TRUST Trivia: Joseph Gordon-Levitt

LA native Joseph Gordon-Levitt proves to be man-of-the-hour once again with the September 27th wide-release of “Don Jon,” his first directorial feature.  In the film, he plays the role of Jon, an internet-porn addicted ladies-man bartender from Jersey, alongside Tony Danza and love-interest Scarlett Johansson. The film’s 3.5/4-star rating on Peter Travers’ Rolling-Stone movie review sparked our interest about the debuting director we already love as an actor from movies such as “50/50,” “The Dark Knight Rises,” “Inception,” and “500 Days of Summer.”

Now’s the time to brush up on some trivia on the rising Hollywood renaissance man:

Cougars love him.

He began dating his much older “10 Things I Hate About You” co-star, Julia Stiles, after the two met on set in 1999.

He arguably never had an awkward phase.

Gordon-Levitt’s role as an alien teenager in the NBC sitcom “3rd Rock From the Sun” (1996) allowed him to dodge the usual Hollywood struggle and transition seamlessly from child star to established, adult actor.

He’s an Ivy-Leaguer.

He attended Columbia University in New York City, where he studied history, literature, and French poetry.  C’est vrai,  he speaks French.

He gets lucky.

He began to gain recognition after he joined the cast of Christopher Nolan’s science-fiction film “Inception,” (2010).  His role in the film was originally supposed to be played by James Franco, who was forced to drop out due to scheduling conflicts.

He is a descendent of Hollywood history.

Gordon-Levitt’s maternal grandfather, Michael Gordon, director of Cyrano de Bergerac (1950) and Pillow Talk (1959), was blacklisted during the McCarthy-Era Red Scare.  His career was paralyzed.  

He is popular in Tinseltown.

He is good friends with his Mysterious Skin (2004) co-star, Michelle Trachtenberg.

He plays favorites.

Daniel Day-Lewis, Warren Oates, Gary Oldman, and Gena Rowlands are some of his favorite actors.

As they say, the mentors make the man.