Jake Gyllenhaal

Jacob Benjamin Gyllenhaal (/ˈdʒɪlənhɑːl/; Los Angeles, California; December 19, 1980) is an American actor. He began acting at the age of eleven, when he participated in City Slickers, released in 1991. His first leading role was in the film October Sky (1999), after which was followed by works such as the cult independent film Donnie Darko, in which he plays a teenager with psychological problems and where he shared the cast with his sister Maggie Gyllenhaal, and The Day After Tomorrow (2004), which deals with the catastrophic issue of global cooling.

In 2005 he made his consecration before the general public, thanks to his portrayal of a frustrated marine in Jarhead and, above all, the character of the cowboy Jack Twist in Brokeback Mountain, by Ang Lee, where he shared the spotlight with Heath Ledger. Gyllenhaal's work, like Ledger's, was critically acclaimed.

In 2019 he made his debut in the Marvel Cinematic Universe as Mysterio, Spider-Man's enemy in Spider-Man: Far From Home and in Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021).

Gyllenhaal has become a political activist, promoting various political and social causes. In recent years, he has appeared in Rock the Vote campaign advertising, publicly supported the United States Democratic Party in the 2004 election, and promoted various environmental and American Liberties Union causes. civilians.

Biography

Early years and education

Jacob Benjamin Gyllenhaal was born on December 19, 1980 in Los Angeles, California, the son of film director Stephen Gyllenhaal and film producer and screenwriter Naomi Foner (née Achs). Maggie Gyllenhaal, his older sister, is also an actress, and played her sister in the Donnie Darko film. Gyllenhaal's father was raised in the Swedenborgian religion and is descended from Russian, Latvian, English and Swedish noble Gyllenhaal family. His last native Swedish ancestry was his great-great-grandfather, Leonard Gyllenhaal, his mother comes from a Jewish family in New York City. Gyllenhaal's Benei Mitzvah celebration occurred 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". His parents insisted that he work in the summer to support himself, so during that time he held jobs as a lifeguard and a busboy at a restaurant run by a family friend.

Career

First works

Gyllenhaal studied for a while at Columbia University, who left when he decided to focus on performance. Photograph by Low Memorial Library, library of that school.

During his childhood, Gyllenhaal had regular exposure to film, due to his family's close ties to the industry. At eleven years of age he made his acting debut playing the son of Billy Crystal in the 1991 comedy film City Slickers . His parents did not allow him to appear in the 1992 film The Mighty Ducks because the production required Gyllenhaal to leave home for two months. In subsequent years, his parents allowed him to participate in auditions for casting for different roles, but they regularly refused their son to accept the role if he was elected. On the contrary, on several occasions he had the opportunity to participate in some of his father's productions. He acted in the movie A Dangerous Woman (1993), like his sister; in "Bop Gun," an episode of the series Homicide: Life on the Street, the following year; and in the 1998 comedy Homegrown. Along with his sister and his mother, he appeared in two episodes of Molto Mario, an Italian cooking show on the Food Network. Before his senior year of high school, the only film not directed by his father in which Gyllenhaal was given permission to act was "Josh and S.A.M. (1993), a little-known children's adventure.

She graduated from Harvard-Westlake School in Los Angeles in 1998 and then attended Columbia University, where her sister was in college and from which her mother had graduated, to study Eastern religions and philosophy. He dropped out of college two years later so he could focus on acting, although he has expressed his intention to finish his degree. Gyllenhaal's first starring role came in October Sky, an adaptation of Homer's autobiography. Hickam Rocket Boys, directed by Joe Johnston, in which he played a young man from West Virginia who tries to win a science scholarship to avoid becoming a coal miner. The film grossed $32 million and, according to the Sacramento News and Review, gave Gyllenhaal's "breakthrough performance."

From Donnie Darko to the London theater

Donnie Darko, Gyllenhaal's second film, was not a box office success when it was released in 2001. The film, directed by Richard Kelly, is set in 1988 and features Gyllenhaal as a troubled teenager who, having narrowly escaped death, experiences visions of a six-foot-tall rabbit named Frank, who tells him the world is coming to an end. Gyllenhaal's performance was very well received by critics. Gary Mairs of culturevulture.net stated that "Gyllenhaal pulls off the difficult trick of appearing both a mildly normal person and a deeply disturbed one, often within the same scene."

After the critical success of Donnie Darko, Gyllenhaal's next role was the lead character in Highway, a 2002 film ignored by the audience and the press alike.. One critic described his performance as “silly, clichéd and straight-for-video.” However, he gained further fame starring with Jennifer Aniston in the film The Good Girl, which world premiered in 2002, at the Sundance Film Festival. In addition, he starred in Lovely & amp; Amazing with Catherine Keener In both films he portrayed an unstable character who begins a reckless affair with an older woman. Gyllenhaal described these characters as “teenagers in flux.” He later starred in Touchstone Pictures' romantic comedy Bubble Boy, which was loosely based on David Vetter's story of the same name. The film portrays the adventures of the title character, who pursues the love of his life before he himself marries the wrong man. The film was heavily criticized by the specialized press, calling it a " tasteless, chaotic and foolish atrocity".

