Jake Gyllenhaal Biography
Jake Gyllenhaal is an American actor best known for Nightcrawler (2014), Nocturnal Animals (2016), Wildlife (2018), Velvet Buzzsaw (2019), The Guilty (2021), and Ambulance (2022). He rose to fame after starring in the American action drama film The Covenant (2023).
Jake Gyllenhaal Career
Gyllenhaal was exposed to filmmaking a lot as a child because his family was also in the industry. In the 1991 comedy City Slickers, he played Billy Crystal’s son for the first time. Because he would have had to leave home for two months, his folks wouldn’t let him be in The Mighty Ducks (1992). Over the next few years, his parents let him try out for parts but often told him he couldn’t take them if he was chosen. He was able to be in several of his father’s movies.
She was also in the 1994 episode of Homicide: Life on the Street called “Bop Gun” and the 1998 comedy Homegrown. Jake and Maggie, along with their mother, were on two episodes of the Food Network show Molto Mario, which is an Italian cooking show. Before his senior year of high school, Gyllenhaal had only been able to act in one other movie that wasn’t directed by his father. That movie was the 1993 children’s adventure Josh and S.A.M.
His parents made him work during the summer to help pay for bills, so he was a lifeguard and a busboy at a restaurant run by a family friend. Gyllenhaal said that his parents encouraged him to be creative: “I do have parents who always supported me in some ways.” In other ways, they were not good enough. For sure, my family has always been best at being expressive and creative. In 1998, Gyllenhaal graduated from the Harvard-Westlake School in Los Angeles. He then went to Columbia University to study Eastern religions and philosophy, where his sister was a student and where his mother had graduated. His home at Columbia was in John Jay Hall.
After two years, Gyllenhaal dropped out to focus on acting, but he has said that he plans to finish his degree in the future. October Sky, Joe Johnston’s 1999 adaptation of the autobiography Rocket Boys by Homer Hickam, was Gyllenhaal’s first lead part. He played a young man from West Virginia who was trying to get a science scholarship so he wouldn’t have to become a coal miner. The movie got good reviews and made $32 million. The Sacramento News and Review called Gyllenhaal’s act his “breakout performance.”
Jake Gyllenhaal Donnie Darko
Donnie Darko, in which Gyllenhaal played his second lead part, did not do well at the box office when it came out in 2001, but it became a cult favorite over time. The movie is set in 1988 and was directed by Richard Kelly. Jake Gyllenhaal plays a troubled kid who sees a 6-foot (1.8 m) tall rabbit named Frank who tells him the end of the world is near.
Gyllenhaal’s next part was as Pilot Kelston in the 2002 movie Highway, which starred Jared Leto. One reviewer said that his act was “silly, clichéd, and straight from the video.” Gyllenhaal had more success when he played Jennifer Aniston in The Good Girl, which had its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival in 2002. He also played Catherine Keener in Lovely and Amazing.
In both movies, he plays a character who is unstable and starts an affair with an older woman without thinking things through. He later said that Gyllenhaal played “teenagers in transition” in these parts. After that, Gyllenhaal was in the Touchstone Pictures romance comedy Bubble Boy, which was based on David Vetter’s story in a loose way. The movie follows the main character as he tries to find and marry the love of his life before she marries someone else. Some reviewers didn’t like the movie at all; one called it “stupid and sans any redeeming features.”
Gyllenhaal played a young man dealing with the death of his fiancée and her parents’ grief in Moonlight Mile (2002), which came out after Bubble Boy. The movie starred Dustin Hoffman, Susan Sarandon, and Ellen Pompeo. The story, which got mixed reviews, is based on the author and director Brad Silberling’s adventures after his girlfriend Rebecca Schaeffer was killed. When Gyllenhaal first went to the theater, he played the lead role in Kenneth Lonergan’s performance of This Is Our Youth at the Garrick Theatre in London in 2002. Gyllenhaal stated, “Every actor I look up to has done theatre work, so I knew I had to give it a try.” In London’s West End, the play ran for eight weeks. Gyllenhaal got good reviews and an Evening Standard Theatre Award for Outstanding Newcomer.
