- Born
- Birth nameJacob Benjamin Gyllenhaal
- Height1.82 m
- Jake Gyllenhaal was born on December 19, 1980 in Los Angeles, California as Jacob Benjamin Gyllenhaal, the son of producer/screenwriter Naomi Foner and director Stephen Gyllenhaal, and the younger brother of actress Maggie Gyllenhaal. He is of Ashkenazi Jewish (mother) and Swedish, English, and German (father) descent.
He made his movie debut at 11 in La vie, l'amour... les vaches (1991). From the late 1990s through the early 2000s, he starred in Ciel d'octobre (1999) & Donnie Darko (2001), receiving an Independent Spirit Award Best Actor nomination for the latter. He followed up w/ roles in Bubble Boy (2001), The Good Girl (2002), Moonlight Mile (2002) & Le Jour d'après (2004).
He made his theater debut in a revival of This Is Our Youth in London. The play was well-received & played for 8 weeks on West End. He then starred in Jarhead: La Fin de l'innocence (2005) & Proof (2005). However, it was his performance in Le secret de Brokeback Mountain (2005) that won him critical acclaim. He won the BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role while also being nominated for the Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role SAG Award, the Best Supporting Actor-Motion Picture Satellite Award & the Best Supporting Actor Academy Award. Afterwards, he starred in Zodiac (2007), Brothers (2009), Prince of Persia: Les Sables du temps (2010) & Love, et autres drogues (2010). For Love, et autres drogues (2010), he was nominated for the Best Actor-Motion Picture Musical or Comedy Golden Globe Award.
In the 2010s, he starred in Source Code (2011), End of Watch (2012), Prisoners (2013), Night Call (2014), La rage au ventre (2015) & Demolition (2015). For Night Call (2014), he was nominated for the Best Actor in a Motion Picture Drama Golden Globe, the Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role SAG & the Best Actor in a Leading Role BAFTA Award. Leading Role BAFTA Award.- IMDb mini biography by: Pedro Borges
- ChildrenNo Children
- Parents
- RelativesMaggie Gyllenhaal(Sibling)Gloria Sarsgaard(Niece or Nephew)Ramona Sarsgaard(Niece or Nephew)
- Often plays characters in movies that go through great distress.
- Godfather of Matilda Ledger.
- Paul Newman is his godfather and Jamie Lee Curtis is his godmother.
- He has appeared in one film that has been selected for the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically or aesthetically" significant: Le secret de Brokeback Mountain (2005).
- Brother-in-Law of Peter Sarsgaard.
- Legally blind, he wears intensive corrective lenses. His vision is 20/1250.
- [1999] Being a star doesn't last. That's not what life should be about. It's a complete illusion that really has nothing to do with you. For me, finding out about life is the most important thing.
- [on the one role that got away] I'd have to say Ewan McGregor's part in Moulin Rouge (2001). It was so close. I sang and everything. I went through months of auditions. It was between me, Heath Ledger and Ewan. I think it came down to age and where people were in their careers. I was the youngest and the least known. I would hope it didn't have anything to do with talent. Maybe it did.
- I admire actors and artists who devote just as much time to their life as they do to their work.
- In a perfect world, I would love to do one play for every three movies.
- The truth is most of the films that make a lot of money no one remembers, and I'm not interested in making films that no one remembers.
- The Man Who Made It Snow (undefined) - $3,000,000 plus backend
- Jarhead: La Fin de l'innocence (2006) - $3,000,000
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