Claim: Joseph Gordon-Levitt lost out for the starring role in the biopic about Philippe Petit.

Joseph Leonard Gordon-Levitt -LRB- -LSB- ˈlɛvᵻt -RSB- born February 17 , 1981 -RRB- is an American actor and filmmaker . As a child actor , he appeared in the films A River Runs Through It , Angels in the Outfield 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 , The Dark Knight Rises , Brick , Looper , The Lookout , Manic , Lincoln , Mysterious Skin and G.I. Joe : The Rise of Cobra . He starred as Philippe Petit in the Robert Zemeckis-directed film The Walk -LRB- 2015 -RRB- , and as Edward Snowden in the Oliver Stone film Snowden -LRB- 2016 -RRB- .   He also founded the online production company hitRECord in 2004 and has hosted his own TV series , HitRecord on TV , since January 2014 . In 2013 , Gordon-Levitt made his feature film directing and screenwriting debut with Don Jon , a comedy film in which he also stars . He previously directed and edited two short films , both of which were released in 2010 : Morgan M. Morgansen 's Date with Destiny and Morgan and Destiny 's Eleventeenth Date : The Zeppelin Zoo .