Performer
A performer whose catalogue work here is strong, with the fuller case still to be made.
Nutevio rank
#382
of 909177 performers
Top 1%
Joseph Gordon-Levitt represents the rare performer whose career became more ambitious with every decade — 35 years in, and Joseph is still choosing the harder script.
The essay
Our editors on the work, the patterns and the reason this body of work holds together.
Joseph Gordon-Levitt appears in 49 films in the Nutevio catalogue, and none of them would work the same way without Joseph. Precision and lightness — the most technically clean performer of his generation of child actors. Inception is the clearest case: a film rated 9.3 by our editors, where the performance carries weight the script only implies.
The recognisable elements are versatility, transformation, quiet performance. Watch two of these films back to back and the method separates from the material — the same instrument, tuned differently for mystery, horror, comedy. It is a style built on what is withheld as much as what is played.
Working with Rian Johnson, Logic, Potsy Ponciroli and others, Joseph Gordon-Levitt helped set a standard other performers now audition against. Awards bodies have been slower than the work, which is usually the sign of a career built on choices rather than campaigns.
Inception (2010) as Arthur · Inception (2010) as Arthur · Knives Out (2019) as Detective Hardrock (voice)
Career snapshot
Ranked #382 of 909177 performers tracked in the Nutevio library.
Films in Nutevio
49
1992–2027
Career length
38 yrs
Active since 1988
Academy Awards
—
Unknown
Oscar nominations
—
Unknown
Highest Nutevio score
9.3
Inception
Average Nutevio score
6.4
Across catalogue work
Highest IMDb rating
8.8
Inception
Most frequent director
Rian Johnson
7 films together
Longest collaboration
7×
With Rian Johnson
Most common genre
Drama
25 titles
Average runtime
1h 46m
Across catalogue work
Golden Globe wins
—
Unknown
Nutevio metric
Ten weighted categories, applied identically to everyone we cover.
Nutevio Performer Score
7.1
out of 10
A performer whose catalogue work here is strong, with the fuller case still to be made.
Nutevio metric
Cultural impact and legacy, measured separately from craft — how far the work travelled once it left the cinema.
Nutevio Influence Score
7.0
out of 10
A quieter influence — felt inside the films rather than across the industry.
How far the work travelled past the people who saw it first.
What survives once the release-week conversation has burned off.
Institutional acknowledgement, weighted but never decisive.
Years of chosen, relevant work rather than years merely employed.
Statuettes, read as evidence rather than verdict.
Roles named without needing the film named alongside them.
Directors who wrote parts because this performer existed.
The reading other performers now have to answer.
Actor DNA
A fingerprint derived from the roles themselves — register, range and the kind of film they carry.
The shape of a career
Every performance plotted in time. Hover a point to read the title behind it.
Peak years
Where the scores, the awards and the sheer volume of work agree with each other.
Best decade
2010s
6.9 average MV
The 2010s are where the work and the material meet. Knives Out, 7500, Band Together with Logic — the run our editors reach for first when the argument is about range rather than fame.
Highest average Nutevio score
2010s
6.9
Across 18 catalogue films in this decade, our scores never drop below the level a career is judged on.
Highest average IMDb rating
2010s
6.8
The public agrees most strongly about this stretch — useful context, and occasionally a decade behind our own reading.
Most awarded era
2010s
4 Academy Awards
Statuettes for the films themselves, which is the honest way to read an ensemble career. Knives Out, 7500, Band Together with Logic.
Most productive era
2010s
18 films
The busiest stretch of the catalogue — volume that reads as appetite rather than availability.
Range, mapped
Genres down the side, decades across the top. Warmer cells mean stronger titles.
| Genre | 1990s | 2000s | 2010s | 2020s |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Drama | 7.32 films | 6.510 films | 6.88 films | 5.65 films |
| Action | — | 5.81 film | 7.48 films | 5.93 films |
| Thriller | 6.02 films | 6.13 films | 7.27 films | 7.21 film |
| Comedy | 6.53 films | 7.03 films | 6.55 films | 6.67 films |
| Sci-Fi | — | — | 9.31 film | — |
| Crime | 5.71 film | 6.24 films | 7.25 films | 6.45 films |
| Romance | 7.71 film | 7.03 films | — | 5.81 film |
| Horror | 6.21 film | — | — | 0.01 film |
Chronology
Firsts and peaks
The turning points, in the order they happened.
Career begins
1988Working from 1988
The start of the professional record — years before the catalogue picks the story up.
First film in Nutevio
Where our catalogue meets this career, as Young Norman.
