Jake Gyllenhaal, was born as Jacob Benjamin Gyllenhaal on December 19, 1980. Jake
Gyllenhaal is an Academy Award-nominated American actor. The son of director Stephen
Gyllenhaal and screenwriter Naomi Foner, Gyllenhaal began acting at 11 years old.
Jake Gyllenhaal has appeared in diverse roles since his first lead role in 1999's
October Sky, followed by the 2001 cult hit Donnie Darko, in which he played a
psychologically troubled teen and onscreen brother to his real-life sister, actor
Maggie Gyllenhaal. In the 2004 blockbuster The Day After Tomorrow he portrayed
a student caught in a cataclysmic global cooling event, alongside Dennis Quaid
as his father. Jake Gyllenhaal then played against type as a frustrated Marine
in Jarhead (2005). The same year, he won critical acclaim portraying a role that
entered popular shorthand as a "gay cowboy" in the controversial but
highly lauded film Brokeback Mountain.
Jake Gyllenhaal was born in Los Angeles, California, the son of film director
Stephen Gyllenhaal and film producer and screenwriter Naomi Foner (née
Achs). Maggie Gyllenhaal, his sister, is also an actor, and played his sister
in the movie Donnie Darko. Jake Gyllenhaal's father was raised in the Swedenborgian
religion and is a descendant of the Swedish noble Gyllenhaal family. His last
native Swedish ancestor was his great-great-grandfather, Anders Leonard Gyllenhaal.
Gyllenhaal's mother is from a Jewish family from New York City. Gyllenhaal's
Bar Mitzvah celebration took place at a homeless shelter because his parents
wanted to instill in him a sense of gratitude for his privileged lifestyle.
Gyllenhaal has said that he considers himself "more Jewish than anything
else". Jake Gyllenhaal's parents insisted that he have summer jobs to support
himself. He worked as a lifeguard, and as a busboy at a restaurant operated
by a family friend.
Gyllenhaal has taken an activist role in supporting various political and social
causes. He appeared in Rock the Vote advertising, campaigned for the Democratic
Party in the 2004 election, and promoted environmental causes and the American
Civil Liberties Union.
During childhood, Jake Gyllenhaal had regular exposure to filmmaking due to
his family's deep ties to the industry. As an 11-year-old he made his acting
debut as Billy Crystal's son in the 1991 comedy film City Slickers. His parents
did not allow him to appear in the 1992 film The Mighty Ducks because it would
have required him leaving home for two months. In subsequent years, his parents
allowed him to audition for parts, but regularly forbade him to take them if
he were chosen. Jake Gyllenhaal was allowed to appear in his father's films
several times. Gyllenhaal appeared in the 1993 film A Dangerous Woman (along
with sister Maggie), in a 1994 episode of Homicide: Life on the Street, and
in the 1998 comedy Homegrown. Along with their mother, Jake and Maggie appeared
in two episodes of Molto Mario, an Italian cooking show on the Food Network.
Prior to his senior year in high school, the only other film not directed by
his father in which Jake Gyllenhaal was allowed to perform was Josh and S.A.M.,
a little-known children's adventure.
Jake Gyllenhaal graduated from the Harvard-Westlake School in Los Angeles in
1998, then attended Columbia University, where his sister and mother also attended,
to study Eastern religions and philosophy. Gyllenhaal dropped out after two
years to concentrate on acting, but has expressed intentions to eventually finish
his degree. Jake Gyllenhaal's first lead role was in October Sky, Joe Johnston's
1999 adaptation of the Homer Hickam autobiography Rocket Boys, in which he portrayed
a young man from West Virginia striving to win a science scholarship to avoid
becoming a coal miner. The film earned $32 million and was described in the
Sacramento News and Review as Gyllenhaal's "breakout performance".
Donnie Darko, Jake Gyllenhaal's second major film, was not a box office success
upon its initial 2001 release, but eventually became a cult favorite. The film,
directed by Richard Kelly, is set in 1988 and stars Gyllenhaal as a troubled
teenager who, after narrowly escaping death, experiences visions of a 6 foot
(1.8 m) tall rabbit named Frank who tells him that the world is coming to an
end. Gyllenhaal's performance was well-received by critics; Dan Kois of Salon.com
claimed that "Gyllenhaal manages the difficult trick of seeming both blandly
normal and profoundly disturbed, often within the same scene."
After the critical success of Donnie Darko, Jake Gyllenhaal's next role was
as the lead character in 2002's Highway, a film ignored by audiences and critics
alike. His performance was described by one critic as "silly, cliched and
straight to video." Gyllenhaal had more success starring opposite Jennifer
Aniston in The Good Girl, which premiered at the 2002 Sundance Film Festival;
he also starred in Lovely & Amazing with Catherine Keener. In both films
he plays an unstable character who begins a reckless affair with an older woman.
