joseph leonard gordon-levitt (; born february 17, 1981) is an american actor, filmmaker, singer, and entrepreneur. as a child, gordon-levitt appeared in the films "a river runs through it", "angels in the outfield", "holy matrimony" and "10 things i hate about you", 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. he has since starred in "(500) days of summer", "inception", "hesher", "50/50", "premium rush", "miracle at st. anna, the brothers bloom," "the dark knight rises", "brick", "looper", "the lookout", "manic", "lincoln", "mysterious skin", and "". he portrayed philippe petit in the robert zemeckis-directed film "the walk" (2015), and whistleblower edward snowden in the oliver stone film "snowden" (2016). for his leading performances in ("500) days of summer" and "50/50", he was nominated for the golden globe award for best actor – motion picture musical or comedy.