Joseph Gordon-Levitt
Encyclopedia
Joseph Leonard Gordon-Levitt (born February 17, 1981) is an American actor whose career as both a child and adult has included television series and theatrical films.

He is known for his roles in the 2009 indie
Independent film
An independent film, or indie film, is a professional film production resulting in a feature film that is produced mostly or completely outside of the major film studio system. In addition to being produced and distributed by independent entertainment companies, independent films are also produced...

 (500) Days of Summer (for which he earned a Golden Globe nomination), a supporting role in the 2010 science fiction film Inception
Inception
Inception: The Subconscious Jams 1994-1995 is a compilation of unreleased tracks by the band Download.-Track listing:# "Primitive Tekno Jam" – 3:23# "Bee Sting Sickness" – 8:04# "Weed Acid Techno" – 8:19...

, and for starring in the 2011 drama 50/50. Beginning in commercials as a young child, he made his film debut in 1992's Beethoven
Beethoven (film)
Beethoven is a 1992 American family comedy film, directed by Brian Levant and starring Charles Grodin and Bonnie Hunt. The film is the first in the Beethoven film series....

. Gordon-Levitt subsequently co-starred in the television sitcom 3rd Rock from the Sun
3rd Rock from the Sun
3rd Rock from the Sun is an American sitcom that aired from 1996 to 2001 on NBC. The show is about four extraterrestrials who are on an expedition to Earth, which they consider to be a very insignificant planet...

 (1996–2001) as the young Tommy Solomon. After a hiatus during which he attended Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...

, Gordon-Levitt left television for film acting, appearing in films like 10 Things I Hate About You
10 Things I Hate about You
10 Things I Hate About You is a 1999 American teen romantic comedy film. It is directed by Gil Junger and stars Heath Ledger, Julia Stiles, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Larisa Oleynik, David Krumholtz, and Larry Miller...

 (1999) and Manic
Manic (film)
Manic is a 2001 American drama film directed by Jordan Melamed and written by Michael Bacall and Blayne Weaver. It was shown at several film festivals in 2001 and 2002, including the Sundance Film Festival. The region 1 DVD was released January 20, 2004...

 (2001), followed by critically acclaimed performances in 2004's Mysterious Skin
Mysterious Skin
Mysterious Skin is a 2004 drama film directed by American filmmaker Gregg Araki, who also wrote the screenplay based on the 1996 novel of the same name by Scott Heim...

, 2005's Brick
Brick (film)
Brick is a 2005 American neo-noir film written and directed by Rian Johnson. It was Johnson's directorial debut and won the Special Jury Prize for Originality of Vision at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival...

, and 2007's The Lookout. He runs an online collaborative production company titled HitRECord.

Early life

Gordon-Levitt was born in Los Angeles, California, and grew up in Sherman Oaks
Sherman Oaks, Los Angeles, California
Sherman Oaks is an affluent district in the San Fernando Valley area of the city of Los Angeles, California. In contrast to much of the Valley, the area is relatively urbanized, with commercial skyscrapers along Ventura Boulevard as well as scattered throughout...

. His family is Jewish, though "not strictly religious", and his parents were among the founders of the Progressive Jewish Alliance
Progressive Jewish Alliance
The Progressive Jewish Alliance was founded in 1999 by Jewish Angelenos who broke away from the Los Angeles chapter of the American Jewish Congress. They sought to assert an authentic progressive Jewish presence in the campaigns for social justice in Southern California, home to the United...

. His father, Dennis Levitt, was once the news director for the Pacifica Radio
Pacifica Radio
Pacifica Radio is the oldest public radio network in the United States. It is a group of five independently operated, non-commercial, listener-supported radio stations that is known for its progressive/liberal political orientation. It is also a program service supplying over 100 affiliated...

 station, KPFK-FM
KPFK
KPFK is a listener-sponsored radio station based in North Hollywood, California, United States, which serves the Greater Los Angeles Area, and also streams 24 hours a day via the Internet...

. His mother, Jane Gordon, ran for the United States Congress
United States Congress
The United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Congress meets in the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C....

 in California during the 1970s for the Peace and Freedom Party
Peace and Freedom Party (United States)
The Peace and Freedom Party is a minor political party in California. Its first candidates appeared on the ballot in 1966, but the national party was officially founded in 1967 as a left-wing organization opposed to the Vietnam War. The party nominated Ralph Nader for President in the 2008 U.S...

; she met Dennis Levitt while she was working as the program guide editor for KPFK-FM. Gordon-Levitt's maternal grandfather, Michael Gordon
Michael Gordon (film director)
Michael Gordon was an American stage actor and stage and film director.-Life and career:Gordon was born in Baltimore and raised in a middle class Jewish community. He was a member of the Group Theatre , and was blacklisted as a Communist in the days of McCarthyism...

, was a Hollywood film director between the 1940s and 1970s, known for helming the 1959 Doris Day
Doris Day
Doris Day is an American actress, singer and, since her retirement from show business, an animal rights activist. With an entertainment career that spanned through almost 50 years, Day started her career as a big band singer in 1939, but only began to be noticed after her first hit recording,...

/Rock Hudson
Rock Hudson
Roy Harold Scherer, Jr., later Roy Harold Fitzgerald , known professionally as Rock Hudson, was an American film and television actor, recognized as a romantic leading man during the 1950s and 1960s, most notably in several romantic comedies with Doris Day.Hudson was voted "Star of the Year",...

 film Pillow Talk. Gordon-Levitt had an older brother, Dan, who was a photographer and fire spinner
Fire dancing
Fire dancing is a group of performance arts or disciplines that involve manipulation of objects on fire...

