Hollywood star Joseph Gordon-Levitt took a step back from the limelight following a heartbreaking family tragedy that led to him re-evaluating his future career path
Hollywood star Joseph Gordon-Levitt was a rising star in the movie business, regularly appearing in big-name productions alongside some of the most successful actors.
However, as quickly as he made his mark in the industry, he seemed to disappear, leaving many to question exactly what happened to his promising career. Joseph, 44, is still a figure in Hollywood, but switched to working on short films and indie productions, as well as running his own company, HitRecord.
The business, an online collaborative media platform, in fact seems to be part of the reason why Joseph slowed his progress as an A-list actor. He co-founded the company alongside his brother, Dan, back in 2005.
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But tragedy struck just five years later in 2010 when Dan tragically passed away at the age of 36. The heartbreaking life event led Joseph to re-evaluate his priorities and focus more on family.
An insider told the Daily Mail, “His brother’s death has had a lasting impact. Joseph has continued to work since that moment in a mixture of on-camera and voice roles, but what it taught him most was that life is fleeting and should be enjoyed. It’s not that Joseph doesn’t enjoy working, but he also enjoys life and working on projects that were dear to his brother.
“Dan was his hero, and Joseph is living his life the way he believes his brother would be proud of. It has had a major life-altering impact on their business and his life. No question about it.”
Dan, who was known as “Burning Dan” as he worked as a fire-spinning artist, was found unresponsive inside his Hollywood home in October 2010. He was then rushed to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead. No cause of death was ever made public.
Joseph previously spoke about his bond with his brother and how he influenced his life. Speaking on the Off Camera Show in 2016 he said,”The biggest transformation I’ve ever seen is my brother. Growing up, he was always a pretty shy, introverted guy, dressed unremarkably and talking quietly… He got really into photography, and he also got really into fire spinning… even though he was really inspired by it, he thought, ‘yeah, but I’m not really the person that does that.’
He also spoke about how a visit to the Burning Man festival saw Dan ask himself, “Why shouldn’t I be the kind of person who spins fire if I want to?” He continued, “It changed his life. He became such an extroverted person… I love hearing about people who say I can be who I want to be and change myself.”
Joseph starred in a string of huge movies, including 500 Days of Summer alongside Zooey Deschanel, Christopher Nolan’s Inception, The Dark Knight Rises alongside Christian Bale, Looper, Lincoln, Don John, and Snowden. He then took a three-year break in 2016 after becoming a parent.
Joseph married Tasha McCauley, the founder and CEO of technology company Fellow Robots, in December 2014. The couple welcomed their first son in August 2015, then a second in June 2017. The couple also shares a daughter who was born in 2022.
He returned to movies in 2019 with 7500. He told Variety at the time, “I had actually taken a number of years off from acting because I had kids. I knew that, when I came back, I wanted to find something that was a creative challenge and that would inspire me.
“And I did my very best to ignore the voices in my head, which were talking to me about career building and momentum and all that jazz. Instead, I focused on why I love acting.” Since then, he has taken on a series of voice and smaller roles, including playing Young Mr Burns in an episode of The Simpsons, Jay in an episode of Star Wars: Visions, Jiminy Cricket in live-action Pinocchio, and Detective Hardrock in Knives Out.
His most well-known role since his return was in the new Beverly Hills Cop with Eddie Murphy. The insider added, “Joseph is very content with his career and where it stands. Over the last few years, he has chosen projects that he likes over huge tentpoles, as he is as big a celebrity as he wants to be.
“Being in Eddie Murphy’s return to the Beverly Hills Cop series was a big moment for him, and then sprinkling all that with his voice work and other work he’s getting into in the new year, he’s very happy with how everything is going.”
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