Jake Gyllenhaal Biography

Actor

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Jake Gyllenhaal's turn as a rocket-loving youngster in 1999's October Sky moved him directly into the Hollywood category of hot young actors to watch. It led to more memorable parts in the spooky sci-fi hit Donnie Darko (2001, co-starring his sister, Maggie) and The Good Girl (2002, with Jennifer Aniston). Blue-eyed and with usually-tousled brown hair, Gyllenhaal has a standout gawky charm that makes up for a lack of classical movie-star looks. The son of director Stephen Gyllenhaal, he has been in and around movies since he was a kid (he played Billy Crystal's son in 1991's City Slickers). He starred in the drama Moonlight Mile (2002, with Dustin Hoffman and Susan Sarandon) and the global-warming disaster movie The Day After Tomorrow (2004). In 2005 he played a Marine fighting the Gulf War in Jarhead and co-starred with Heath Ledger in Brokeback Mountain, the much-discussed "gay cowboy movie" directed by Ang Lee.