Joseph Gordon-Levitt born in Los Angeles
Joseph Leonard Gordon-Levitt is born in Los Angeles to a Jewish family. His parents are radio news director Dennis Levitt and US Congressional candidate Jane Gordon. He has a brother named Dan, who is seven years older than him. His maternal grandfather is director Michael Gordon. At the age of four, he plays the Scarecrow in a local children’s theater production of The Wizard of Oz. About getting into acting:
I was never pressured into acting. I just genuinely liked it, like I liked gymnastics and football and Little League.
Angels in the Outfield
Gordon-Levitt stars in this Disney comedy remake of the 1951 film of the same name. The 13-year old actor plays Roger, a foster child who loves the dismally performing California Angels and yearns for a normal family. He begins to see angels after praying to God for his team to win so that he can have his father back. The actor is joined by Christopher Lloyd as head angel Al, Danny Glover as Angels manager George Knox, and Tony Danza as Angels pitcher Mel Clark.
3rd Rock from the Sun
Gordon-Levitt plays an extraterrestrial named Tommy Solomon in the American sitcom 3rd Rock from the Sun. As the Information Officer, his character is the oldest and most intelligent among the aliens in the expedition, but he is assigned the body of a teenaged boy who goes to high school. The actor appears in 131 episodes.
10 Things I Hate About You
Gordon-Levitt stars in this teen romantic-comedy film directed by Gil Junger. He plays Cameron James, a sweet young man who pursues popular girl Bianca Stratford, played by actress Larisa Oleynik. Loosely based on the Shakespeare classic The Taming of the Shrew, the film revolves around the romances of two sisters with contrasting personalities. The actor’s role is inspired by the character Lucentio. His co-cast members include Heath Ledger, Julia Stiles, Andrew Keegan, and Larry Miller.
Treasure Planet
Gordon-Levitt lends his voice to this Disney animated sci-fi film as protagonist Jim Hawkins. This teenage adventurer comes across a pirate’s map that leads to Treasure Planet. Riding a space galleon, he uses the map to guide him in his journey across the magical world. He encounters various characters in his adventure including cyborg pirate John Silver, voiced by South African actor Brian Murray.
Manic
Gordon-Levitt portrays a rage-filled teenager named Lyle Jensen in Jordan Melamed’s directorial debut. This drama film follows the story of Lyle as he is put in a psychiatric ward for violently attacking a classmate. In the hospital, he begins to deal with his anger issues as he interacts with other patients. Zooey Deschanel is Lyle’s love interest and Don Cheadle is the counselor.
I spent a lot of time with people who had been in hospitals just like this. I didn’t get to go into a hospital like [the one in the movie] because I think that would be rude and intrusive – and we weren’t allowed to. I went to support groups and halfway houses. We talked to a lot of people.
Mysterious Skin
Gordon-Levitt stars in this drama film based on a novel by Scott Heim and directed by Gregg Araki. He plays Neil McCormick, a sexually abused teenager who grows up to be a fearless and promiscuous male prostitute. His dangerous path of risky sexual adventures eventually leads him to Brian Lackey, a young man who was molested by the same man that abused him. The actor’s co-stars include Brady Corbet, Michelle Trachtenberg, and Elisabeth Shue.
It is a really different role for me, and I’ll always be really grateful to Gregg for believing that I could do a role like this. I’ve played the nice kid, and the smart one or funny one and even the angry one, but Gregg was the first one to call me sexy, and I’ll always be really grateful for that. But what I think is really special about this character, he is sexy on the outside, but there’s underneath that he’s really having a lot of problems.
Shadowboxer
Gordon-Levitt plays Dr. Don, a mob physician in this noir thriller by director Lee Daniels. He is summoned by contract killers Mikey and Rose, to assist crime boss Clayton, played by Stephen Dorff.Clayton’s wife after she gives birth. Cuba Gooding Jr. and Helen Mirren star as the assassin couple, and Mo’Nique plays Dr. Don’s girlfriend.
My favorite scene is the scene where you don’t know what’s going to happen yet, and I’m like, “if you don’t hear from me in an hour, you have to get out of town” and we might be saying good bye right now. That’s the one that really got me.
Brick
Gordon-Levitt plays the lead role in this neo-noir directorial debut of Rian Johnson. playing Brendan Frye, a high school student living in suburban California. He discovers his ex-girlfriend’s dead body in a drainage ditch shortly after getting an urgent phone call from her asking for help. He proceeds to investigate her death, which leads him to dangerous secrets involving drugs and crime. On his character:
He thinks—he looks around at the world and sees it as a corrupt, petty, no-good affair. And then when he loses his one love—his one thing in the world that he does connect to—Emily—when he loses her to that, it really, really sends him to the back of the school and to just hunch over and harden up.
Stop-Loss
Gordon-Levitt plays an American war soldier in this Kimberly Peirce-directed drama film. He plays PFC Tommy Burgess, a troubled young soldier who witnesses the death of his best friend during the war, and has a difficult time adjusting to civilian life when he comes home. Other members of his squad are played by Ryan Phillippe, Channing Tatum, and Timothy Olyphant.
Tommy, the character I play, is a real good soldier and not so good when he gets back. Life is so different, all the things that you need to focus on and care about when you’re over there, are just not things you need to focus and care about when you’re back here.
Killshot
Gordon-Levitt stars in this thriller based on the Elmore Leonard novel of the same name. His character is Richie Nix, a troubled young man who is recruited by hit man Armand Degas, played by actor Mickey Rourke. Together, they hunt down a couple who managed to escape their extortion attack. The film also features Diane Lane, Thomas Jane, and Rosario Dawson.
