Jake Gyllenhaal's parents kept turning down the roles he won
Growing up inside a Hollywood family did not mean easy access to Hollywood. Jake Gyllenhaal's director father and screenwriter mother let him audition as a boy, then often refused to let him accept the part, even vetoing The Mighty Ducks because filming meant two months away from home. He also worked summers as a lifeguard and busboy.
Gyllenhaal was born in Los Angeles on December 19, 1980, the son of Stephen Gyllenhaal and Naomi Foner and younger brother of Maggie. His father descends from a Swedish noble family; his mother's Ashkenazi Jewish family came from Russia and Poland, and he considers himself Jewish. Born with a lazy eye, he has worn corrective lenses since age six. For his 13th birthday his parents had him volunteer at a homeless shelter, a gesture meant to teach gratitude.
His screen debut came as a child, playing Billy Crystal's son in City Slickers (1991), and most of his early work was in his father's productions. The real launch was October Sky (1999), in which he played a West Virginia teenager set on building rockets; the film took $32 million. He then enrolled at Columbia to study Eastern religions and philosophy, picked up a mindfulness habit from Buddhist study, and left after two years, later admitting he had probably gone mainly to please his parents.
Donnie Darko (2001), with Maggie playing his on-screen sister, flopped on release and later became a cult favourite. Not everything landed: one critic dismissed Highway as silly and cliché-ridden, and CNN's reviewer savaged Bubble Boy. He came close to two superhero parts, briefly considered as a Spider-Man replacement when Tobey Maguire's health was in doubt and nearly offered Batman before Christian Bale got it. On stage, a 2002 West End run of This Is Our Youth won him an award for outstanding newcomer.
Brokeback Mountain (2005), opposite Heath Ledger, brought a BAFTA for supporting actor and an Oscar nomination, which he lost to George Clooney. Leading roles followed in films such as Zodiac and Nightcrawler, and Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019) became his biggest box-office success. A Broadway production of Sea Wall/A Life earned him a Tony nomination.
Source: Jake Gyllenhaal
