JOSEPH GORDON-LEVITT

AGE AND OCCUPATION: 25, actor. PROVENANCE: Los Angeles. ROCK ON: A lot of hapless screen actors find a second career in sitcoms (cough—Charlie Sheen), but Gordon-Levitt appears to be one of the select few who find critical success going the other way (cough—Tom Hanks). Having taken a break after six years on 3rd Rock from the Sun to attend Columbia, Gordon-Levitt went on to star in serious movies, including Rian Johnson's Brick (Special Jury Prize, Sundance 2005), coming out later this month. SITCOMPLICATED? "No. A sitcom is the cushiest gig in show business." And then Gregg Araki came along with Mysterious Skin. "I'll always be indebted to Gregg for being somebody who saw that I could do something else." KNOCKIN' 'EM DEAD: Up next is Killshot—based on the Elmore Leonard book—in which Gordon-Levitt plays a killer opposite Mickey Rourke. "It was kind of agonizing to kill people; I'd never killed anybody in a part before, and I don't take that shit lightly." — KRISTA SMITH

rhi2~ mD~th GET OPRAH ON THE LINE ED COASTER COMES CLEAN ABOUT HIS BEST-SELLING BOOK GEORGE WAYNE GETS KATTY yE'S CORRESPONDENT PERFECTS HIS QUEEN'S ENGLISH WITH THE BBC'S KA1TY KAY