; he was born in 1974 and died in October 2010.

Gordon-Levitt joined a musical theater group at the age of four and played the Scarecrow
Scarecrow (Oz)
The Scarecrow is a character in the fictional Land of Oz created by American author L. Frank Baum and illustrator William Wallace Denslow. In his first appearance, the Scarecrow reveals that he lacks a brain and desires above all else to have one. In reality, he is only two days old and merely...

 in a production of The Wizard of Oz
The Wizard of Oz (adaptations)
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz is a 1900 novel by L. Frank Baum, which has been adapted into several different works, the most famous being the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz, starring Judy Garland...

. Subsequently, he was approached by an agent and began appearing on television and in commercials for Sunny Jim
Sunny Jim
"Sunny Jim" is the name of two completely unconnected characters used in advertising and product branding: a cartoon character created to promote Force cereal, the first commercially successful wheat flake;...

 peanut butter, Cocoa Puffs
Cocoa Puffs
Cocoa Puffs is a brand of chocolate-flavored puffed grain breakfast cereal, manufactured by General Mills. Introduced in 1958, the cereal consists of small orbs of corn, oats and rice that have been flavored with cocoa. Essentially, Cocoa Puffs are Kix cereal with added chocolate flavoring...

, Pop-Tarts
Pop-Tarts
Pop-Tarts is a brand of rectangular, pre-baked toaster pastries made by the Kellogg Company. Pop-Tarts have a sugary filling sealed inside two layers of rectangular, thin pastry crust. Some varieties are frosted. Although sold pre-cooked, they are designed to be warmed inside a toaster or...

, and Kinney Shoes.

Early acting work

Gordon-Levitt began his acting career at the age of six, appearing in several late 1980s made-for-television films. In 1996, Gordon-Levitt began playing Tommy Solomon
Tommy Solomon (3rd Rock from the Sun)
Tommy Solomon is a fictional character created by Bonnie and Terry Turner from the American sitcom 3rd Rock from the Sun. He was portrayed by Joseph Gordon-Levitt.-Ironic age:...

 on the sitcom 3rd Rock from the Sun
3rd Rock from the Sun
3rd Rock from the Sun is an American sitcom that aired from 1996 to 2001 on NBC. The show is about four extraterrestrials who are on an expedition to Earth, which they consider to be a very insignificant planet...

, a role that made him a popular TV personality. The San Francisco Chronicle
San Francisco Chronicle
thumb|right|upright|The Chronicle Building following the [[1906 San Francisco earthquake|1906 earthquake]] and fireThe San Francisco Chronicle is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of the U.S. state of California, but distributed throughout Northern and Central California,...

 noted the coincidence that Gordon-Levitt was a "Jewish kid playing an extraterrestrial
Extraterrestrial life
Extraterrestrial life is defined as life that does not originate from Earth...

 pretending to be a Jewish kid". Gordon-Levitt was attending Van Nuys High School
Van Nuys High School
Van Nuys High School established in 1914, is a high school in the Van Nuys area of Los Angeles, California, belonging to the Los Angeles Unified School District: District 2...

 while acting on the show. During the 1990s, he was frequently featured in teenage magazines, something he resented. He has also said that during this time period, he did not enjoy being recognized in public, saying that he "hates celebrity".

Gordon-Levitt starred in the 1999 film 10 Things I Hate About You
10 Things I Hate about You
10 Things I Hate About You is a 1999 American teen romantic comedy film. It is directed by Gil Junger and stars Heath Ledger, Julia Stiles, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Larisa Oleynik, David Krumholtz, and Larry Miller...

, a modern-day adaptation of Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew
The Taming of the Shrew
The Taming of the Shrew is a comedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1590 and 1591.The play begins with a framing device, often referred to as the Induction, in which a mischievous nobleman tricks a drunken tinker named Sly into believing he is actually a nobleman himself...

, and voiced Jim Hawkins in Treasure Planet
Treasure Planet
Treasure Planet is a 2002 animated science fiction film produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios, and released by Walt Disney Pictures on November 27, 2002...

 (2002), a Disney adaption of the novel Treasure Island
Treasure Island
Treasure Island is an adventure novel by Scottish author Robert Louis Stevenson, narrating a tale of "pirates and buried gold". First published as a book on May 23, 1883, it was originally serialized in the children's magazine Young Folks between 1881–82 under the title Treasure Island; or, the...

.

In 2000, he began attending Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...

. He studied history, literature, and French poetry in General Studies
Columbia University School of General Studies
The School of General Studies, commonly known as General Studies or simply GS, is one of the three official undergraduate colleges at Columbia University. It is a highly selective Ivy League undergraduate liberal arts college designed for non-traditional students and confers Bachelor of Art and...

. He became an avid and self-confirmed Francophile
Francophile
Is a person with a positive predisposition or interest toward the government, culture, history, or people of France. This could include France itself and its history, the French language, French cuisine, literature, etc...

 and a French speaker. He said that moving to New York City from his hometown "forced" him to grow as a person. He dropped out in 2004 to concentrate on acting again.

Later acting work

Gordon-Levitt has said that he made a conscious decision to "be in good movies" after returning to acting. His films include 2001's drama Manic
Manic (film)
Manic is a 2001 American drama film directed by Jordan Melamed and written by Michael Bacall and Blayne Weaver. It was shown at several film festivals in 2001 and 2002, including the Sundance Film Festival. The region 1 DVD was released January 20, 2004...

