[4] He has a brother, Jack Levinson, who is also an actor,[5] and two half-siblings, Michelle and Patrick, from his mother's first marriage.

It is infamous for its raw and graphic portrayal of teenagers wrestling with drug addiction and sexuality.

[4] In 2020, Levinson wrote and directed the film Malcolm & Marie, reuniting him with Euphoria star Zendaya, which was distributed by Netflix in February 2021.

Aisha Harris of NPR wrote, "All that's left are two characters rendered awkwardly as vessels for a director's odd hang-ups about his own identity and craft".

[15] Shirley Lee of The Atlantic described the film simply writing "Malcolm & Marie isn't Art.

"[16] Levinson co-wrote the screenplay for the psychological erotic thriller Deep Water (2022), based on the 1957 novel of the same name by Patricia Highsmith.

[21] The series garnered controversy following an expose in Rolling Stone which featured allegations against Levinson and Tesfaye of creating a toxic work environment and crew members alleging the script involved explicit sexual content which amounted to "sexual torture porn".

Time Magazine critic Stephanie Zacharek wrote, "The Idol pretends to expose exploitation while reveling in it",[24] Variety critic Peter Debruge noted "The script seems calculated to fool audiences into thinking they're observing how Hollywood operates, when so much of it amounts to tawdry clichés" and that the series "plays like a sordid male fantasy".

Noting that the season had been cut short by an episode without explanation, The Telegraph critic Ed Power expressed that the finale "had deepened the suspicion that, as far back as teen drama Euphoria, he was a voyeur without a soul".