Joseph Gordon-Levitt

Josephs parents, Jane Gordon and Dennis Levitt, met as activists in California. Gordon ran for Congress, in 1970, with the Peace and Freedom Party.

Graduated from Van Nuys High School with honors in June 1999.

Began acting at the age of six with auditioning and landing small roles in commercials and television until he landed his breakout role in "3rd Rock from the Sun" .

Josephs paternal grandfather, Milton Levitt, was born Milton Levitz in Ohio; Miltons father, Louis Levitz, was a Russian Jewish immigrant, and Miltons mother, Fraudel "Fannie" Isaacson, was born in 1894, in then-Ottoman Palestine, to a Russian Jewish family (that wave of movement to the area was known as the "First Aliyah"). Josephs paternal grandmother, Celia Roth, was born in Pennsylvania, to Polish Jewish parents. Josephs maternal grandfather, Michael Gordon, was born Irving Kunin Gordon in Maryland, to a Jewish family from Lithuania and Russia, while Josephs maternal grandmother, Elizabeth A. Cohn, was born in Ohio, to a Romanian Jewish father and a Russian Jewish mother. Josephs grandfather Michael Gordon was a prominent Hollywood film director, who directed such classic films as Cyrano de Bergerac , Pillow Talk , Portrait in Black , and many others. His career was crippled when he was blacklisted during the McCarthy-era "Red Scare" panic that swept the US in the 1950s.

After spending six seasons on "3rd Rock from the Sun" , he attended Columbia University in New York City. He studied history, literature and French poetry.

Auditioned for the role of Elder Aaron Davis in Latter Days before winning the role of Elder Paul Ryder.

His favorite actors include Daniel Day-Lewis , Warren Oates , Gary Oldman , and Gena Rowlands.

He appeared in a preschool production of "The Wizard of Oz" before he began acting professionally.

Was born and raised in Los Angeles, California, but moved to New York City after attending college at Columbia University.

Good friends with Mysterious Skin co-star, Michelle Trachtenberg.

Was ranked #6 on Entertainment Weeklys 30 Under 30 the actors list .

Had an older brother, Dan Gordon-Levitt , who passed away in October 2010. He was a photographer and a world-renowned fire spinner.

Joseph was nominated for a Tony Award in 2009 for Best Special Theatrical Event with his fellow producers of the Broadway show "Slavas Snowshow".

Originally, James Franco was set to play the role of Arthur in Inception ; however, due to scheduling conflicts, James was forced to drop out of the film and the director of the film, Christopher Nolan , later gave the role to Joseph.

Enjoys playing the drums and the guitar.

Good friends with Channing Tatum and David Krumholtz. Also friends with Leonardo DiCaprio , Zooey Deschanel , Anne Hathaway , and Emily Blunt.

Joseph is often said to bear a striking resemblance to his 10 Things I Hate About You co-star, Heath Ledger. Both actors also played significant roles in Christopher Nolan s Batman trilogy with Heath as Batmans nemesis, The Joker, in The Dark Knight and Joseph as Batmans ally, Officer John Blake, in The Dark Knight Rises .

He has said that he has been told many times by producers that he needed to pack on some weight because he appeared "too skinny" on screen. He did bulk up recently, but only to more greatly resemble a young Bruce Willis in their film Looper .

Speaks French.

He is entirely of Ashkenazi Jewish descent.

Beijing, China: Filming his movie Looper .

(May 2011) London, England, United Kingdom: Filming The Dark Knight Rises .

When Marion Cotillard was honored at Hollywood Film Festival in 2012, he presented the tribute to her in French, Cotillards native language. Levitt and Cotillard were co-stars in Inception and The Dark Knight Rises .

Grew up with Beverley Mitchell. They attended the same acting class for many years as aspiring child actors.

He has appeared in five projects that featured a number in the titles: Halloween H20: 20 Years Later , 10 Things I Hate About You , "3rd Rock from the Sun" , (500) Days of Summer and 50/50 .

Has starred in three films with good friends Channing Tatum and Anne Hathaway. He and Tatum starred in Stop-Loss and G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra . He and Hathaway starred in Havoc and The Dark Knight Rises and all three of them starred together in Don Jon (which Levitt wrote and directed).

He and his good friend Zooey Deschanel starred in two films together: Manic and (500) Days of Summer .

Always wears colorful, mismatched socks as a tribute to his late brother.

Most scripts are bad. I read a lot of them. Brick (2005) was a,good script just to read. It was like, "Oh my God, these words feel so,good in my mouth". A lot of movies try to set up a world with cool,sets, costumes, camera work. In Brick (2005) , the world is born,from the words.

Most love stories that are told in Hollywood are just bullshit, and,everyone knows it. You go there expecting to be sold a bill of goods,that you know is wrong. And sometimes you go anyway, like if a girl,drags you or something.

The most valiant thing you can do as an artist is inspire someone else,to be creative.

I spent a lot of time--most of my days--thinking about what it would be,like to be facing death while I was shooting 50/50 (2011) . But,to be honest, I think about that all the time anyway.

If you want to talk about an immoral movie, those are the movies that,are just blindly reinforcing these clichs of love at first sight,first kiss . . . get married and ride off together into the sunset.

A man touched me: his hand. . . my thigh. I touched him too: my fist. . . his jaw.

His hands were weak and shaking from carrying far too many books from the bookshop. It was the best feeling.

The Sun is such a lonely star. Whenever he comes out to see his friends, they all disappear.

Mapmaker mapmakermake me a mapone to one scale, without a single gap. Map every rock,every thought, every treeand erase all the territory.

I think there is something beautiful in reveling in sadness. The proof is how beautiful sad songs can be. So I don’t think being sad is to be avoided. It’s apathy and boredom you want to avoid. But feeling anything is good, I think. Maybe that’s sadistic of me.

Life and Death took a break,weary from their burdensome role. Nobody lived or died that day.

She drank in all their compliments and soon she was full of herself.

After you died I realized thatI never really like hunting. I just like hanging out with you.

Hollywood has the idea that movies have to be dumb. But especially movies for or about teenagers have to be really dumb!,My dad never blew anything up, but he probably had friends who did. He and my mom have always preached that the pen is mightier than a Molotov cocktail.

Even today, in our progressive times, in most movies that come out, the men have to have biceps and the women have to be thin or something.

When I arrived at Columbia, I gave up acting and became interested in all things French. French poetry, French history, French literature.