First Nutevio masterpiece · Highest rated performance · Career peak
2010Inception
The first film here to clear 9.0 on our scale — a threshold fewer than one film in ten reaches. 9.3 on the Nutevio scale, the top of the catalogue for this performer. Weighing billing against the film's own quality, this is the point where everything aligned at once.
Most recent film
2027Pendulum
The current state of the argument, as Patrick.
Our order
Every performance in the catalogue, ordered by Nutevio Score.
Every title
Filter by genre or decade, and compare any two titles side by side.
49 of 49 films
as Arthur
Directed by Christopher Nolan
as Arthur
Directed by Christopher Nolan
as Neil McCormick
Directed by Gregg Araki
as Jim Hawkins (voice)
Directed by John Musker
as Blake
Directed by Christopher Nolan
From the library
Every movie and TV credit stored for this name in the Nutevio catalogue — filter by media, role or sort by rating.
Showing 24 of 53 titles · 56 total credits · active 1982–2027
Pendulum
2027 · Patrick
Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery
2025 · Baseball Announcer (voice)
Paradise Records
2025 · The Negotiator
Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F
2024 · Detective Bobby Abbott
Killer Heat
2024 · Nick Bali
Greedy People
2024 · Terry
Once Upon a Studio
2023 · Jim Hawkins (voice) (archive sound)
Flora and Son
2023 · Jeff
Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery
2022 · Hourly Dong (voice)
Pinocchio
2022 · Jiminy Cricket (voice)
Super Pumped: The Battle for Uber
2022 · Travis 'Tk' Kalanick
Super Pumped: The Battle for Uber
2022 · TV · Travis 'TK' Kalanick
Amend: The Fight for America
2021 · TV · Self
The Trial of the Chicago 7
2020 · Richard Schultz
Project Power
2020 · Frank
Knives Out
2019 · Detective Hardrock (voice)
7500
2019 · Tobias Ellis
Band Together with Logic
2019 · Self · Director · Executive Producer
Star Wars: The Last Jedi
2017 · Slowen Lo (voice)
Snowden
2016 · Edward Snowden
The Night Before
2015 · Ethan
The Walk
2015 · Philippe Petit
The Interview
2014 · Self (uncredited)
Sin City: A Dame to Kill For
2014 · Johnny
The defining work
#1
Arthur
Inception (2010)
Performance score9.4
The performance the rest of the career is read through. Arthur gives Joseph Gordon-Levitt a structure to work against, and the film hands over its centre of gravity without hesitation.
View movie#2
Arthur
Inception (2010)
Performance score8.8
Inception asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Arthur is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#3
Neil McCormick
Mysterious Skin (2005)
Performance score8.2
Mysterious Skin asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Neil McCormick is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#4
Jim Hawkins (voice)
Treasure Planet (2002)
Performance score8.1
Treasure Planet asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Jim Hawkins (voice) is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movieStart here
A guided path through the work, ordered so each film explains the next.
Best entry point
as Arthur
Start here. Inception is the clearest statement of what Joseph Gordon-Levitt does — accessible, 148 minutes, and rated 9.3 by our editors. No context required.
Our editors order this path by accessibility first and chronology second. You meet Joseph at the most legible performance, then move forward in time so each film reads as a response to the one before it rather than a repetition of it.
Treasure Planet (2002)
A deliberate change of key after Inception — same instrument, unfamiliar tuning, and the reason range gets mentioned.
Mysterious Skin (2005)
A deliberate change of key after Treasure Planet — same instrument, unfamiliar tuning, and the reason range gets mentioned.
Inception (2010)
A deliberate change of key after Mysterious Skin — same instrument, unfamiliar tuning, and the reason range gets mentioned.
The Dark Knight Rises (2012)
Same director as Inception, different problem to solve. Watching them in order shows how much of the effect was the collaboration.
Company kept
The directors and performers this career keeps returning to.