, which was set in a mental institution
Psychiatric hospital
Psychiatric hospitals, also known as mental hospitals, are hospitals specializing in the treatment of serious mental disorders. Psychiatric hospitals vary widely in their size and grading. Some hospitals may specialise only in short-term or outpatient therapy for low-risk patients...

, Mysterious Skin
Mysterious Skin
Mysterious Skin is a 2004 drama film directed by American filmmaker Gregg Araki, who also wrote the screenplay based on the 1996 novel of the same name by Scott Heim...

 (2004), in which he played a gay prostitute and child sexual abuse
Child sexual abuse
Child sexual abuse is a form of child abuse in which an adult or older adolescent uses a child for sexual stimulation. Forms of child sexual abuse include asking or pressuring a child to engage in sexual activities , indecent exposure with intent to gratify their own sexual desires or to...

 victim, and Brick
Brick (film)
Brick is a 2005 American neo-noir film written and directed by Rian Johnson. It was Johnson's directorial debut and won the Special Jury Prize for Originality of Vision at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival...

 (2005), a modern-day film noir
Film noir
Film noir is a cinematic term used primarily to describe stylish Hollywood crime dramas, particularly those that emphasize cynical attitudes and sexual motivations. Hollywood's classic film noir period is generally regarded as extending from the early 1940s to the late 1950s...

 set at a high school, in which he had the lead role of Brendan Frye, a teen who becomes involved in an underground drug ring while investigating a murder. Brick received positive reviews, with The Minnesota Daily
Minnesota Daily
The Minnesota Daily is the campus newspaper of the University of Minnesota Twin Cities, published Monday-Thursday while school is in session, and published weekly on Wednesdays during summer sessions. Published since 1900, the paper is one of the largest student-run and student-written newspapers...

s critic commenting that Gordon-Levitt played the character "beautifully", "true to film's style", "unfeeling but not disenchanted", and "sexy in the most ambiguous way." Another reviewer described the performance as "astounding". He also starred opposite Steve Sandvoss
Steve Sandvoss
Steve Sandvoss is an American actor.-Career:Sandvoss's break as an actor came when he landed the role of a football star competing against Will Estes in the NBC drama series American Dreams. His other television roles include appearances on Dr...

 as a young judgmental missionary in Latter Days
Latter Days
Latter Days is a 2003 American romantic drama film about a gay relationship between a closeted Mormon missionary and his openly gay neighbor. The film was written and directed by C. Jay Cox. It stars Steve Sandvoss as the missionary, Aaron, and Wes Ramsey as the neighbor, Christian. Joseph...

 (2003), a film that centers on a sexually confused Mormon
Mormon
The term Mormon most commonly denotes an adherent, practitioner, follower, or constituent of Mormonism, which is the largest branch of the Latter Day Saint movement in restorationist Christianity...

 missionary (Sandvoss) who falls for his gay neighbor. He had roles in Havoc
Havoc (film)
Havoc is a 2005 American film about the lives of wealthy Los Angeles, California teenagers whose exposure to hip hop culture inspires them to imitate the gangster lifestyle...

 and Shadowboxer
Shadowboxer
Shadowboxer is a 2005 thriller directed by Lee Daniels that stars Academy Award winners Cuba Gooding, Jr., Helen Mirren, and Mo'Nique. It opened in limited release in six cities: New York, Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., Baltimore, Philadelphia, and Richmond, Virginia.-Plot:Mikey and his stepmother...

.

His next role was in 2007's The Lookout, in which he played Chris Pratt, a janitor involved in a bank heist
Bank robbery
Bank robbery is the crime of stealing from a bank during opening hours. According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Uniform Crime Reporting Program, robbery is "the taking or attempting to take anything of value from the care, custody, or control of a person or persons by force or threat of...

. In reviewing the film, The Philadelphia Inquirer
The Philadelphia Inquirer
The Philadelphia Inquirer is a morning daily newspaper that serves the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, metropolitan area of the United States. The newspaper was founded by John R. Walker and John Norvell in June 1829 as The Pennsylvania Inquirer and is the third-oldest surviving daily newspaper in the...

 described Gordon-Levitt as a "surprisingly formidable, and formidably surprising, leading man", while New York magazine
New York (magazine)
New York is a weekly magazine principally concerned with the life, culture, politics, and style of New York City. Founded by Milton Glaser and Clay Felker in 1968 as a competitor to The New Yorker, it was brasher and less polite than that magazine, and established itself as a cradle of New...

 stated that he is a "major tabula rasa
Tabula rasa
Tabula rasa is the epistemological theory that individuals are born without built-in mental content and that their knowledge comes from experience and perception. Generally proponents of the tabula rasa thesis favour the "nurture" side of the nature versus nurture debate, when it comes to aspects...

 actor ... a minimalist", and that his character worked because he "doesn't seize the space ... by what he takes away from the character." The San Francisco Chronicle specified that he "embodies, more than performs, a character's inner life." His 2008 films include Killshot
Killshot (film)
Killshot is a 2009 thriller film based on the 1989 novel of the same name by Elmore Leonard. The film is directed by John Madden and stars Diane Lane and Thomas Jane as a couple who, despite being in a witness protection program, are confronted by the criminal they outed, portrayed by Mickey...

, in which he played a hoodlum partnered with a hired killer played by Mickey Rourke
Mickey Rourke
Philip Andre "Mickey" Rourke, Jr. is an American actor, screenwriter and retired boxer, who has appeared primarily as a leading man in action, drama, and thriller films....

