Jake Gyllenhaal

Jacob Benjamin Gyllenhaal was born in Los Angeles on December 19, 1980. As the son of a director and screenwriter he, unsurprisingly, began acting as a child. In 1991, he made his screen debut in comedy western City Slickers alongside Billy Crystal and Daniel Stern. His role as Homer Hickman in 1999 movie October Sky garnered attention from the film industry, but it wasn’t until 2001 that he became a household name starring in the indie cult movie Donnie Darko. Starring alongside his sister, Maggie Gyllenhaal, his performance as the troubled teen earned him an Independent Spirit Award nomination for Best Male Lead.

He then found roles in movie such as The Good Girl, in which he played the young love interest of Jennifer Aniston as well as the thriller disaster movie The Day After Tomorrow. In 2005 he won most acclaim for his performance as Jack Twist, alongside Heath Ledger in Ang Lee’s cowboy romance, Brokeback Mountain. He not only received many award nominations, including an Oscar nomination, for this role, but he also won a BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role. Gyllenhaal also helped produce the thriller Nightcrawlers, which gained him further BAFTA and Golden Globe Best Actor nominations.