Because director Sam Raimi was worried about Tobey Maguire’s health, Gyllenhaal was almost cast as Spider-Man in 2004’s Spider-Man 2. But Maguire got better, and the movie was filmed without Gyllenhaal. Later, the two stars worked together in the 2009 movie Brothers. They look so much alike that Gyllenhaal has joked that cab drivers call him “Spider-Man.” In 2003, he also tried out for the part of Batman in the superhero movie Batman Begins. He almost got the part, but Christian Bale got it instead. After that, Gyllenhaal was in the 2004 science fiction hit The Day After Tomorrow, which co-starred Dennis Quaid as his father.
Jake Gyllenhaal Brokeback Mountain
In 2005, Gyllenhaal was cast in the drama Proof, which also starred Gwyneth Paltrow and Anthony Hopkins. He played a graduate student in mathematics who tries to persuade Paltrow’s character to write a groundbreaking proof to a math problem that everyone in the field is having trouble with. Responses to the movie were mostly good. He also played a U.S. Marine in Sam Mendes’ movie Jarhead, which was set during the first Gulf War. The movie got good reviews. Stephen Hunter of The Washington Post wrote that Gyllenhaal’s acting was great, saying, “He makes us see his character’s intelligence” and that “he doesn’t seem jealous of the camera’s attention when it goes to others.”
They play young guys who meet as sheep herders in the 2005 movie Brokeback Mountain and start a sexual relationship that lasts for 20 years, starting in the summer of 1963. This movie was often called “the gay cowboy movie” in the media, even though people had different ideas about whether or not the characters were gay. The movie won a lot of awards, including the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival. Gyllenhaal was nominated for Best Supporting Actor for the movie, but George Clooney beat him out for Syriana. The movie got three Oscars.
The movie also won four Golden Globes and four British Academy Film Awards (BAFTAs). Gyllenhaal got a BAFTA for Best Supporting Actor. In 2006, he and Ledger got an MTV Movie Award for Best Kiss. Not long after the 2006 Academy Awards, Gyllenhaal was asked to join the Academy because of his work as an actor.
He worked with Nightcrawler director Dan Gilroy again on the thriller Velvet Buzzsaw, where he plays art reviewer Mort Vandewalt. The movie was shown for the first time at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival and was later released on Netflix. Peter Debrudge of Variety said that Gyllenhaal was giving “yet another of those cartoonishly camp performances.” In the same year, Gyllenhaal played the bad guy Mysterio / Quentin Beck in Spider-Man: Far From Home, which was a follow-up to Spider-Man: Homecoming and took place in the same world as the first movie. It was one of the year’s most successful movies.
In 2019, he was in Sea Wall/A Life with Tom Sturridge at the Hudson Theatre on Broadway. The show was a double bill of monologues by Nick Payne and Simon Stephens. For his role, he was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play. He also did voice work for the animated movie Spirit Untamed (2021). He played Detective Joe Baylor in The Guilty, a crime story released that same year.
It was based on a Danish movie of the same name. In 2022, he played a criminal in Michael Bay’s action blockbuster Ambulance. Critics had mixed feelings about the movie. Gyllenhaal also did voice work for a farmer in the Disney movie Strange World. It was in Guy Ritchie’s movie “The Covenant,” and he will be in Doug Liman’s action movie “Road House.”
Jake Gyllenhaal Salary
Gyllenhaal earns an annual salary of about $ 800,000 – $3 Million.
Jake Gyllenhaal Net Worth
Gyllenhaal has an estimated net worth of about $50 Million – $90 Million which he has earned throughout his career as an actor.
Jake Gyllenhaal Age
Gyllenhaal was born on December 19, 1980, in Los Angeles, California, United States. He is 43 years old as of 2023 and he celebrates his birthday on the 19th of December every year.
Jake Gyllenhaal Height and Weight
Gyllenhaal stands at a height of 6 feet 0 inches tall (1.82m) and weighs 83 kgs (184 lbs).