, and Stop-Loss
Stop-Loss (film)
Stop-Loss is a 2008 American drama film directed by Kimberly Peirce and starring Ryan Phillippe, Channing Tatum, Abbie Cornish and Joseph Gordon-Levitt. It was distributed by Paramount Pictures and produced by MTV Films.-Plot:...

, directed by Kimberly Peirce
Kimberly Peirce
Kimberly Peirce is an American feature film director, notable for her debut feature film, Boys Don't Cry . Her second feature, Stop-Loss, was released by Paramount Pictures in 2008.- Early life and career :...

 and revolving around American soldiers returning from the Iraq War.

Gordon-Levitt played a lead role opposite Zooey Deschanel
Zooey Deschanel
Zooey Claire Deschanel is an American actress, musician, and singer-songwriter. In 1999, Deschanel made her film debut in Mumford, followed by her breakout role as young protagonist William Miller's troubled older sister Anita in Cameron Crowe's 2000 semi-autobiographical film Almost Famous...

 in (500) Days of Summer, a well-received 2009 release about the deconstruction of a relationship. His performance, described as "the real key" to what makes the film work, credits him with using "his usual spell in subtle gradations." Variety
Variety (magazine)
Variety is an American weekly entertainment-trade magazine founded in New York City, New York, in 1905 by Sime Silverman. With the rise of the importance of the motion-picture industry, Daily Variety, a daily edition based in Los Angeles, California, was founded by Silverman in 1933. In 1998, the...

s Todd McCarthy praised his performance, saying he "expressively alternates between enthusiasm and forlorn disappointment in the manner Jack Lemmon could". Peter Travers
Peter Travers
Peter Travers is an American film critic, who has written for, in turn, People and Rolling Stone. Travers also hosts a celebrity interview show called Popcorn on ABC News Now and ABCNews.com.-Career:...

 of Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...

 said the movie "hits you like a blast of pure romantic oxygen" and credited both lead actors for playing "it for real, with a grasp of subtlety and feeling that goes beyond the call of breezy duty." He was subsequently nominated for a Golden Globe Award
Golden Globe Award
The Golden Globe Award is an accolade bestowed by the 93 members of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association recognizing excellence in film and television, both domestic and foreign...

.

He later played villain Cobra Commander
Cobra Commander
Cobra Commander is a fictional character from the G.I. Joe franchise. He appears in the toyline, animated series , comic books, video games, and movie as the usual principal antagonist. He is the supreme leader of the terrorist organization Cobra, and archnemesis of the Joes...

 in G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra. On November 21, 2009, he hosted Saturday Night Live
Saturday Night Live
Saturday Night Live is a live American late-night television sketch comedy and variety show developed by Lorne Michaels and Dick Ebersol. The show premiered on NBC on October 11, 1975, under the original title of NBC's Saturday Night.The show's sketches often parody contemporary American culture...

. In 2010, replacing James Franco
James Franco
James Edward Franco is an American actor, film director, producer, screenwriter, author, painter, performance artist and instructor at New York University. He left college in order to pursue acting and started off his career by making guest appearances on television series in the 1990s...

, he starred opposite Leonardo DiCaprio
Leonardo DiCaprio
Leonardo Wilhelm DiCaprio is an American actor and film producer. He has received many awards, including a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor for his performance in The Aviator , and has been nominated by the Academy Awards, Screen Actors Guild and the British Academy of Film and Television...

 in Christopher Nolan
Christopher Nolan
Christopher Jonathan James Nolan is a British-American film director, screenwriter and producer.He received serious notice after his second feature Memento , which he wrote and directed based on a story idea by his brother, Jonathan Nolan. Jonathan went to co-write later scripts with him,...

's science fiction thriller Inception
Inception
Inception: The Subconscious Jams 1994-1995 is a compilation of unreleased tracks by the band Download.-Track listing:# "Primitive Tekno Jam" – 3:23# "Bee Sting Sickness" – 8:04# "Weed Acid Techno" – 8:19...

, which received favorable reviews. He played the role of the "Point Man" Arthur, Dom Cobb's (DiCaprio) partner and the person responsible for researching the team's targets.

He will play the younger version of Bruce Willis
Bruce Willis
Walter Bruce Willis , better known as Bruce Willis, is an American actor, producer, and musician. His career began in television in the 1980s and has continued both in television and film since, including comedic, dramatic, and action roles...

's character in the time-traveling thriller Looper
Looper (film)
Looper is an upcoming American science-fiction film directed by Rian Johnson. The film stars Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Bruce Willis, and Emily Blunt. Filming began in Louisiana on January 24, 2011...

. In 2011, he began filming Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight Rises
The Dark Knight Rises
The Dark Knight Rises is an upcoming epic superhero film. Based on the DC Comics character Batman, the film will be the third and final installment in Nolan's Batman film series, and is a sequel to Batman Begins and The Dark Knight...

, in which he plays John Blake, "a Gotham City beat cop assigned to special duty under the command of Commissioner Gordon." Steven Spielberg
Steven Spielberg
Steven Allan Spielberg KBE is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, video game designer, and studio entrepreneur. In a career of more than four decades, Spielberg's films have covered many themes and genres. Spielberg's early science-fiction and adventure films were seen as an...

 cast him to play Robert Todd Lincoln
Robert Todd Lincoln
Robert Todd Lincoln was an American lawyer and Secretary of War, and the first son of President Abraham Lincoln and Mary Todd Lincoln...

 in the 2012 film Lincoln
Lincoln (2012 film)
Lincoln is an upcoming 2012 biographical drama film directed by Steven Spielberg, starring Daniel Day-Lewis as Abraham Lincoln and Sally Field as Mary Todd Lincoln....

