Joseph Gordon-Levitt

Biography

Joseph Gordon-Levitt has completed production on the untitled Henry Joost/Ariel Schulman sci-fi film for Netflix in which he stars opposite Jamie Foxx and on the independent thriller, 7500, written and directed by Patrick Vollarth. Among his other projects, he is in development on a variety of feature films including Fraggle Rock. Gordon-Levitt’s additional film credits include the following: Oliver Stone’s Snowden; The Walk, directed by Robert Zemeckis in which he portrayed Philippe Pettit; The Night Before, directed by Jonathan Levine, starring opposite Seth Rogen and Anthony Mackie; Don Jon, opposite Scarlett Johansson and Julianne Moore, which he wrote (Independent Spirit Award-nominee for Best First Screenplay) and was his feature film directorial debut; the English-language version of Hayao Miyazaki’s Academy Award-nominated animated feature THThe Wind Rises, for which he provided the voice of lead character Jiro Horikoshi; Robert Rodriguez and Frank Miller’s Sin City: A Dame to Kill For, in which he played Johnny, a character Miller created for the film; Steven Spielberg’s Oscar-nominated Lincoln with Daniel Day Lewis and Sally Field; Looper, for which he reunited with his BRICK director, Rian Johnson, and starred opposite Bruce Willis and Emily Blunt; The Dark Knight Rises, Christopher Nolan’s third and final installment in the Batman series (People’s Choice Award nomination for Favorite Movie Actor); Premium Rush, directed by David Koepp; 50/50, directed by Jonathan Levine and also starring Seth Rogen, Anna Kendrick and Bryce Dallas Howard, for which he received a Golden Globe nomination; Christopher Nolan’s Academy Award-nominated action-drama Inception, also starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Marion Cotillard and Ellen Page; Hesher, directed by Spencer Susser with Natalie Portman and Rainn Wilson (Sundance Film Festival 2010); Marc Webb’s (500) Days for Summer, also starring Zooey Deschanel, for which he received Golden Globe, Independent Spirit Award and People’s Choice Award nominations; the global action hit G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra for director Stephen Sommers; Spike Lee’s World War II drama Miracle at St. Anna; the controversial drama Stop-Loss, in which he starred with Ryan Phillippe under the direction of Kimberly Peirce; and the crime drama The Lookout, which marked Scott Frank’s directorial debut. In addition, Gordon-Levitt has received widespread praise for his performances in such independent features as John Madden’s Killshot with Diane Lane and Mickey Rourke; Lee Daniels’ Shadowboxer; Rian Johnson’s award-winning debut film, Brick; Mysterious Skin for writer/director Gregg Araki; and Manic with Don Cheadle. He also adapted the Elmore Leonard short story Sparks into a 24-minute short film that he directed (Sundance Film Festival 2009). Early in his career, Gordon-Levitt won a Young Artist Award for his first major role, in Robert Redford’s drama A River Runs Through It. He went on to co-star in Angels in the Outfield, The Juror, Halloween H2O and 10 Things I Hate About You. Gordon-Levitt is also well known to television audiences for his starring role on NBC’s award-winning comedy series “3rd Rock from the Sun.” During his six seasons on the show, he won two YoungStar Awards and also shared in three Screen Actors Guild Award® nominations for Outstanding Performance by a Comedy Series Ensemble. Following the series, Gordon-Levitt took a short break from acting to attend Columbia University. Gordon-Levitt founded and directs HITRECORD, an open collaborative production. HITRECORD creates and develops art and media collectively using their website where anyone with an internet connection can upload their records, download and remix others’ records, and work on projects together. When the results of these RECords are produced and make money, HITRECORD splits the profits 50/50 with everybody who contributed to the final production. HITRECORD has published books, put out records, gone on tour and has screened their work at major festivals including Sundance and TIFF. The half hour variety program, “Hit Record on TV with Joseph Gordon-Levitt,” which included short films, live performances, music, animation, conversation and more, earned an Emmy Award for Creative Achievement in Interactive Media – Social TV Experience. HITRECORD’s latest project, “Band Together with Logic”, is a one-hour YouTube Originals special that sees Grammy-nominated rapper Logic open up his creative process like never before, inviting the world to collaborate with him on an original song and music video. In 2016, the ACLU honored Gordon-Levitt with their annual Bill of Rights Award for furthering diversity efforts, promoting free speech, empowering women and otherwise supporting civil rights and liberties for all Americans.