Jake Gyllenhaal's birthday
Actor Jake Gyllenhaal was born as Jacob Benjamin Gyllenhaal on December 19th, 1980, in Los Angeles, California, to a family in the entertainment business. His father was a film director and his mother a screenwriter and film producer. His sister, Maggie, would also become an actress. Growing up close to the industry through his parents’ careers, Jake’s acting career began in 1991 when he appeared in the comedy City Slickers. While his parents prevented him from taking on extensive roles, Jake did appear in his father’s films, A Dangerous Woman (1993) and Homegrown (1998).
Jake earned his breakout role as the lead in 1999’s biopic October Sky, for which his performance was often singled out as the movie’s highlight. He returned to the big screen in 2001, when he starred in Donnie Darko. Although the film didn’t fare well at the box office at the time of its release, it has since become a sort of cult classic movie. Subsequent film appearances further raised him to fame, Highway, The Good Girl, and Moonlight Mile (all in 2002). He also made his theater debut in 2002 in the play This Is Our Youth, in London’s West End. In 2004, Gyllenhaal starred in the sci-fi disaster movie The Day After Tomorrow, which was a commercial success although reviews weren’t as favorable. In 2005, Jake starred in Proof, Jarhead, and Brokeback Mountain; the latter brought him critical and commercial acclaim, with the movie being nominated for three Academy Awards (with Gyllenhaal getting nominated for Best Supporting Actor) and several other accolades.
In 2007, Jake starred in the mystery thriller Zodiac and the political thriller Rendition. He continued his string of leading roles with 2009’s Brothers, 2010’s Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time and Love & Other Drugs and 2011’s Source Code. Since 2012, Gyllenhaal has also served as producer on some of his films, starting with action thriller End of Watch. In 2013, Jake continued to garner praise with his performances in thriller films Prisoners and Enemy. For his appearance in Nightcrawler (2014), he received Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild Award nominations. That same year, Gyllenhaal returned to theater with the play Constellations, followed by Little Shop of Horrors in 2015 and Sunday in the Park with George In (2016-2017).
Among Jake Gyllenhaal’s acting credits are Nocturnal Animals (2016), Okja (2017), Wildlife (2018), and Velvet Buzzsaw (2019). Gyllenhaal joined Marvel’s Cinematic Universe in 2019, appearing as the main antagonist in Spider-Man: Far From Home. The movie became the actor’s highest-grossing movie to date. Furthermore, Gyllenhaal was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play in 2019 for his work on Broadway’s Sea Wall/A Life. Most recently, Jake can be seen in The Guilty (2021) and Ambulance (2022). He has also lent his voice to animated features Spirit Untamed (2021) and Disney’s Strange World (2022).