.

Directing and producing

Gordon-Levitt's first film as director, the 24 minute-long Sparks, an adaptation of a short story by Elmore Leonard
Elmore Leonard
Elmore John Leonard Jr. , better known as Elmore Leonard, is an American novelist and screenwriter. His earliest published novels in the 1950s were westerns, but Leonard went on to specialize in crime fiction and suspense thrillers, many of which have been adapted into motion pictures.Among his...

, was selected for the 2009 Sundance Film Festival
Sundance Film Festival
The Sundance Film Festival is a film festival that takes place annually in Utah, in the United States. It is the largest independent cinema festival in the United States. Held in January in Park City, Salt Lake City, and Ogden, as well as at the Sundance Resort, the festival is a showcase for new...

 as part of a new program for short films. In 2010, he directed another short film, Morgan and Destiny's Eleventeenth Date: The Zeppelin Zoo. It premiered at two houses during the South by Southwest
South by Southwest
South by Southwest is an Austin, Texas based company dedicated to planning conferences, trade shows, festivals and other events. Their current roster of annual events include: SXSW Music, SXSW Film, SXSW Interactive, SXSWedu, and SXSWeco and take place every spring in Austin, Texas, United States...

 festival in Austin, Texas
Austin, Texas
Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of :Texas and the seat of Travis County. Located in Central Texas on the eastern edge of the American Southwest, it is the fourth-largest city in Texas and the 14th most populous city in the United States. It was the third-fastest-growing large city in...

.

He was one of the many producers of the Broadway show Slava's Snowshow
Slava's Snowshow
Slava's Snowshow is a stage spectacle created and staged by Russian performance artist Slava Polunin. The show won the Drama Desk Award for Unique Theatrical Experience and was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Special Theatrical Event.-External links:...

.

hitRECord

Gordon-Levitt has owned hitRECord.org, an online collaborative production company that shares its profits with contributing artists, since 2004. At its onset, it hosted six videos
Video art
Video art is a type of art which relies on moving pictures and comprises video and/or audio data. . Video art came into existence during the 1960s and 1970s, is still widely practiced and has given rise to the widespread use of video installations...

 and short films.

Beginning in 2009, he opened the website to host films by others. In a 2007 interview in Salon, he described the website as "[an] alternative outlet of where [he] get[s] to be a little less professional and just freak out a little bit." The site has since expanded with more than 10,000 participants collaborating to make songs, images, stories, and short films. According to a 2010 article in Details
Details (magazine)
Details is an American monthly men's magazine published by Condé Nast Publications, founded in 1982. Though primarily a magazine devoted to fashion and lifestyle, Details also features reports on relevant social and political issues.-History:...

 magazine, Gordon-Levitt oversees the site from a bank of computers in his home studio.

RECollection, the first anthology of work from hitRECord, was released in 2011 as a book/CD/DVD package.

Filmography

Film
Year Title Role Notes
1992 Beethoven
Beethoven (film)
Beethoven is a 1992 American family comedy film, directed by Brian Levant and starring Charles Grodin and Bonnie Hunt. The film is the first in the Beethoven film series....

Student #1
1992 Young Norman Young Artist Award
Young Artist Award
The Young Artist Award is an accolade bestowed by the Young Artist Foundation, a non-profit organization founded in 1978 to recognize and award excellence of youth performers, and to provide scholarships for young artists who may be physically and/or financially challenged.The Young Artist...

 for Best Actor Under Ten in a Motion Picture
1994 Holy Matrimony
Holy Matrimony (1994 film)
Holy Matrimony is a 1994 comedy film directed by Leonard Nimoy and starring Patricia Arquette. The film tells the story of a beautiful thief, hiding in a small, isolated religious community, who marries a young boy in order to retrieve a hidden fortune....

Zeke
1994 Roadflower
Roadflower
Roadflower also known as Road Flower or The Road Killers is a 1994 USA thriller/suspense starring ; Joseph Gordon-Levitt and David Arquette alongside familiar faces such as Josh Brolin, Christopher McDonald, John Pyper-Ferguson and the late Adrienne Shelly...

Rich Lerolland
1994 Angels in the Outfield
Angels in the Outfield (1994 film)
Angels in the Outfield is a 1994 remake of the 1951 film of the same name. The film stars Danny Glover, Tony Danza and Christopher Lloyd, and features appearances from future stars, including Adrien Brody, Matthew McConaughey, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, and Neal McDonough.Unlike the original, which...

Roger Bomman Nominated – Saturn Award for Best Performance by a Younger Actor
Saturn Award for Best Performance by a Younger Actor
The following are a list of Saturn Award winners for Best Performance by a Younger Actor:- References :* , Saturn Awards...

1996 Oliver Laird
1998 Sweet Jane
Sweet Jane (film)
Sweet Jane is a 1998 drama about an unlikely friendship that develops between an HIV positive prostitute addicted to heroin and a terminally-ill fifteen-year-old boy. Sweet Jane was directed by Joe Gayton and stars Samantha Mathis as Jane and Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Tony. The film opened at the AFI...

Tony
1998 Halloween H20: 20 Years Later
Halloween H20: 20 Years Later
Halloween H20: Twenty Years Later is a 1998 slasher film and is the seventh installment in the Halloween film series. It is directed by Steve Miner and starring Jamie Lee Curtis, Josh Hartnett, and Michelle Williams. The screenplay, based on a story by Kevin Williamson further developed by Robert...

