Joseph Gordon-Levitt thinks fame is ''unhealthy''.

The 'Snowden' star - who rose to fame in the mid-1990s by starring in '3rd Rock from the Sun' - admits he is uneasy with the term 'celebrity' and ''feels bad for perpetuating it''.

Speaking at The Hollywood Reporter's Annual Actor Roundtable, he said: ''What I don't like [about acting] is: I guess since the heyday of Hollywood, there has been a merging of actors and royalty and celebrity.

''It's tough to complain, because it's a really privileged life I get to lead, [but] the whole celebrity thing is unhealthy and I feel bad perpetuating it.''

Meanwhile, the 35-year-old actor previously admitted being in the public eye has its ''upsides and downsides''.

He said: ''Being in the public eye is a great thing. It allows me to do what I love to do, which is act in movies, but it's a choice that I made. I decided to have a career in show business, and so people know my name and know my face. And that has its upsides and honestly, some downsides.''

And Joseph is keen for his 15-month-old son - who he has with Tasha McCauley - to be able to make his own decision about being in the spotlight.

He added: ''My son, he's just a baby, you know? He hasn't made the choice to be in the public eye, and that's a choice that I would like him to be able to make when he's older, when he can think about these kinds of things and make that decision for himself. And so, for now, I'm just a protective dad, and I want to protect his privacy.''