Jake Gyllenhaal later described these as "teenager in transition"
roles. Gyllenhaal later starred in the Touchstone Pictures romantic comedy Bubble
Boy, which was loosely based on the story of David Vetter. The film portrays
the title character's adventures as he pursues the love of his life before she
marries the wrong man. The film was panned by critics, with one calling it an
"empty-headed, chaotic, utterly tasteless atrocity".
Following Bubble Boy, Jake Gyllenhaal starred opposite Dustin Hoffman, Susan
Sarandon and Ellen Pompeo in Moonlight Mile, as a young man coping with the
death of his fiancée and the grief of her parents. The story, which received
mixed reviews, is loosely based on writer/director Brad Silberling's personal
experiences following the murder of girlfriend Rebecca Schaeffer.
Jake Gyllenhaal was almost cast as Spider-Man for Spider-Man 2 due to director
Sam Raimi's concerns about original Spider-Man star Tobey Maguire`s health.
Maguire recovered, however, and the sequel was shot without Gyllenhaal. Instead,
Jake Gyllenhaal starred in the blockbuster The Day After Tomorrow in 2004, co-starring
Dennis Quaid as his father.
In his theatrical debut Gyllenhaal starred on the London stage in Kenneth Lonergan's
revival of This is Our Youth. Jake Gyllenhaal said, "Every actor I look
up to has done theatre work, so I knew I had to give it a try." The play,
which had been a critical sensation on Broadway, ran for eight weeks in London's
West End. Gyllenhaal received favorable critical reviews and an Evening Standard
Theatre Award in the category "Outstanding Newcomer".
2005 was a prolific year for Jake Gyllenhaal, who starred in the critically
praised films Proof, Jarhead, and Brokeback Mountain. In Proof, featuring Gwyneth
Paltrow and Anthony Hopkins, Gyllenhaal played a graduate student in mathematics
who tries to convince Paltrow's character to publish a revolutionary proof to
a problem puzzling the mathematicians' community. In Jarhead, Jake Gyllenhaal
played against his usual "sensitive yet disturbed" type by displaying
an aggressive masculinity as a violent U.S. Marine during the first Gulf War.
In Brokeback Mountain, Jake Gyllenhaal and Heath Ledger play young men who
meet as sheep herders and embark upon a homosexual relationship that continues
through the 1960s and 1970s. The film was often referred to in the media with
the shorthand phrase "the gay cowboy movie." The film won the Golden
Lion prize at the Venice Film Festival. The film went on to win four Golden
Globe Awards, four British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) Awards,
and three Academy Awards. Jake Gyllenhaal was nominated for an Academy Award
in the category of Best Supporting Actor for his performance, but lost to George
Clooney for Syriana. Jake Gyllenhaal also won the Best Supporting Actor BAFTA
for the same role and received a Best Supporting Actor nomination and Best Film
Ensemble nomination from the Screen Actors Guild. Also for "Brokeback Mountain",
he and Ledger won an MTV Movie Award for "Best Kiss" in 2006. Shortly
after the 2006 Academy Awards, Jake Gyllenhaal was invited to join the Academy
in recognition of his acting career. Most recently, Gyllenhaal was awarded the
2006 Young Artist Award for Artistic Excellence by The Americans for the Arts
National Arts Awards for his role.
Jake Gyllenhaal expressed mixed feelings about the experience of being directed
by Ang Lee in Brokeback Mountain, but generally had more praise than criticism
for Lee's directing style. While complaining of the way Lee tended to disconnect
with his actors once filming began, Gyllenhaal praised his encouraging direction
of the actors and sensitive approach to the material. At the Directors Guild
of America Awards on January 28, 2006, Jake Gyllenhaal also praised Lee for
"his humbleness and his respect for everyone around him".
When asked about his kissing scenes with Heath Ledger in Brokeback Mountain,
Jake Gyllenhaal said, "As an actor, I think we need to embrace the times
we feel most uncomfortable." When asked about the more intimate scenes
with Ledger, Gyllenhaal likened them to "doing a sex scene with a woman
I'm not particularly attracted to." Following the release of Brokeback
Mountain, rumors circulated regarding the actor's sexual orientation. When asked
about such gossip during an interview, Jake Gyllenhaal said:
"You know it's flattering when there's a rumor that says I'm bisexual.
It means I can play more kinds of roles. I'm open to whatever people want
to call me. I've never really been attracted to men sexually, but I don't
think I would be afraid of it if it happened."
Jake Gyllenhaal narrated the 2005 short animated film The Man Who Walked Between
the Towers, based on Mordicai Gerstein's book of the same name about Philippe
Petit's famous stunt. In January 2007, as host of Saturday Night Live, he put
on a sparkly evening dress and sang "And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going"
from the musical Dreamgirls for his opening monologue, dedicating the song to
his "unique fan base... the fans of Brokeback."