Jimmy Howell
1999 10 Things I Hate About You
10 Things I Hate about You
10 Things I Hate About You is a 1999 American teen romantic comedy film. It is directed by Gil Junger and stars Heath Ledger, Julia Stiles, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Larisa Oleynik, David Krumholtz, and Larry Miller...

Cameron James Nominated – YoungStar Award for Best Performance by a Young Actor in a Comedy Film
2000 Picking Up the Pieces
Picking Up the Pieces
Picking Up the Pieces is a 2000 film directed by Alfonso Arau and starring Woody Allen.-Story:Allen plays Tex, a butcher who kills his unfaithful wife Candy, played by Sharon Stone. After cutting up the body, Tex buries most of her body parts in the desert in New Mexico. A blind woman accidentally...

Flaco
2001 Manic
Manic (film)
Manic is a 2001 American drama film directed by Jordan Melamed and written by Michael Bacall and Blayne Weaver. It was shown at several film festivals in 2001 and 2002, including the Sundance Film Festival. The region 1 DVD was released January 20, 2004...

Lyle Jensen Released in 2003
2002 Treasure Planet
Treasure Planet
Treasure Planet is a 2002 animated science fiction film produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios, and released by Walt Disney Pictures on November 27, 2002...

Jim Hawkins Animated film; voice role
2003 Latter Days
Latter Days
Latter Days is a 2003 American romantic drama film about a gay relationship between a closeted Mormon missionary and his openly gay neighbor. The film was written and directed by C. Jay Cox. It stars Steve Sandvoss as the missionary, Aaron, and Wes Ramsey as the neighbor, Christian. Joseph...

Elder Paul Ryder
2004 Mysterious Skin
Mysterious Skin
Mysterious Skin is a 2004 drama film directed by American filmmaker Gregg Araki, who also wrote the screenplay based on the 1996 novel of the same name by Scott Heim...

Neil McCormick Golden Space Needle Award for Best Actor
Nominated – Gotham Breakthrough Award
Gotham Awards
The Gotham Awards is an annual ceremony of awards presented to the makers of independent films which takes place in New York City...

2005 Brick
Brick (film)
Brick is a 2005 American neo-noir film written and directed by Rian Johnson. It was Johnson's directorial debut and won the Special Jury Prize for Originality of Vision at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival...

Brendan Frye
2005 Havoc
Havoc (film)
Havoc is a 2005 American film about the lives of wealthy Los Angeles, California teenagers whose exposure to hip hop culture inspires them to imitate the gangster lifestyle...

Sam
2005 Shadowboxer
Shadowboxer
Shadowboxer is a 2005 thriller directed by Lee Daniels that stars Academy Award winners Cuba Gooding, Jr., Helen Mirren, and Mo'Nique. It opened in limited release in six cities: New York, Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., Baltimore, Philadelphia, and Richmond, Virginia.-Plot:Mikey and his stepmother...

Dr. Don
2007 Chris Pratt
2008 Stop-Loss
Stop-Loss (film)
Stop-Loss is a 2008 American drama film directed by Kimberly Peirce and starring Ryan Phillippe, Channing Tatum, Abbie Cornish and Joseph Gordon-Levitt. It was distributed by Paramount Pictures and produced by MTV Films.-Plot:...

Tommy Burgess
2008 Miracle at St. Anna
Miracle at St. Anna
Miracle at St. Anna is a 2008 war film, directed by Spike Lee and written by James McBride, based on McBride's novel of the same name. The film was released on September 26, 2008, and is set during World War II, in fall of 1944 in Tuscany and in the winter of 1983 in New York City and Rome...

Tim Boyle
2008 Bar Patron Uncredited Cameo
2008 Killshot
Killshot (film)
Killshot is a 2009 thriller film based on the 1989 novel of the same name by Elmore Leonard. The film is directed by John Madden and stars Diane Lane and Thomas Jane as a couple who, despite being in a witness protection program, are confronted by the criminal they outed, portrayed by Mickey...

Richie Nix
2009 Big Breaks Todd Sterling
2009 (500) Days of Summer Tom Hansen Nominated – Detroit Film Critics Society Award for Best Actor
Nominated – Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
Nominated – Independent Spirit Award for Best Male Lead
Nominated – People's Choice Award
People's Choice Awards
The People's Choice Awards is an American awards show recognizing the people and the work of popular culture. The show has been held annually since 1975 and is voted on by the general public. The People's Choice Awards air on CBS and are produced by Procter & Gamble and Survivor magnate Mark Burnett...

 for Favorite Breakout Movie Actor
Nominated – Teen Choice Award
Teen Choice Awards
The Teen Choice Awards, are an annual awards show that air on the Fox cable channel, that honor the year's biggest biggest achievements in music, movies, sports, television, fashion and more, voted by teen viewers aged 14 through 17. Winners receive an authentic full size surfboard designed with...

 for Choice Movie Actor: Romantic Comedy
2009 Uncertainty
Uncertainty (film)
Uncertainty is a 2008 indie drama and thriller film, written, produced, and directed by American independent filmmakers Scott McGehee and David Siegel, and starring Lynn Collins and Joseph Gordon-Levitt. It was first released at the 2008 Toronto International Film Festival.Distribution rights were...

Bobby
2009 Women in Trouble
Women in Trouble
Women in Trouble is a 2009 American comedy film, written and directed by Sebastian Gutierrez, and starring a cast consisting of Carla Gugino, Adrianne Palicki, Marley Shelton, Connie Britton and Emmanuelle Chriqui.-Plot:...