(500) Days of Summer
Gordon-Levitt plays Tom Hansen in this offbeat romantic comedy directed by Marc Webb. A trained architect who writes greeting cards for a living, his character falls in love with his co-worker Summer, played by actress Zooey Deschanel. Their contrasting beliefs about love and relationships eventually end their 500-day romance.
He develops a mildly delusional obsession over a girl onto whom he projects all these fantasies. He thinks she’ll give his life meaning because he doesn’t care about much else going on in his life. A lot of boys and girls think their lives will have meaning if they find a partner who wants nothing else in life but them. That’s not healthy. That’s falling in love with the idea of a person, not the actual person.
G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra
Gordon-Levitt takes on the iconic role of Cobra Commander in this sci-fi action film directed by Stephen Sommers. As the supreme leader and head scientist of the terrorist organization Cobra, his character perfects nanomite technology to get back at the Joes. G.I. Joe field commander Duke is played by Channing Tatum. On playing Cobra Commander:
That toy is not my face. It’s a mask. I like that I get to keep my face. It has less to do with me and more to do with this character that I helped create. That’s more thrilling to me. It’s this thing that was born out of a creative, collaborative process between me and a bunch of other people that all worked on creating this character.
Uncertainty
Gordon-Levitt stars in this indie drama thriller directed by Scott McGehee and David Siegel. He plays Bobby, one half of a young New York couple who flips a coin to help them decide where to go on the 4th of July and whether or not they should have their unborn baby. They both experience two different realities that each take place in Brooklyn and Manhattan. The actor is joined by Lyn Collins, who plays his pregnant girlfriend.
It’s really different than my usual movie. They had written a script so the story was all very well thought through but the actual specifics of how everything was going to play out was sort of left up to the moment. The moments were left up to the moment. It allowed for just a whole new kind of creativity for me which, that’s what I’m in this for. I had a great time.
Hosts ‘SNL’
Gordon-Levitt hosts Saturday Night Live for the first time. His opening monologue includes a musical number to the Donald O’Connor tune, Make ‘Em Laugh, with the help of SNL cast member, Bobby Moynihan. He also plays singer Jason Mraz in the sketch, The Mellow Show and European electro-pop singer Klaus Future in the sketch, What’s Up with That? The episode also features former US Vice President Al Gore and musical guest Dave Matthews Band.
Morgan M. Morgansen’s Date with Destiny
Gordon-Levitt directs and stars in this six-minute romantic silent film as the lead role of Morgan M. Morgansen. He goes on a date with his vegetarian love interest, Destiny, who is played by Lexy Hulme. Destiny is offended when he orders rabbit for dinner:
It was written by a young lady named metaphorest, and I loved her words so much that I recorded some voice-over for it, which inspired drawings, which inspired animations. There will always be a very special place in the heart of our HitRECord community for our man, Morgan M. Morgansen.
Inception
Gordon-Levitt stars in this big-budget science-fiction thriller film directed by Christopher Nolan. He plays the role of Arthur, the right hand man and partner of professional thief Dom Cobb played by actor Leonardo DiCaprio. While Cobb leads missions in stealing corporate secrets from the minds of executives as they sleep, it is Arthur’s job to apply his vision and make sure that the plans work without a hitch. The actor is joined by Ellen Page, Tom Hardy, Marion Cotillard, and Ken Watanabe. On his character:
He’s the organized one. I think Cobb is sort of like the artist and I consider Arthur sort of like the producer. He the one that’s saying, “Okay, you have your vision, I’m going to figure out how you can do you thing and make the nuts and bolts underneath it work.”
![Inception - Official Trailer [HD]](https://newslines.org/wp-content/plugins/wp-youtube-lyte/lyteCache.php?origThumbUrl=https%3A%2F%2Fi.ytimg.com%2Fvi%2F8hP9D6kZseM%2F0.jpg)
Elektra Luxx
Gordon-Levitt stars in this comedy sequel to Women in Trouble. It is directed by Sebastian Gutierrez, and features the actor as Bert Rodriquez, a Hispanic sex blogger who is an avid fan of retired porn star Elektra Luxx played by Carla Gugino. The actor is joined by Josh Brolin, Timothy Olyphant, Emmanuelle Chriqui, and Malin Ackerman.
Hesher
Gordon-Levitt portrays the title role in this dark comedy drama produced by Natalie Portman. A foul-mouthed nihilist who loves heavy metal music, Hesher enters the life of TJ, teenage boy who recently lost his mother and lives with his grieving father and grandmother. Hesher and his rebellious ways proceed to change TJ’s life as the young man deals with his own feelings of fear and grief. The film also stars Portman as a checkout clerk, Rainn Wilson as TJ’s father, and Piper Laurie as the grandmother.
50/50
Gordon-Levitt portrays a cancer-stricken radio writer named Adam Lerner in this comedy-drama film directed by Jonathan Levine. Based on a true story, the film revolves around his character’s discovery of his illness and how it changes his life and that of his friends and family. He is joined by actor Seth Rogen who plays his best friend Kyle, Anjelica Huston who plays his overbearing mother Diane Lerner, and Anna Kendrick who plays his therapist Katherine McKay. On accepting the role of Adam:
First of all it’s just a good script, which is just rare to come by. You know I read a lot of scripts and most of them are just sort of not so good. You know, the characters don’t feel like human beings. They feel like plot devices, stereotypes. Especially scripts that make me laugh. It’s very, very rare to come by a well-written funny script. And so when I read “50/50,” I was really taken with it off the bat.