Followed by Bubble Boy, he starred opposite Dustin Hoffman, Susan Sarandon and Ellen Pompeo in the film Moonlight Mile, as a young man facing death of his girlfriend and the grief of his parents. The story, which received mixed reviews, is loosely based on writer-director Brad Silberling's personal experiences following the murder of his partner, Rebecca Schaeffer.

The actor came close to playing Spider-Man in Spider-Man 2, due to director Sam Raimi's concerns about the health of the lead and original Spider-Man, Tobey Maguire, who had injured his back. However, Maguire recovered, so the sequel was shot without Gyllenhaal. Instead, he starred in the production The Day After Tomorrow in 2004, co-starring Dennis Quaid, who played his father. Gyllenhaal played Sam Hall, a student who is trapped with his friends in the New York Public Library after a storm surge triggers a tsunami and floods the city. The film received mixed reviews and was a box office success.

In his theatrical debut, he starred in Kenneth Lonergan's revival, This is Our Youth, on the London stage. made appearances on the stage, so I knew I had to give it a try, too." The play, which was a critical sensation on Broadway, ran for eight weeks in the West End. Gyllenhaal received favorable reviews and the Evening Standard Theater Award in the Outstanding Upcoming Star category.

Brokeback Mountain and other performances

Gyllenhaal during the premiere Proofin September 2005.

2005 was a prolific year for Gyllenhaal, as he starred in the critically well-received films Proof, Jarhead and Brokeback Mountain. In Proof , working alongside Gwyneth Paltrow and Anthony Hopkins, he played a math graduate student who tries to convince Paltrow's character to publish a groundbreaking proof to a problem perplexing the mathematical community.. In Jarhead , he concentrated on acting contrary to his usual "sensitive but disturbed" style by displaying a brand of masculine aggression as a violent US Marine during the first Gulf War. He also did a casting test to play Batman for one of the biggest box office hits, Batman Begins, and, although he almost landed the role, he finally Christian Bale turned out to be the one chosen to give life to the character.

In Brokeback Mountain, the actor and Heath Ledger play two young men who meet as sheep herders and become engaged in a sexual relationship. His character, Jack Twist, is "extroverted and loose", unlike the "reserved, introspective, lonely boys" he had previously played. The film was often associated with the shorthand phrase "the gay cowboy movie", although there were different opinions about the sexual orientation of the characters. The film won the Golden Lion award at the Venice International Film Festival. In addition, he went on to win four Golden Globes, four awards from the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) and three Oscars. Gyllenhaal was nominated for an Oscar in the Best Supporting Actor category, which George Clooney won for his work in Syriana. Also, he won the BAFTA for Best Supporting Actor and was a candidate for the SAG Awards in the same category and for Best Supporting Actor. Also, along with Ledger, he won an MTV award for best kiss. Shortly after the 2006 Oscars, he was invited to join the Academy in recognition of his acting career, and was awarded the Young Award for Artistic Excellence for his role.

When asked about kissing scenes with Ledger, he said, "As an actor, I think we need to embrace the moments when we feel most uncomfortable." Also, when asked about the more intimate scenes with his partner, Gyllenhaal compared them to "doing a sex scene with a woman I'm not particularly attracted to." Following the release of Brokeback Mountain, rumors circulated regarding sexual orientation. of the actors. When asked about it during an interview, he said:

"Well, you know it's flattering when there's a rumor that I'm bisexual. That means I can interpret more types of papers. I'm open to anything people wanted to call me. Sexually, I've never been interested in a man, but I don't think he'll be afraid if such a thing happens. »

In 2006 he was listed in the ranking of the "50 Most Beautiful People" by People magazine. That same year, he was also included in another list of People's "Sexiest Singles". Mimicking this conventional type of listing, hundreds of gay and bisexual men were considered for the 2007 and 2008 list of "100 Sexiest by AfterEllen." com". Gyllenhaal was ranked number one both years in a row, and he was ranked number two in Gay Wired Magazine's vote on male actors who have played gay characters in movies..

Participation in thrillers

Gyllenhaal narrated the animated short film The Man Who Walked Between the Towers, based on Mordicai Gerstein's book of the same name about the famous feat by Philippe Petit. In January 2007, he hosted from Saturday Night Live, she donned a sparkly evening gown and sang the song "And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going" from the musical Dreamgirls for her monologue opening song, and dedicated the song to his "only fan base... the fans of Brokeback".