Jake Gyllenhaal Family
Gyllenhaal was born in Los Angeles, California, United States to Stephen Gyllenhaal (father), a movie director, and Naomi Foner (mother), a screenwriter. Jake was raised alongside his older sister Maggie Gyllenhaal, an actress. Additionally, Jake’s paternal grandparents are Hugh Anders Gyllenhaal and Virginia Lowrie. Moreover, he has a niece named Ramona Sarsgaard, his sister’s daughter.
Jake Gyllenhaal Wife | Girlfriend
Gyllenhaal dated Kirsten Dunst, an actress to whom they were introduced by his sister in 2002 but ended up breaking up in 2004 on friendly terms. He later dated Reese Witherspoon, his co-star on Rendition from 2007 to 2009. Later on, he dated Taylor Swift, a singer and songwriter from October 2010 to January 2011. Gyllenhaal dated Alyssa Miller, a model from July to December 2013, and later on he dated Jeanne Cadieu, a French model from late 2018 till date.
Jake Gyllenhaal UFC
Gyllenhaal showed up out of the blue at UFC 285 in Las Vegas on March 4, 2023. A toned body and impressive martial arts skills were on full display as he shot a scene for the upcoming remake of the 1989 action classic “Road House.” As part of the scene, Gyllenhaal fought his co-star Jay Hieron, who used to be a mixed martial artist and UFC winner.
Their fight may have been staged, but Gyllenhaal and Hieron made it look like the real thing by punching and kicking each other in the cage in front of a real UFC crowd. Before the event, Gyllenhaal also went to a weigh-in with Hieron and Conor McGregor, an Irish mixed martial artist who will also be in the movie.
Jake Gyllenhaal Sister
Gyllenhaal has an older sister named Maggie Gyllenhaal, an American actress. She has been married to Peter Sarsgaard, an American actor since May 2, 2009, and together they are blessed with two daughters; Ramona Sarsgaard (born October 2006), and Gloria Ray Sarsgaard (born April 2012).
When she was a child, she got her start in acting with small parts in a few of her father’s movies. She and her brother also had parts in the 2001 cult classic Donnie Darko. And after that, she was in Adaptation (2002), Confessions of a Dangerous Mind (2002), and Mona Lisa Smile (2003). The main roles she played in the erotic romantic comedy-drama Secretary (2002) and the drama Sherrybaby (2006) earned Gyllenhaal praise and nominations for Golden Globe Awards. After several financially successful movies in 2006, such as World Trade Center, her role as Rachel Dawes in The Dark Knight (2008) brought her more attention.
Jake Gyllenhaal Ambulance
Gyllenhaal plays the role of Daniel “Danny” Sharp in the American heist action thriller film Ambulance. Danny, Will Sharp’s adoptive brother and a lifelong criminal, talks him into taking part in a $32 million bank heist. Will Sharp is in serious need of $231,000 for his wife Amy’s surgery. Will isn’t sure at first, but he agrees after Danny says again that he’s doing this for Amy. The plan almost works until Officer Zach finds out what’s going on and is taken hostage by Danny while he goes to the bank to ask out a teller. Then, one of the thieves and Zach’s partner, Officer Mark, get into a gunfight.
The LAPD’s Special Investigation Section (SIS) shows up and shoots everyone except Will and Danny. They then run toward the garage. Zach tries to get away and Will shoots him by mistake during a fight between him and Danny. The brothers tried to leave through the back of the building but found it blocked by police, leaving Zach to die. After that, they take over an ambulance that has EMT Cam Thompson inside, who is handling Zach’s injuries. After the chase ends in an alley, Cam tries desperately to get away by using a fire extinguisher, but Danny quickly grabs him back.