Rian Johnson
Director
7 films together
Notably Knives Out
Christopher Nolan
Director
3 films together
Notably Inception
Jonathan Levine
Director
2 films together
Notably 50/50
Robert Zemeckis
Director
2 films together
Notably The Walk
Brian Levant
Director
1 film together
Notably Beethoven
Robert Redford
Director
1 film together
Notably A River Runs Through It
William Dear
Director
1 film together
Notably Angels in the Outfield
Brian Gibson
Director
1 film together
Notably The Juror
Steve Miner
Director
1 film together
Notably Halloween H20: 20 Years Later
Gil Junger
Director
1 film together
Notably 10 Things I Hate About You
John Musker
Director
1 film together
Notably Treasure Planet
Gregg Araki
Director
1 film together
Notably Mysterious Skin
Barbara Kopple
Director
1 film together
Notably Havoc
Scott Frank
Director
1 film together
Notably The Lookout
John Madden
Director
1 film together
Notably Killshot
Spike Lee
Director
1 film together
Notably Miracle at St. Anna
Kimberly Peirce
Director
1 film together
Notably Stop-Loss
Stephen Sommers
Director
1 film together
Notably G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra
Marc Webb
Director
1 film together
Notably (500) Days of Summer
Spencer Susser
Director
1 film together
Notably Hesher
David Koepp
Director
1 film together
Notably Premium Rush
Steven Spielberg
Director
1 film together
Notably Lincoln
Frank Miller
Director
1 film together
Notably Sin City: A Dame to Kill For
Evan Goldberg
Director
1 film together
Notably The Interview
Oliver Stone
Director
1 film together
Notably Snowden
Joseph Gordon-Levitt
Director
1 film together
Notably Band Together with Logic
Henry Joost
Director
1 film together
Notably Project Power
Aaron Sorkin
Director
1 film together
Notably The Trial of the Chicago 7
John Carney
Director
1 film together
Notably Flora and Son
Dan Abraham
Director
1 film together
Notably Once Upon a Studio
Potsy Ponciroli
Director
1 film together
Notably Greedy People
Logic
Director
1 film together
Notably Paradise Records
Michael Caine
Actor
1 film together
Notably Inception
Leonardo DiCaprio
Actor
1 film together
Notably Inception
Ken Watanabe
Actor
1 film together
Notably Inception
Tom Hardy
Actor
1 film together
Notably Inception
Elliot Page
Actor
1 film together
Notably Inception
Dileep Rao
Actor
1 film together
Notably Inception
Cillian Murphy
Actor
1 film together
Notably Inception
Tom Berenger
Actor
1 film together
Notably Inception
Marion Cotillard
Actor
1 film together
Notably Inception
Pete Postlethwaite
Actor
1 film together
Notably Inception
Lukas Haas
Actor
1 film together
Notably Inception
Talulah Riley
Actor
1 film together
Notably Inception
Behind the camera
Who casts this performer, how often, and what the pairing produces.
Rian Johnson
Director
7 films together · 7.1 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 7 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
Knives OutChristopher Nolan
Director
3 films together · 8.7 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 3 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
InceptionRobert Zemeckis
Director
2 films together · 6.7 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 2 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
The WalkJonathan Levine
Director
2 films together · 6.7 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 2 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
50/50Dan Abraham
Director
1 film together · 7.7 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Once Upon a StudioAaron Sorkin
Director
1 film together · 7.7 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The Trial of the Chicago 7Gregg Araki
Director
1 film together · 7.7 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Mysterious SkinGil Junger
Director
1 film together · 7.7 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
10 Things I Hate About YouJohn Musker
Director
1 film together · 7.6 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Treasure PlanetMarc Webb
Director
1 film together · 7.4 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
(500) Days of SummerOliver Stone
Director
1 film together · 7.1 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
SnowdenRobert Redford
Director
1 film together · 7.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
A River Runs Through ItJohn Carney
Director
1 film together · 6.9 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Flora and SonSteven Spielberg
Director
1 film together · 6.9 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
LincolnSpencer Susser
Director
1 film together · 6.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
HesherScott Frank
Director
1 film together · 6.7 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The LookoutHenry Joost
Director
1 film together · 6.4 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Project PowerFrank Miller
Director
1 film together · 6.4 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Sin City: A Dame to Kill ForDavid Koepp
Director
1 film together · 6.4 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Premium RushPotsy Ponciroli
Director
1 film together · 6.3 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Greedy PeopleEvan Goldberg
Director
1 film together · 6.2 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The InterviewSteve Miner
Director
1 film together · 6.2 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Halloween H20: 20 Years LaterKimberly Peirce
Director
1 film together · 6.1 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Stop-LossSpike Lee
Director
1 film together · 6.1 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Miracle at St. AnnaWilliam Dear
Director
1 film together · 6.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Angels in the OutfieldStephen Sommers
Director
1 film together · 5.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
G.I. Joe: The Rise of CobraJohn Madden
Director
1 film together · 5.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
KillshotBrian Levant
Director
1 film together · 5.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
BeethovenBrian Gibson
Director
1 film together · 5.7 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The JurorBarbara Kopple
Director
1 film together · 5.3 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
HavocLogic
Director
1 film together · 4.7 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Paradise RecordsJoseph Gordon-Levitt
Director
1 film together · 4.7 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Band Together with LogicSix degrees
Follow the thread outward — director, film, co-star, and the film after that.
