 that he had discussed a Moon Knight film with Marvel Studios but did not have time to work on it; he later said that he had mentioned the idea in passing to Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige and several others, but did not have a full pitch for such a film as had been reported on from what he initially stated. Feige confirmed in April 2018 that Moon Knight would be introduced to the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), but questioned, "Does that mean five years from now, 10 years from now, 15 years from now?"


title: Moon Knight (TV series)

text: In August 2019, Marvel Studios announced at the D23 conference that a series based on Moon Knight was being developed for the streaming service Disney+. That November, Jeremy Slater was hired to serve as the head writer and executive producer of the series, which consists of six 40–50 minute episodes. Egyptian director Mohamed Diab was set to direct four episodes in October 2020, as well as executive produce the series. Marvel had approached him "out of the blue" to present a pitch for "Moon Knight", which includes Egyptian mythology and characters that the superhero is associated with in the comics. Diab and his writer-producer wife Sarah Goher put together a 200-page document outlining their vision for the series, which included their intention to depict Egypt and Egyptian people in a more positive way than they felt had been done in previous Hollywood productions. Diab elaborated that American films and series often used Orientalist stereotypes such as portraying Egyptian people as exotic "guides and desert wanderers" or ignoring the fact that the Giza pyramids are beside Cairo, a modern city. He wanted to portray Egyptians as "normal human beings" and Egypt as a "normal place" like modern America, while also hiring other Egyptian crewmembers to work on the series. He added that the series would be "hard, serious and about big topics" like many of his previous feature films. By November 2020, director duo Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead were asked to create a pitch for the series, after previously having had discussions with Marvel Studios about finding a project to work on together. They joined the series to direct the other two episodes in January 2021, working alongside Diab to ensure a consistent approach to the series. Marvel Studios' Feige, Louis D'Esposito, Victoria Alonso, Brad Winderbaum, and Grant Curtis also serve as executive producers along with star Oscar Isaac, with Goher as a consulting producer, and Nick Pepin as the production and development manager for the series.


title: Moon Knight (TV series)

text: In February 2021, Feige said some of Marvel's series, including "Moon Knight" and "", were being developed with the potential to have additional seasons made, in contrast to series like "WandaVision" (2021), which were developed as limited events that lead into feature films instead. A year later, Isaac referred to "Moon Knight" as a limited series, while Diab was unsure whether the series would continue.


title: Moon Knight (TV series)

text: Michael Kastelein, Beau DeMayo, Peter Cameron, Sabir Pirzada, Alex Meenehan, Rebecca Kirsch, Matthew Orton, and Danielle Iman serve as writers on the series, with an archeologist specializing in Egyptian tombs consulting with the writers. Feige likened the series to the "Indiana Jones" franchise while exploring Egyptology, two aspects that were a large part of Slater's pitch given that he wanted to tell a "dark, complex story" mixed with "big, fun, supernatural, Amblin-style magic". Slater said he wanted the series to have a similar tone to "Raiders of the Lost Ark" (1981) and "Ghostbusters" (1984), and bring some horror aspects and monsters to the MCU. He wanted to push the limits with how dark a Marvel series could be, which Feige and Marvel Studios were supportive of. "The Mummy" (1999) was also an inspiration. Feige said there was a clear difference in tone between "Moon Knight" and the other Marvel Studios Disney+ series released at that point, adding that the studio worked with Disney+ to push the boundaries on how much of Moon Knight's brutality they could present in the series.


title: Moon Knight (TV series)

text: Feige said title character's mental illness was a unique aspect of the series, which primarily focuses on his psychological trauma. Dr. Paul Puri, a board-certified psychiatrist and an assistant clinical professor at UCLA, served as a consultant for the series regarding its depictions of mental illness. Diab did caution that though the creatives were respectful of dissociative identity disorder (DID), the series still exists in a fictional, supernatural world and some elements were "over-dramatize[d]". He suggested using reflections to portray the conversation scenes between Grant and Spector, which became a recurring theme of "Moon Knight". The series draws on the character's more modern interpretations in the comics regarding DID, such as each identity losing a sense of time when not in control. Each episode's end credits conclude with a message encouraging viewers to visit the website of the National Alliance on Mental Illness to learn more about DID. Jeff Lemire and Greg Smallwood's run in the comics served as primary inspiration for the series. The Bill Sienkiewicz and Warren Ellis runs on the character were also inspirations for their visuals and the introduction of the Mr. Knight persona, respectively. Executive producer Grant Curtis said the series explored identity and "finding one's true self", adding that Grant and Spector would look to "reconcile portions of [their] past, present and potential future that [they don't] necessarily agree with". Isaac believed the series would be "experiential" for viewers to connect with "the psychological horror of not knowing what's happening and the slow revelations of the truth" that came with portraying the character's DID. Slater added that the creatives took the series' depiction of mental health seriously, researching the disorder and aiming for "Moon Knight" to have a positive portrayal and message regarding mental health.