Bert Rodriguez
2009 G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra Cobra Commander
Cobra Commander
Cobra Commander is a fictional character from the G.I. Joe franchise. He appears in the toyline, animated series , comic books, video games, and movie as the usual principal antagonist. He is the supreme leader of the terrorist organization Cobra, and archnemesis of the Joes...

Nominated – Teen Choice Award
Teen Choice Awards
The Teen Choice Awards, are an annual awards show that air on the Fox cable channel, that honor the year's biggest biggest achievements in music, movies, sports, television, fashion and more, voted by teen viewers aged 14 through 17. Winners receive an authentic full size surfboard designed with...

 for Choice Movie: Villain
2010 Hesher
Hesher (film)
Hesher is a 2010 American dark comedy/drama film written and directed by Spencer Susser and starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Rainn Wilson, and Natalie Portman. First screened at the Sundance Film Festival January 22, 2010, the film was released in the United States on May 13, 2011...

Hesher
2010 Morgan M. Morgansen's Date with Destiny
Morgan M. Morgansen's Date with Destiny
Morgan M. Morgansen's Date with Destiny is a short film starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Lexy Hulme. The short was produced by Gordon-Levitt's online production company hitrecord.org with contributions from artists all over the world. Gordon-Levitt directed and starred in the piece which was...

Morgan M. Morgansen/Narrator Short film, also director and editor
2010 Elektra Luxx
Elektra Luxx
Elektra Luxx is a 2010 comedy film directed and written by Sebastian Gutierrez featuring Carla Gugino. The film is a sequel to the ensemble comedy, Women in Trouble. The film premiered at the South by Southwest Film Festival 2010, and was released to the rest of the country on March 11, 2011...

Bert Rodriguez
2010 Morgan and Destiny's Eleventeenth Date: The Zeppelin Zoo
Morgan and Destiny's Eleventeenth Date: The Zeppelin Zoo
"Morgan and Destiny's Eleventeenth Date: The Zeppelin Zoo" is a short film starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Lexy Hulme and Channing Tatum. The short is the second installment in the Morgan M. Morgansen series. The first film, "Morgan M. Morgansen's Date with Destiny" premiered at Sundance in 2010 and...

Morgan M. Morgansen/Narrator Short film, also director and editor.
2010 Inception
Inception
Inception: The Subconscious Jams 1994-1995 is a compilation of unreleased tracks by the band Download.-Track listing:# "Primitive Tekno Jam" – 3:23# "Bee Sting Sickness" – 8:04# "Weed Acid Techno" – 8:19...

Arthur Spike TV
Spike TV
Spike is an American cable television channel. It launched on March 7, 1983 as The Nashville Network , a joint venture of WSM, Inc...

's Scream Award for Best Supporting Actor
Spike TV's Scream Award for Fight Scene of the Year
2011 50/50 Adam Hollywood Film Festival
Hollywood Film Festival
The Hollywood Film Festival is an annual Film festival which is located in Los Angeles, California, USA. The Festival was established in 1997 by Carlos de Abreu and his wife, model Janice Pennington....

 Award for Breakthrough Actor
2012 Premium Rush
Premium Rush
Premium Rush is an upcoming 2012 American action thriller film directed by David Koepp and written by Koepp and John Kamps. The film stars Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Michael Shannon, Dania Ramirez and Jamie Chung...

Wilee Post-production
2012 The Dark Knight Rises
The Dark Knight Rises
The Dark Knight Rises is an upcoming epic superhero film. Based on the DC Comics character Batman, the film will be the third and final installment in Nolan's Batman film series, and is a sequel to Batman Begins and The Dark Knight...

John Blake Post-production
2012 Looper
Looper (film)
Looper is an upcoming American science-fiction film directed by Rian Johnson. The film stars Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Bruce Willis, and Emily Blunt. Filming began in Louisiana on January 24, 2011...

Joe Post-Production
2012 Lincoln
Lincoln (2012 film)
Lincoln is an upcoming 2012 biographical drama film directed by Steven Spielberg, starring Daniel Day-Lewis as Abraham Lincoln and Sally Field as Mary Todd Lincoln....

Robert Todd Lincoln
Robert Todd Lincoln
Robert Todd Lincoln was an American lawyer and Secretary of War, and the first son of President Abraham Lincoln and Mary Todd Lincoln...

Filming

Television
Year Title Role Notes
1988 Stranger on My Land Rounder
1988 Family Ties
Family Ties
Family Ties is an American sitcom that aired on NBC for seven seasons, from 1982 to 1989. The sitcom reflected the move in the United States from the cultural liberalism of the 1960s and 1970s to the conservatism of the 1980s. This was particularly expressed through the relationship between young...

Dougie Episodes: "Sign of the Times"; "Father, Can You Spare a Dime?"
1989 Settle the Score Justin
1990 Murder, She Wrote
Murder, She Wrote
Murder, She Wrote is an American television mystery series starring Angela Lansbury as mystery writer and amateur detective Jessica Fletcher. The series aired for 12 seasons from 1984 to 1996 on the CBS network, with 264 episodes transmitted. It was followed by four TV films and a spin-off series,...

Boy #1 Episode: "Shear Madness"
1991 Dark Shadows
Dark Shadows (1991)
Dark Shadows, often referred to as Dark Shadows: The Revival Series, is a re-imagining of Dan Curtis's original Dark Shadows television series which aired from June 27, 1966 to April 2, 1971 on ABC. It aired as a weekly show during primetime...

