10 Child Actors Who Reinvented Themselves With Very Adult Roles

3. Joseph Gordon-Levitt - Manic

IFC FilmsIFC FilmsJoseph Gordon-Levitt has to go down in the record books as having one of the smoothest transitions from childhood to adulthood. But when you really look at his career, he's sort of like a duck swimming -- the surface of the water looks calm and still, but underneath his little legs are kicking away. He's always had a really clear vision of what he wants his career to be, and part of that involved being proactive in seeking out good projects. That's why, while he was still starring as Tommy the Teen Alien on 3rd Rock from the Sun, he set aside time to star in independent films. Manic was the first, and the drama about teenagers in a psychiatric institution was a far cry from anything he had done before. It's an incredibly ballsy move, to straight from a network sitcom into a world of psychological drama, but he pulled it off. His performance as Lyle, an aggressive teen with impulse control issues who was sent to the psych ward for evaluation after viciously beating a fellow baseball player with a bat during a game, proved his depth as an actor and made everyone forget about his work in the sitcom world.
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Audrey Fox is an ex-film student, which means that she prefers to spend her days in the dark, watching movies and pondering the director's use of diegetic sound. She currently works as an entertainment writer, joyfully rambling about all things film and television related. Add her on Twitter at @audonamission and check out her film blog at 1001moviesandbeyond.com.