Joseph Gordon-Levitt

Biography

Joseph Leonard Gordon-Levitt (/ˈlɛvɪt/; born February 17, 1981) is an American actor, writer, and director. He has received various accolades, including nominations for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy for his leading performances in 500 Days of Summer (2009) and 50/50 (2011). 

He is the founder of the online media platform HitRecord whose projects such as HitRecord on TV (2014–15) and Create Together (2020) won him two Primetime Emmy Awards in the category of Outstanding Interactive Program.

Born in Los Angeles to a Jewish family, Gordon-Levitt began his acting career as a child, appearing in the films A River Runs Through It (1992), Holy Matrimony (1994), and Angels in the Outfield (1994), which earned him a Young Artist Award and a Saturn Award nomination.

 He played the role of Tommy Solomon in the TV series 3rd Rock from the Sun (1996–2001). He had a supporting role in 10 Things I Hate About You (1999) and voiced Jim Hawkins in the Disney animated Treasure Planet (2002) before taking a break from acting to study at Columbia University, but dropped out in 2004 to resume his acting career.

Since returning to acting, Gordon-Levitt has starred in Manic (2001), Mysterious Skin (2004), Brick (2005), G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra (2009), Inception (2010), The Dark Knight Rises (2012), Looper (2012), and Lincoln (2012). 

He portrayed Philippe Petit in the Robert Zemeckis-directed film The Walk (2015) and whistleblower Edward Snowden in the Oliver Stone film Snowden (2016). In 2020, he had a supporting role in the legal drama The Trial of the Chicago 7.

In 2013, he wrote and directed Don Jon, a comedy-drama film that was released to positive reviews and earned him an Independent Spirit Award nomination for Best First Screenplay. 

He previously directed and edited two short films, both of which were released in 2010: Morgan M. Morgansen's Date with Destiny and Morgan and Destiny's Eleventeenth Date: The Zeppelin Zoo. In 2021, he wrote, directed, and starred in a comedy-drama series Mr. Corman on Apple TV+.

Joseph Leonard Gordon-Levitt was born on February 17, 1981, in Los Angeles, California, and was raised in the Sherman Oaks neighborhood. He is Ashkenazi Jewish, from a family that is “not strictly religious” and his parents were among the founders of the Progressive Jewish Alliance. 

Gordon-Levitt's father, Dennis Levitt, was once the news director for the Pacifica Radio station, KPFK-FM.His mother r, Jane Gordon, ran for the United States Congress in California during the 1970s for the Peace and Freedom Party; she met Dennis Levitt while she was working as the program guide editor for KPFK-FM.

 Gordon-Levitt's maternal grandfather, Michael Gordon (1909–1993), was a Hollywood film director. Gordon-Levitt had an older brother, Dan, a photographer, and fire spinner who died in 2010 at the age of 36. Gordon-Levitt attended Van Nuys High School and graduated in 1999.