title: Moon Knight (TV series)

text: Slater said the series would not heavily feature the aspects of Moon Knight in the comics where he was a playboy philanthropist, since that version of the character had been likened to the DC Comics character Batman which was not a comparison that Slater wanted to make. Slater added that exploring Moon Knight's mental health allowed them to be more than "a palette-swapped Batman clone", adding that he was "his own greatest enemy in a lot of ways". He instead chose to pull from the character's "monster-hunting past" from the comics. Isaac believed "Moon Knight" was "the first legitimate Marvel character-study" since "Iron Man" (2008), with Curtis adding that the character was like Stark for Marvel Studios in that he could be "built from the ground up". Steven Grant is the focus of the series in the early episodes opposed to Spector, who is the main alter from the comics. When researching past comics for the series, Slater found that he always enjoyed Moon Knight, but did not like Spector since he was "not necessarily the easiest character to love". He was able to more easily approach a character archetype like Grant and "how to make [the audience] fall in love with that character", so he refocused the series to be "a sort of weird buddy show" where Spector could serve as Grant's protector to ensure he had a happy ending. Early in development, Grant was the identity who became Moon Knight while Spector would have become Mr. Knight, but these were eventually reversed. The existence of the third alter, Jake Lockley, is hinted at throughout the series before appearing in the final episode's mid-credits scene. Slater noted that all of the creatives worked to find the proper balance of how many overt hints to leave regarding Lockley, deciding to focus on viewers unfamiliar with the character from the comics and creating a satisfying mystery for them. Each of the directors worked with their cinematographers to find moments in the earlier episodes that could be "confusion" where Lockley could enter and exit. For example, when Grant returns in the first episode from the cupcake truck chase, a shot of a mirror features barely a third reflection.


title: Moon Knight (TV series)

text: Marlene Alraune, Spector's love interest in the comics, was not included because she was the "prototypical damsel in distress" seen in many older comics. Slater felt any lead female character needed to be a Marion Ravenwood-type character, from "Indiana Jones", who could "go toe to toe with the boys". This led to the creation of the character Layla El-Faouly, originally named Zayna Faoul, someone who had "one foot in her Egyptian heritage and one foot in the mercenary world". Diab pushed for the character to be Egyptian, with Slater adding that had she been a white character alongside Spector, also traditionally a white character in the comics, they would have encountered "white savior tropes and some of the weird imperialism and colonialism problems" that countries such as Egypt have dealt with. During development, it was decided to give the character superpowers, with the creatives taking the name of the first Egyptian hero from the comics, Scarlet Scarab, to give to her. Diab noted he had not connected El-Faouly to that character from the comics.


title: Moon Knight (TV series)

text: The antagonists for the series are Arthur Harrow and the Egyptian goddess Ammit, two lesser-known villains from Moon Knight's comics history. Slater said there was "[a] lot of trial and error" in choosing the villains, noting the most "logical" villain to use was, Bushman, Moon Knight's most famous villain, since he has a direct tie to the character's origins. However, when trying to include the character in the series, Slater only saw him as "a guy with a gun, which made him too dangerous to go up against Steven Grant" and to solve that, they would need to give him superpowers; this also proved challenging because Slater could not find "enough real estate" to make Bushman have "an actual emotional connection to the story" while also avoiding the racist tropes the character presented over the year, and because he felt too similar to "Black Panther" (2018) villain Killmonger. The writers then decided to create an original villain for the series, Harrow, tying him to Spector and Grant's past by having him be a former avatar of Khonshu, and despite being a similarly named, but different, character in the comics, chose the name "Arthur Harrow" because "it sounded cool". Commentators also believed Harrow included elements of other Moon Knight characters such as the Sun King and Morning Star.


title: Moon Knight (TV series)

text: The supernatural elements inspired from the comics include various Egyptian gods, one of whom, Khonshu, manipulates Spector in a way that draws on their "toxic" relationship from the comics. The series is set in the MCU in early 2025, but has no explicit connections to other parts of the MCU, with some planned references to the actions of Gorr the God Butcher from "" (2022) removed during the writing process. Slater said this was done because they did not naturally fit the series, and because it was unclear during development when the series would be released in relation to that film. This is also why its place in the MCU timeline was left vague. There were also discussions regarding including Dane Whitman, with Steven Grant working at the same museum as him, but Slater stated there was "never any logical reason for him to be in the show" as it would not have progressed his Black Knight storyline. The Eternals Kingo and Makkari were also planned to appear during a flashback sequence showing the fall of Ammit and the death of Alexander the Great. The creatives also considered the budgetary implications of adding other stars to the series, deciding it was better spent for the series' visual effects and other areas of production. Diab added that they found the story to be "so psychologically complicated" and intriguing that they did not need the "crutches" of MCU references. Isaac said "Moon Knight" "most important thing was an emotional truth to the journey that was happening" rather than its MCU plot ties. It is partially set in London, rather than New York City like the comics, to differentiate the series from the other MCU projects set in that city.


title: Moon Knight (TV series)

text: In October 2020, Oscar Isaac entered negotiations for the lead role, and was said to have been cast in January 2021; Marvel Studios officially confirmed the casting that May. Isaac was initially hesitant to join the series, as he was wary of being in another franchise after experiencing how much time and effort was required to film the "Star Wars" sequel trilogy. He accepted the role after researching DID further and becoming fascinated with Grant's characterization for the series, as well as being given creative freedom from Feige. Richard Newby of "The Hollywood Reporter" felt Isaac's recent major acting roles could draw audiences unfamiliar with the character to the series, and that his Latino ethnicity could allow an examination of Judaism from different perspectives, rather than having the character be depicted as an Ashkenazi Jewish man like in the comics. Isaac later confirmed that the character would be portrayed as Jewish-American in the series.