When SIS Captain Monroe gets there, he sends out planes to chase after the ambulance. Danny helps Cam use a defibrillator, and Will gives Zach some of his blood, which makes Zach very confused and angry. Danny then pays Papi $8 million to help him get away from the cops. Papi is a criminal friend of Danny’s father. Dan says he will throw Cam off the ambulance if she stops him from killing Mark, who was chasing them. When the cops find out that Monroe’s dog is in Mark’s police car, they have to back off. Dan’s old friend Anson Clark, an FBI agent, is put in charge of the case. Cam starts to operate on Zach with the help of Will as Zach starts to bleed.
Even though she has never had surgery before and her spleen is torn, Cam does a great job. Will doesn’t listen to Cam when he tries to get him to stop Danny. Monroe goes ahead with the surgery even though she doesn’t know if it will work. She also plans to shoot Will and Danny without offering to negotiate for Cam’s life. Clark tells Cam to get down when he calls her. Cam tells Will and Danny about the shooters because he wants to save Zach’s life. Danny has had enough of Cam and wants to shoot her, but Will stops him, which makes the brothers fight about what they should do. In the end, they make up some of the time they spend fighting and listening to music together to relax.
Helicopters are chasing the ambulance in the Los Angeles River, and Danny is shooting at them. Then Will and Danny drive in the wrong lane of the interstate, which leads to several crashes. Roberto, Papi’s son, fills an empty ambulance with C-4 explosives and drives it toward the police on his father’s orders. He then sets off machine guns on different cars to do more damage, hitting Monroe in the process. Mark goes after Roberto and shoots him dead after a fight. This makes Papi very angry and upset. Will and Danny run away to Papi’s hiding place. Papi tells the brothers to leave Zach and Cam with them to handle. Will won’t do that, so he teams up with Danny to kill Papi and his group.
During the chaos, Cam shoots Will by mistake with Zach’s gun. Danny finds Zach’s gun when he takes the ambulance to the hospital. When Cam tells him that she shot Will, he gets very angry. Before going to face the cops, Danny makes a live TV promise to kill Cam and himself. Will shoots Danny in the back because he has no other choice. Before Will dies from his injuries, Danny tells him sorry. Will is badly hurt when the police arrest him and take him inside for surgery. Cam gives Amy some of the money from the heist in secret so that she can pay for her surgery, and Zach tells the police that Will saved his life when they ask him about his injuries.
Jake Gyllenhaal Strange World
Gyllenhaal has voiced a farmer in the animated science-fiction adventure film Strange World. This farmer is from the Searcher Clade. He is 40 years old and works with the Pando power source. He is Jaeger’s son, Meridian’s husband, Ethan’s father, and Meridian’s husband.
Jake Gyllenhaal The Covenant
Gyllenhaal plays the role of Master Sgt. John Kinley in the action drama film The Covenant. There was a war going on in Afghanistan in March 2018, and U.S. Army Special Forces Master Sergeant John Kinley and his unit were attacked by a Taliban-planned truck bomb attack at Lashkargah. His interpreter is killed in the attack. In need of a replacement, he is put in touch with Ahmed Abdullah. Ahmed is a reliable but disliked translator who says he only wants the job for the money.
During an undercover mission to catch someone, Kinley learns that Ahmed used to work for the Taliban in the opium trade but left the group after they killed his son. Later, Ahmed protects Kinley’s group from an ambush by a Taliban group with the help of a traitorous Afghan National Army man, which earns Kinley’s respect.
Jake Gyllenhaal Road House
Gyllenhaal will play the role of Elwood Dalton in the upcoming action film Road House. A former welterweight fighter in the UFC gets a job at a roadhouse in the Florida Keys. However, things are not what they seem to be.
Jake Gyllenhaal Movies and TV Shows
- The Covenant
- Strange World
- Ambulance
- The Guilty
- Spirit Untamed
- Spider-Man: Far From Home
- Nocturnal Animals
- Demolition
- Accidental Love
- Nightcrawler
- Enemy
- Prisoners
Jake Gyllenhaal Social Media Platforms
Gyllenhaal is very active on his Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook page and he has 57.3k followers on Twitter, 8.2M followers on Instagram, and 5.2M followers on Facebook.