Daniel/David Collins Series regular
1991 Changes
Changes (1991 film)
Changes, also known as Danielle Steel's Changes, is a 1991 television film directed by Charles Jarrott. The film is based upon the 1983 novel of the same name written by Danielle Steel.-Plot:...

Matthew "Matt" Hallam
1991 Hi Honey - I'm Dead
Hi Honey - I'm Dead
Hi Honey - I'm Dead is a 1991 Fox Network made-for-tv film, starring Curtis Armstrong and Catherine Hicks.-Plot summary:Brad Stadler is a dishonest real estate developer, who spends too much time at work. Brad cheats on his wife and has no time for son Josh's baseball games. So one day, the God...

Josh Stadler
1991 Plymouth Simon
1991 China Beach
China Beach
China Beach is an American dramatic television series set at an evacuation hospital during the Vietnam War. The title refers to My Khe beach in the city of Da Nang, Vietnam, which was nicknamed "China Beach" by unknown foreigners, most likely Americans...

Archie Winslow, Age 9 Episode: "Quest"
1991 Quantum Leap Kyle Episode: "Permanent Wave"
Nominated – Young Artist Award
Young Artist Award
The Young Artist Award is an accolade bestowed by the Young Artist Foundation, a non-profit organization founded in 1978 to recognize and award excellence of youth performers, and to provide scholarships for young artists who may be physically and/or financially challenged.The Young Artist...

 for Best Young Actor Guest Starring in a Television Series
1991 L.A. Law
L.A. Law
L.A. Law is a US television legal drama that ran on NBC from September 15, 1986 to May 19, 1994. L.A. Law reflected the social and cultural ideologies of the 1980s and early 1990s and many of the cases featured on the show dealt with hot topic issues such as abortion, racism, gay rights,...

Episode: "Lose the Law"
1992–1993 Pierce Van Horne Series regular
Nominated – Young Artist Award
Young Artist Award
The Young Artist Award is an accolade bestowed by the Young Artist Foundation, a non-profit organization founded in 1978 to recognize and award excellence of youth performers, and to provide scholarships for young artists who may be physically and/or financially challenged.The Young Artist...

 for Best Young Actor in a New Television Series
1993 Partners
1993 Gregory K a.k.a. Switching Parents Gregory Kingsley
Gregory Kingsley
Gregory Ralph Kingsley made legal history in the United States when he went to court to sever his legal ties to his parents—and won.-Early life:Kingsley was born in Denver, Colorado to Ralph Kingsley, Senior and Rachel Kingsley...

1993 Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman
Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman
Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman is an American post-Civil War western/drama series created by Beth Sullivan. Dr. Michaela "Mike" Quinn, played by Jane Seymour, left Boston in search of adventure. She goes to Colorado Springs, Colorado where she establishes herself as doctor/adviser.The show ran on CBS...

Zack Lawson Episode: "The Secret"
1993–1995 Roseanne
Roseanne (TV series)
Roseanne is an American sitcom broadcast on ABC from October 18, 1988 to May 20, 1997. Starring Roseanne Barr, the show revolved around the Conners, an Illinois working class family...

George Episodes: "Daughters and Other Strangers"; "I Pray the Lord My Stove to Keep"; "Follow the Son"; "Single Married Female
1995 Matthew
1996–2001 3rd Rock from the Sun
3rd Rock from the Sun
3rd Rock from the Sun is an American sitcom that aired from 1996 to 2001 on NBC. The show is about four extraterrestrials who are on an expedition to Earth, which they consider to be a very insignificant planet...

Tommy Solomon
Tommy Solomon (3rd Rock from the Sun)
Tommy Solomon is a fictional character created by Bonnie and Terry Turner from the American sitcom 3rd Rock from the Sun. He was portrayed by Joseph Gordon-Levitt.-Ironic age:...

Series regular
YoungStar Award for Best Performance by a Young Actor in a Comedy TV Series (1997, 1998)
Nominated – Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series (1997, 1998, 1999)
Nominated – Teen Choice Award
Teen Choice Awards
The Teen Choice Awards, are an annual awards show that air on the Fox cable channel, that honor the year's biggest biggest achievements in music, movies, sports, television, fashion and more, voted by teen viewers aged 14 through 17. Winners receive an authentic full size surfboard designed with...

 for Choice TV Actor (1999)
Nominated – Young Artist Award
Young Artist Award
The Young Artist Award is an accolade bestowed by the Young Artist Foundation, a non-profit organization founded in 1978 to recognize and award excellence of youth performers, and to provide scholarships for young artists who may be physically and/or financially challenged.The Young Artist...

 for Best Performance in a TV Comedy – Supporting Young Actor (1997)
1998 That '70s Show
That '70s Show
That '70s Show is an American television period sitcom that centers on the lives of a group of teenage friends living in the fictional suburban town of Point Place, Wisconsin, from May 17, 1976, to December 31, 1979...

Buddy Morgan Episode: "Eric's Buddy"
2000 Zach Episode: "Something About Harry"
2000 Forever Lulu Martin Ellsworth
2005 Numb3rs
NUMB3RS
Numb3rs is an American television drama which premiered on CBS on January 23, 2005, and concluded on March 12, 2010. The series was created by Nicolas Falacci and Cheryl Heuton, and follows FBI Special Agent Don Eppes and his mathematical genius brother, Charlie Eppes , who helps Don solve crimes...

Scott Reynolds Episode: "Sacrifice"

External links

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