Joseph Leonard Gordon-Levitt is an American actor, singer, director and screenwriter. He played Tommy Solomon during the shows six season run.
Biography[]
Early Life[]
Gordon-Levitt was born in Los Angeles, California, and was raised in its Sherman Oaks neighborhood. He is Jewish, from a family that is "not strictly religious"; his parents were among the founders of the Progressive Jewish Alliance.
His father, Dennis Levitt, was once the news director for the Pacifica Radio station, KPFK-FM. His mother, Jane Gordon, ran for the United States Congress in California during the 1970s for the Peace and Freedom Party. Gordon-Levitt's maternal grandfather, Michael Gordon, was a Hollywood film director between the 1940s and 1970s, and directed the 1959 Doris Day/Rock Hudson film Pillow Talk.
Acting Career[]
Gordon-Levitt made his screen debut at the age of 6 in several made-for-television movies. He has also stared in many television episodes including Murder, She Wrote, Family Ties, Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman and Roseanne. In 1992 Gordon-Levitt stared in 13 of the short lived television series 'The Powers That Be' as Pierce Van Horne. In 1996 he landed a starring role in the NBC sitcom 3rd Rock from the Sun as Tommy Solomon. He stared in 131 of the 139 episodes.
In 2000, he began attending Columbia University School of General Studies. He studied history, literature, and French poetry, which accounts for his sporadic appearances in season 6 He became an avid Francophile and a French speaker. He dropped out in 2004 to concentrate on acting again.
Since 2004 Gordon-Levitt has appeared in many Hollywood films including 'The Lookout', '500 Days of Summer', 'G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra', '50/50' and 'Don Jon'
Directing Career[]
Gordon-Levitt's first film as director, the 24 minute-long Sparks, an adaptation of a short story by Elmore Leonard starring Carla Gugino and Eric Stoltz, was selected for the 2009 Sundance Film Festival 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 festival in Austin, Texas.
He was one of the many producers of the Broadway show Slava's Snowshow. In 2013, Gordon-Levitt wrote, directed and starred in his screenwriting and directorial debut, Don Jon. The film also stars Scarlett Johansson, Julianne Moore, and Tony Danza, and premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2013. Following the premiere, the film was acquired by Relativity Media and Gordon-Levitt stated: "I always intended this to be a movie for a mass popular audience. Everyone told me it was a long shot ... I couldn't possibly be more grateful."
Selected Filmography[]
Below is a selected filmography. For a full filmography click here
Film[]
- 1999 - 10 Things I Hate About You - (Cameron James)
- 2002 - Treasure Planet - (Jim Hawkins)
- 2004 - Mysterious Skin - (Neil McCormick)
- 2009 - (500) Days of Summer - (Tom Hansen)
- 2011 - 50/50 - (Adam Lerner)
- 2013 - Don Jon - (Jon "Don Jon" Martello)
Television[]
- 1992 - The Powers That Be - (Pierce Van Horne)
- 1996-2001 - 3rd Rock from the Sun - (Tommy Solomon)
- 1998 - That '70s Show - (Buddy Morgan)
- 2009-2012 -SNL - (Host)
External Links[]
- Joseph Gordon-Levitt at IMDB.com
- hitRECord Official website
- Joseph Gordon-Levitt at Rotten Tomatoes
- Joseph Gordon-Levitt at Wikipedia