Recognition
1 win
1 win · latest 2011
Inception
Categories of our own
Six editorial categories we apply to every performer we cover.
Most rewatchable
Inception
as Arthur
The one that survives a fourth viewing. Nothing in the performance depends on surprise, which is why it keeps paying out.
Most emotional performance
The Trial of the Chicago 7
as Richard Schultz
Grief played at conversational volume. The film never asks the audience to cry; the performance simply makes it difficult not to.
Most influential performance
Inception
as Arthur
You can hear this reading in other actors' auditions a decade later — the surest measure of influence there is.
Best ensemble performance
Once Upon a Studio
as Jim Hawkins (voice) (archive sound)
Work that makes everyone else in the frame better without ever pulling the camera towards itself.
Career defining performance
Inception
as Arthur
If the career had to be argued in a single scene, our editors would pick one from this film and rest the case.
In their films' words
“You can build a whole film around a performer who knows when not to speak. Joseph Gordon-Levitt has known it for a long time.”
“You mustn't be afraid to dream a little bigger, darling.”
“An idea is like a virus. Resilient. Highly contagious.”
Head to head
Put two careers on the same scale and see where the argument actually sits.
| Nutevio Performer Score | 8.4 | 9.0 |
|---|---|---|
| Career ranking | #48 of 681 | #1 of 681 |
| Awards on file | Unknown | 3 recorded |
| Oscar wins | Unknown | 1 |
| Oscar nominations | Unknown | 5 |
| Average Nutevio score | 9.3 | 9.1 |
| Genres | Sci-Fi, Thriller, Action | Adventure, Drama, Fantasy, History |
| Directors | Christopher Nolan | Christopher Nolan, Martin Scorsese |
| Performance DNA | Screen presence, Charisma, Rewatchability | Transformation, Drama, Screen presence |
| Career timeline | 2010–2010 | 2006–2026 |
| Most iconic role | Arthur — Inception | Odysseus — The Odyssey |
| Most rewatchable film | Inception | Interstellar |
| Filmography | 1 catalogue film | 4 catalogue films |
Films together
Nothing in common in the library yet.
Shared directors
Christopher Nolan
Shared collections
Top 100 Mind-Bending Movies, Sci-Fi Movies, Thriller Movies, Christopher Nolan Movies Ranked
Collaborators in common
Christopher Nolan · Michael Caine · Leonardo DiCaprio · Cillian Murphy
Matt Damon edges ahead here — a higher floor across a comparable body of work.
Ours alone
Recognitions handed out by this desk, on criteria no awards body uses.
Career Achievement
Awarded
35 years of relevant work — not merely a long career, but a long career of choices.
Modern Classic Performer
Awarded
Defining performances delivered inside the last twenty-five years, in films already being taught rather than merely remembered.
Drama Legend
Awarded
25 catalogue titles in drama, each one a reference point for the films that followed.
Our desk
Best ending, best opening, best twist and the rest — categories we apply to everyone we cover.
Best ending
Inception
as Arthur
The last five minutes reorganise everything before them, and hold up when you already know what's coming.
Best opening
Inception
as Arthur
A first sequence that states the rules of the film without explaining a single one of them.
Most emotional
The Trial of the Chicago 7
as Richard Schultz
The film where the technique steps aside and lets the feeling arrive undefended.
Best twist
Inception
as Arthur
A reversal earned by information the film gave you and trusted you to misread.
Best visual achievement
Inception
as Arthur
Images that would survive with the sound switched off.
Best action sequence
Star Wars: The Last Jedi
as Slowen Lo (voice)
Geography, stakes and consequence held in the same frame — spectacle you can follow.
Best dialogue
Once Upon a Studio
as Jim Hawkins (voice) (archive sound)
Lines written to be spoken, staged so the pauses do half the work.
Most underrated film
Inception
as Arthur
The public vote sits below ours on this one, and the direction is the reason for the gap.
Across the library
Every Nutevio collection this name turns up in, and how high they rank there.
Collection footprint
Appears in 8 Nutevio collections
Keep reading
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Top 100 Mind-Bending Movies
Features Inception at #2
Read the collectiontheme
Best Heist Movies
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Action Movies
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Sci-Fi Movies
Features Inception at #2
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Thriller Movies
Features Inception at #2
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Best Action Movies
Features Inception at #3
Read the collectionFrom the magazine
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Elliot Page
Works with the same directors — Christopher Nolan
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Community
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