In 2007, he starred in the film Zodiac, directed by David Fincher and based on a true story. Gyllenhaal played Robert Graysmith, a cartoonist for the San Francisco Chronicle and author of two books on the Zodiac Killer. At the same time, he worked alongside Meryl Streep, Alan Arkin and Reese Witherspoon on Rendition, a political thriller directed by Gavin Hood about the US policy of extraordinary rendition. In 2009, he appeared with Tobey Maguire in the remake of Brothers, a 2004 Danish film directed by Susanne Bier, under the direction of Jim Sheridan. His next job was in the comedy Nailed, for which he filmed his scenes in South Carolina with Jessica Biel.

In 2010, he starred in the action film Prince of Persia: Sands of Time, based on the video game of the same name. The production failed both at the box office and critically. Many of the negative reviews focused on the casting of Gyllenhaal over an Iranian actor, who would have fit the character, but his work was well received nonetheless.

2011 was the year in which Source Code was released, the second film by Duncan Jones (Moon), in which Gyllenhaal played a police officer from the future who investigates an attack by going back in time and reliving it over and over again. The following year he acted in the film End of Watch with Michael Peña, playing a couple of Los Angeles police officers.

One of his last performances included him in the film adaptation of the novel by José Saramago, The duplicated man, which is entitled Enemy. He also starred in the film nominated for best cinematography at the Oscars Prisoners. In addition to acting in End of Watch and Nightcrawler he also contributed as a producer on both films.

In 2019 he gave life to Mysterio in the character's film debut with Spider-Man: Far From Home, thus becoming part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Personal life

Family

The actress Maggie Gyllenhaal, sister of the actor.

The son of director Stephen Gyllenhaal and screenwriter Naomi Foner, Gyllenhaal's immediate family includes his sister, actress Maggie Gyllenhaal, who is married to Peter Sarsgaard, an actor who previously worked with Gyllenhaal co-starring in Jarhead and Rendition. Jake also has, on his father's side, a half-brother named Luke born in 2014, the result of Stephen Gyllenhaal's second marriage. In December 2006, Jake and his sister escaped a fire that destroyed Manka's, a famous restaurant and lodging house in Inverness, California, where they were vacationing. Jake has two nieces, Ramona Sarsgaard, who was born on October 3, 2006 and Gloria Ray Sarsgaard who was born on April 19, 2012. Jamie Lee Curtis is her godmother, and he has mentioned several times that his godparents are a gay couple. Gyllenhaal himself is Matilda's godfather Rose Ledger (born October 28, 2005), the daughter of Michelle Williams and the late actor Heath Ledger, with whom she worked on Brokeback Mountain. Her uncle, Anders Gyllenhaal, is the executive editor of the newspaper The Miami Herald. The late uncle of his was the film director Robert Achs.

Relationships

Gyllenhaal was in a romantic relationship with his Rendition co-star, Reese Witherspoon. Witherspoon confirmed their relationship, which has been speculated by the media since early 2007, in an interview for the November 2008 issue of Vogue magazine. separated in November 2009, but the report was denied by Witherspoon's and Gyllenhaal's publicists, who stated that they were "still together". The actress has recently been seen in a new romance with representative Jim Toth, thus confirming the break with Jake Gyllenhaal, who was her partner for almost two years. She also had a relationship with Alyssa Miller, a swimsuit model, whose breakup was disclosed to the media on January 7, 2014. However, they resumed their relationship in 2014. He is currently in a relationship with the French model Jeanne Cadieu. These started coming out at the end of 2018.

Politics and interests

Gyllenhaal considers himself an active political figure; After filming a commercial for Rock the Vote, she and her sister Maggie visited the University of Southern California to convince students to vote during the 2004 United States presidential election. In addition, she created a campaign for the Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry. However, he later confirmed that “it frustrates me when actors talk about politics; I am a politician and I make choices in my films that I think are political. I try to [be consistent in] saying things with what I do. Right or wrong, young actors have all the power on their side." In an interview for the film Rendition, he stressed: "It's sad when actors are politicians and when politicians are actors.".

Raised in a socially conscious family, Gyllenhaal has campaigned in support of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), an organization whose family fully supports. Conscious of the environment, Jake also regularly recycles frequently, saying in an interview that he spends up to $400 a year to plant trees in a Mozambique forest, which is partly due to his promotion for The Carbon Neutral Company's program, Future Forests. After finishing filming for The Day After Tomorrow, he visited the Arctic to promote global awareness of climate change.

Filmography

Awards and nominations

Oscars

Golden Globe Awards

Screen Actors Guild Awards

BAFTA Awards

Independent Spirit Awards

Film Critics Award

Tony Awards