Jake Gyllenhaal’s family

Jake Gyllenhaal is an American actor, born on December 19, 1980, in Los Angeles, California. His full name is Jacob Benjamin Gyllenhaal. He comes from a family where everyone is connected to the entertainment industry, as all of them work in Hollywood. This has had an impact on Jake’s career since his childhood. Jake has been working since a very young age - he made his acting debut as a child in the City Slickers (1991), where he was appreciated for his acting skills. He got his breakthrough role as Homer Hickam in the film October Sky in 1999.

Jake Gyllenhaal has been working in Hollywood for over 30 years. Some of his most notable films include Donnie Darko (2001), Brokeback Mountain (2005), Zodiac (2007), Nightcrawler (2014), and Prisoners (2013). In 2019, he played a supervillain in MCU's (Marvel Cinematic Universe) Spiderman: Far From Home. His role in Brokeback Mountain earned him a BAFTA. He has also received 1 Academy Award nomination, 3 BAFTA nominations, 3 Golden Globes nominations, and many other awards.

Who are Jake Gyllenhaal's parents?

Jake Gyllenhaal's parents are Stephen Gyllenhaal and Naomi Foner. His parents got married in 1977. His elder sister Maggie was born in 1977 and Jake was born in 1980. His parents were together for more than 30 years and got divorced in 2009. Stephen Gyllenhaal is a director, producer, and poet. He has worked on projects such as Family of Spies (1990), Killing in a Small Town (1990), and Paris Trout (1991).

He also directed Jake in an episode of Homicide: Life on the Streets, when he was just 14. On the red carpet of his film Ambulance (2022), Jake told Entertainment Tonight that he is grateful for his father’s support and said, "And to me, of course, it's incredible to be here and it's like, so amazing to be in this big movie and to be a part of it, but seeing my dad on this carpet, like, seeing my dad anywhere, but like here, just his support means everything to me."

Jake’s mother, Naomi Foner, is a screenwriter and producer. She is best known for writing the screenplay for the movies Violets Are Blue (1986), and Running on Empty (1988). She earned an Academy Award nomination and won a Golden Globe for Running on Empty. Naomi has also worked with Stephen on two projects, A Dangerous Woman (1993) and Losing Isaiah (1995). She made her directorial debut in 2013 with Very Good Girls, starring Dakota Fanning and Elizabeth Olsen.

In an interview with The Guardian, he talked about how his mother raised them and said, “My mum raised us on classic movies and a lot of musical theatre. The first thing she ever took me to was Yul Brynner in The King and I, when I was three. I remember Guys and Dolls, and seeing Angels in America, the original show, when I was 13. I was mesmerized.”

Who is Jake Gyllenhaal's sister?

Jake Gyllenhaal's sister is Maggie Gyllenhaal, an American actress and filmmaker, born on November 16, 1977, in New York. She is Jake Gyllenhaal's older sister and a talented actress who works in Hollywood, like her family. She has starred in films like Confession of a Dangerous Mind(2002), Secretary (2002), Mona Lisa Smile (2003), Sherrybaby (2006) and The Dark Knight (2008).

Maggie is not just an actress but also a director. In 2021, she made her directorial debut with the film The Lost Daughter. She has received many nominations and awards, including 2 Academy Award nominations, 5 Golden Globe nominations, and 1 Primetime Emmy Awards. She also won a Golden Globe Award for The Honourable Woman in 2014.

Maggie and Jake share a close bond, and they appeared together on screen in the movie Donnie Darko (2001). In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Jake shared how his older sister inspired him to pursue acting and said, “My sister has always been brilliant," he added, "What it did was present something to me that I inevitably would always be chasing. She takes a step and does something and I’m like, ‘Whoa, holy shit. All right, I’m going to try this.’ ”