Joseph Gordon-Levitt is an American actor and filmmaker. As a child star, he appeared in the films A River Runs Through It (1992), Angels in the Outfield (1994) and 10 Things I Hate About You (1999), and as Tommy Solomon in the TV series 3rd Rock from the Sun. He took a break from acting to study at Columbia University, but dropped out in 2004 to pursue acting again.

Levitt has since starred in such films as Brick (2005), The Lookout (2007), Inception (2010), 50/50 (2011), Premium Rush (2012), Looper (2012), The Dark Knight Rises (2012) and Don Jon (2013). He is the founder of the online media platform HitRecord whose projects such as HitRecord on TV (2014–15) and Create Together (2020) won him two Primetime Emmy Awards in the category of Outstanding Interactive Program. Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s Family: Dennis Levitt And Jane Gordon.

Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s Father: Dennis Levitt

Dennis Levitt was once the news director for the Pacifica Radio station, KPFK-FM. He is best known as the father of Joseph Gordon-Levitt, who had a supporting role in 10 Things I Hate About You (1999) and voiced Jim Hawkins in the Disney animated Treasure Planet (2002) before taking a break from acting to study at Columbia University, but dropped out in 2004 to resume his acting career.

Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s Mother: Jane Gordon

Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s mother, Jane Gordon, ran for the United States Congress in California during the 1970s for the Peace and Freedom Party; she met Dennis Levitt while she was working as the program guide editor for KPFK-FM.

She was born Jane Denise in 1954 in Los Angeles, California. Her father was an aerospace engineer and her mother was a homemaker. His maternal grandfather, Michael Gordon (1909–1993), was a Hollywood film director. Gordon-Levitt had an older brother, Dan, a photographer and fire spinner who died in 2010 at the age of 36. Gordon-Levitt attended Van Nuys High School and graduated in 1999.

Gordon attended the University of Southern California, where she studied English literature. She met her future husband, Dennis Levitt, while they were students at USC. The couple married in 1977 and had their first child, Joseph, the following year.

Gordon is a stay-at-home mom who has been supportive of her son’s acting career from the beginning. In fact, it was she who encouraged him to pursue acting after he expressed an interest in it when he was just six years old. She has appeared in a few of her son’s films, including 10 Things I Hate About You (1999), in which she played the mother of Heath Ledger’s character, and 500 Days of Summer (2009).