13 Successful Celebrities Who Dropped Out of School

5. Robert Downey Jr.

The Iron Man star grew up around show business. His father, Robert Downey Sr., was an actor and filmmaker, while his mother, Elsie Ford, also worked as an actress. Downey was raised in Greenwich Village and admits that throughout his adolescence he was surrounded by drugs, as his father was an addict. As a teenager, Downey attended the Stagedoor Manor Performing Arts Training Center in upstate New York. When his parents divorced in 1978, Downey moved out to California with his father and attended Santa Monica High School. However, he dropped out at 16 and headed back to his hometown of New York City to pursue acting. Downey was one of the highest paid actors of 2014 thanks to his role as Tony Stark in the Iron Man franchise.