Rami Malek blanked Robert Downey Jr.'s fanboy emails

Rami Malek once "blew off" emails from Robert Downey Jr. because he didn't realize they were legitimate.

Rami, 35, is currently starring in drama series Mr. Robot as Elliot Alderson, a cyber security engineer and hacker who suffers from anxiety and depression. The series, which had its 12-episode second season premiere on Wednesday (13Jul16), has received critical acclaim and even a superfan in the form of The Avengers star Robert. But Rami didn't realize this at first, and chose to ignore correspondence from the Hollywood icon, leading to some slightly awkward moments.

"He emailed me and I was like 'yeah right, who's this a**hole,'" Rami shared during an appearance on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon on Wednesday night. "So after a while someone emailed me that I knew and was like 'Why aren't you answering Robert Downey Jr.'s email?' (I was) like 'No way, I've been blowing this guy off? It's the real guy!?"

Rami proceeded to email Robert back and even organized for the actor to visit the Mr. Robot set, explaining he should have realized it was the real Robert writing to him because he signed off the messages with the words "Film Icon".

And the Los Angeles-native, who has been acting professionally for over a decade and made a name for himself in acclaimed independent films like 2013's Ain't Them Bodies Saints, says that he became very nervous when Robert was watching him perform.

"He came on set and it was pretty spectacular, he watched me act, which kinda like made me freeze for a couple of takes. It was pressure, but I was like 'I'm going to do it'... It took me like ten takes to get where I need to be," he said, adding that Robert gave him some acting tips. "It was a fascinating day, it made me the hero of the set because he showed up."