Jackson Praises Downey Jr.'s Tropic Thunder Portrayal

African-American actor BRANDON T. JACKSON has hailed his TROPIC THUNDER co-star ROBERT DOWNEY JR. for his portrayal of a black man in the comedy.

The Iron Man star plays a Caucasian actor who dyes his skin dark in order to land a film role written for an African-American.

Jackson admits he had reservations about Downey's character, Kirk Lazarus, in the initial stages of the project, but was won over by the 43-year-old's portrayal when they began shooting.

He says, "When I first read the script, I was like, 'What? Black face?' But when I saw him (Downey Jr.) (act) he, like, became a black man.

"To be honest, he played a black dude better than anybody I've seen!"