In 2007, Gyllenhaal starred in David Fincher's Zodiac, which was based on a
true story. He played Robert Graysmith, a San Francisco Chronicle cartoonist
and author of two books about the Zodiac serial killer. Jake Gyllenhaal stars
opposite Meryl Streep, Alan Arkin, and Reese Witherspoon in the October 2007
release Rendition, a Gavin Hood-directed political thriller about the U.S. policy
of extraordinary rendition. Gyllenhaal's next roles will be in Jim Sheridan's
remake of Susanne Bier's 2004 Danish language film Brothers and Doug Liman's
as yet untitled film about the race for lunar colonization.
Internationally viewed as a sex symbol, Jake Gyllenhaal was named one of People
magazine's "50 Most Beautiful People" in 2006. He was also listed
in People's "Hottest Bachelors of 2006." In response to mainstream
press lists like these, thousands of gay and bisexual men were polled for the
2007 "AfterElton.com Hot 100 List." Gyllenhaal was ranked at #1. Jake
was number eight on People's Top 50 Sexiest Man Alive of 200.
Jake Gyllenhaal's sister Maggie is engaged to actor Peter Sarsgaard, Gyllenhaal's
co-star in Jarhead and Rendition. Gyllenhaal's niece, Ramona Sarsgaard, was
born on October 3, 2006. In December, 2006, they escaped a fire that destroyed
Manka's, a famed lodge and restaurant in Inverness, California, at which they
were vacationing. Jamie Lee Curtis is Jake Gyllenhaal's godmother, and he has
repeatedly referred to his godfathers being a gay couple. Gyllenhaal himself
is the godfather of Matilda Rose Ledger (born October 28, 2005), daughter of
Heath Ledger and Michelle Williams, both of whom co-starred with him in Brokeback
Mountain. His uncle, Anders Gyllenhaal, is the executive editor of The Miami
Herald. His late uncle is filmmaker Robert Achs.
Jake Gyllenhaal dated Rilo Kiley singer Jenny Lewis in 2001, and later actress
Kirsten Dunst. The couple met through Gyllenhaal's sister Maggie, Dunst's Mona
Lisa Smile co-star, and began dating in September 2002. They were reported to
have officially broken up in July 2004, but the relationship continued off and
on until December 2005. With Dunst, Jake Gyllenhaal shared a German Shepherd
Dog named Atticus which they rescued from a Los Angeles dog shelter. Gyllenhaal
also owns a Puggle named Boo Radley. Both dogs are named after characters from
the Harper Lee novel To Kill a Mockingbird, one of Gyllenhaal's favorite novels.
Throughout 2007, there was persistent speculation in the mass media about a
romantic relationship between Jake Gyllenhaal and his Rendition co-star Reese
Witherspoon. The pair denied the rumors while promoting Rendition in the fall
of 2007. However, after a trip to Rome and the finalization of Witherspoon's
divorce from Ryan Phillippe in October 2007, Gyllenhaal and Witherspoon became
more open with their relationship.
Jake Gyllenhaal is politically active. He shot a commercial for Rock the Vote,
and along with his sister Maggie Gyllenhaal, visited the University of Southern
California to encourage students to vote during the 2004 U.S. Election. He also
campaigned for Democratic Presidential candidate John Kerry. He has said, however,
that "it frustrates me when actors talk politics; I'm political and I make
choices in my movies that I think are political. I try and say things with what
I do. Rightly or wrongly, young actors have all the power." In an interview
for Rendition, he stated his view that "it's a sad time when actors are
politicians and politicians are actors".
Raised in a family concerned with social issues, Jake Gyllenhaal has campaigned
on behalf of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), an organization which
his entire family strongly supports. Environmentally conscious, he recycles
regularly, and said in an interview that he spends $400 a year to have trees
planted in a Mozambique forest, partly to promote the Future Forests program.
After filming The Day After Tomorrow, he flew to the Arctic to promote awareness
of climate change.
In his spare time, Jake Gyllenhaal enjoys woodworking and cooking. He has said,
"I am not a card-carrying Buddhist, but I do try to practice mindfulness"
and it is his goal to meditate every day.
Filmography
| Year |
Title |
Role |
| 1991 |
City Slickers |
Danny Robbins |
| 1993 |
Josh and S.A.M. |
Leon |
| 1999 |
October Sky |
Homer Hickam Jr. |
| 2001 |
Donnie Darko |
Donald J. "Donnie" Darko |
| Bubble Boy |
Jimmy Livingston |
| Lovely & Amazing |
Jordan |
| 2002 |
Highway |
Pilot Kelson |
| Moonlight Mile |
Joe Nast |
| The Good Girl |
Thomas 'Holden' Worther |
| 2003 |
Abby Singer |
Himself (Cameo) |
| 2004 |
The Day After Tomorrow |
Sam Hall |
| 2005 |
Brokeback Mountain |
Jack Twist |
| Jarhead |
Anthony Swofford ("Swoff") |
| Proof |
Harold 'Hal' Dobbs |
| 2007 |
Zodiac |
Robert Graysmith |
| Rendition |
Douglas Freeman |
| 2008 |
Brothers |
TBA |
| 2009 |
Untitled Moon Project |
|
