Joseph Leonard Gordon-Levitt is an American actor. He has received various accolades, including nominations for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy for his leading performances in 500 Days of Summer and 50/50. 

Early Life

Joseph Leonard Gordon-Levitt was born on February 17, 1981, in Los Angeles, California, and was raised in the Sherman Oaks neighborhood. He has stated that he is of "100% Ashkenazi Jewish" descent, from a family that is "not strictly religious". His parents were among the founders of the Progressive Jewish Alliance. Gordon-Levitt's 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; she met Dennis Levitt while she was working as the program guide editor for KPFK-FM. Gordon-Levitt's 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.

Personal Life

On October 4, 2010, Gordon-Levitt's older brother, Daniel Gordon-Levitt, was found dead in Hollywood, California, at the age of 36. According to the Los Angeles County Coroner's Office, Daniel's cause of death was "ketamine intoxication, with the injury occurring by intake of overdose". Joseph Gordon-Levitt has publicly disputed the claim that his brother's death was caused by a drug overdose.

In October 2013, Gordon-Levitt identified himself as a feminist, giving credit to his mother: "My mom brought me up to be a feminist. She was active in the movement in the 1960s and 1970s. The Hollywood movie industry has come a long way since its past. It certainly has a bad history of sexism, but it ain't all the way yet."

In December 2014, Gordon-Levitt married Tasha McCauley, the founder and CEO of technology company Fellow Robots. Their first child, a son, was born in August 2015. Their second son was born in June 2017. He and McCauley do not want to reveal any details of their children to the media, including their first names. He has been living with his family in Wellington since October 2020, after moving his new TV production to New Zealand in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Gordon-Levitt has expressed support for the effective altruism movement. In 2017, he spoke at the Effective Altruism Global conference in San Francisco.