Joseph Gordon-Levitt returns to public life after disappearing from Hollywood as he campaigns in DC

Joseph Gordon-Levitt had fans doing a double take as he resurfaced at a Washington, DC political event on Wednesday after stepping away from the spotlight in recent years. 

Once a red-carpet regular alongside Christian Bale in The Dark Knight Rises and Leonardo DiCaprio in Christopher Nolan’s Inception, the 44-year-old star was instead rubbing shoulders with lobbyists and political power players in the nation’s capital.   

The 3rd Rock from the Sun actor, whose most recent big-screen outing was the 2024 Beverly Hills Cop reboot opposite Eddie Murphy, was using his Hollywood clout for a very different mission, urging lawmakers to rein in Big Tech and strengthen protections for children online.

Gordon-Levitt joined Senate Minority Whip Dick Durbin to promote the Illinois senator’s proposed Sunset Section 230 Act.

Dressed in a sharp navy suit and standing behind a podium emblazoned with the slogan ‘Hold Big Tech Accountable’, the actor delivered an impassioned address far removed from Tinseltown.

But it wasn’t just his political pivot that turned heads -  fans couldn’t get over how youthful Gordon-Levitt looked, appearing barely changed since his 10 Things I Hate About You days.

The smooth-visaged actor, who shares three children with his wife of nearly a decade, briefly became emotional as he addressed the issue, per Court House News.

He said: ‘These amoral companies, they just keep allowing these awful things to happen on their platforms — and they won’t do anything about it because they will always prioritize profits over the public good, even when it comes to kids.’

Gordon-Levitt is married to robotics entrepreneur Tasha McCauley, a former CEO of GeoSim Systems, with the couple tying the knot in 2014.

They share three children - two sons born in August 2015 and June 2017, and a daughter born around 2022 - and have kept their family life firmly out of the spotlight.

The actor then referenced the stories he had heard from parents whose children were harmed by social media, gesturing toward photos displayed behind him, according to the outlet.

‘I just heard a couple of stories that left me trying to keep myself together,’ he said.

‘These photos remind me of my kids, and the harm that was done to these kids online might have been prevented if certain Big Tech companies knew that they could be sued.’ 

The appearance was just the latest sign that Joseph Gordon-Levitt has quietly pivoted from Hollywood heartthrob to policy-minded activist.

In recent months, he’s also spoken at the United Nations about the risks posed by emerging technology.

It’s a striking evolution for a star who ruled screens in the late ’90s and 2000s.

Gordon-Levitt started young, appearing in commercials and small TV roles before becoming a household name as wise-cracking alien Tommy Solomon on 3rd Rock from the Sun. 

Hollywood came calling in the ’90s with rom-com classic 10 Things I Hate About You.

After a brief break to study at Columbia University, he dropped out and returned to land the lead -  then his biggest role - in 500 Days of Summer (2009) alongside Zooey Deschanel. 

Big roles kept coming: Inception (2010), The Dark Knight Rises (2012), Looper (2012), Lincoln (2012), Don Jon (2013), and Snowden (2016), where he played the titular whistleblower. 

That film preceded a three-year hiatus to focus on family.

'I took a number of years off because I had kids,' he told Variety. 'When I came back, I wanted something that challenged me creatively… I focused on why I love acting.' 

He returned to the screen in 2019 with 7500, but soon stepped back again following the death of a close family member.

Since then, he’s focused on smaller projects and streaming, plus voice work, including Young Mr. Burns (The Simpsons, 2025), Jay (Star Wars: Visions, 2021), Jiminy Cricket (Pinocchio), and Detective Hardrock (Knives Out, 2019).

He’s also poured energy into his collaborative media platform, HitRecord, proving he’s as at home leading projects behind the camera as he once was in front of it.