Jake Gyllenhaal is an American actor and
producer known for his many outstanding movies and whirlwind romances. The hero of
this episode effortlessly transforms into any character, capturing the attention
of millions of viewers. In this video, you'll learn more about the actor's
creative work and personal life.
How Jake Gyllenhaal lives and
where he spends his millions Jacob Benjamin Gyllenhaal was
born on December 19, 1980, in Los Angeles to a family of filmmakers. His
mother, Naomi Foner, is a famous screenwriter, and his father, Stephen Gyllenhaal, is a film
director. By the way, our hero's godparents are also from the cinema world – actors Paul
Newman and Jamie Lee Curtis. Jacob has a sister, Maggie, who is three years older than
him and also works in the film industry. Gyllenhaal's ancestors on his father's
side were Swedish and British aristocrats, while the relatives on his mother’s side
were Jewish immigrants from Russia and Poland. His surname is Swedish, so it’s
supposed to sound like “yee-len-hoo-oyl”, but everyone pronounces it with the English
sound /ʤ/. The actor likes to joke that there are two places in the world where his name
is pronounced correctly – Sweden and IKEA. Jake attended a private school affiliated with
Harvard University, the same school that taught the members of the pop rock band Maroon 5. What’s
more, our hero has known the band’s frontman, Adam Levine, since kindergarten, and
they remain good friends to this day. During his school years, Gyllenhaal performed in
a drama club and made his screen debut at the age of 11, appearing in the comedy City Slickers
as the son of the protagonist. After that, he won the audition for the film The Mighty
Ducks, but his parents didn't allow him to participate as he would have to leave home for
two months and miss school to play that role. In one interview, Jake shared that
he was inspired to become an actor after watching Federico Fellini's
movie La Strada. Interestingly, the same movie inspired Stephen
Gyllenhaal to become a director. On his 13th birthday, instead of celebrating
a traditional Jewish bar mitzvah ceremony, the actor worked at a homeless shelter:
that was how his parents wanted to give their son a sense of gratitude for
being born into a privileged family. At that time, the boy and his sister
got featured in the drama A Dangerous Woman directed by their father. Then,
the teenager expanded his filmography by starring in the shows Josh and S.A.M.,
Homicide: Life on the Street, and Homegrown. The parents worried Jake’s career might
bloat his ego, so they raised him with strict rules. Stephen wanted to teach his
son to be manly, so he would wake him up at 4:30 AM and send him for a run. Also,
the director made his son play soccer, which the boy hated because he couldn't
follow the ball due to his vision problems. In addition, the parents taught
their son to understand the value of money and insisted that he earn his
living. During the summer holidays, the teenager worked part-time as a lifeguard
at the beach and as a waiter's assistant. In 1998, Gyllenhaal graduated from
high school and entered Columbia University, where he studied Eastern
religions and philosophy. By the way, at the university, one of Jake's
professors was Robert Thurman, Uma Thurman’s father. Jake's mother and sister
graduated from the same educational institution. However, unlike them, he dropped out in his
sophomore year to pursue his acting career. In 1999, he played the protagonist in the
biographical drama October Sky, portraying a schoolboy who dreamt of building his own
rocket after the launch of the first satellite. Gyllenhaal did an excellent job: the role became his career breakthrough
and was the first to bring him fame. This success was followed by failure: Jake was
one of the contenders for the role of Frodo Baggins in The Lord of the Rings, but he failed
the audition. The director even called him the worst actor because Jake did not realize he
should have read the lines with a British accent. In 2001, the actor starred in the romantic drama
Lovely & Amazing and the comedy Bubble Boy. In fact, the scene in the club before the mud
fight was created by our hero and his colleague, Ping Wu. Lots of doubles and stuntmen were
engaged in the process to shoot the fight, but Jake himself was in the bubble the whole time. The same year, along with his sister,
Gyllenhaal played the protagonist in the sci-fi thriller Donnie Darko. It’s fun
that during the shooting, Jake and Maggie, like typical siblings, kept ribbing each
other and trying to show who was the boss. However, in their real life, they are
very close. Donnie Darko almost flopped at the box office, but after the DVD
release, its popularity skyrocketed, and the movie turned into a cult classic. Our
hero's acting fee at the time was $400,000. He came to the movie premiere
with his girlfriend – singer Jenny Lewis. Their romance
lasted only a few months. In 2002, Gyllenhaal starred in
Moonlight Mile, The Good Girl, and Highway. Twenty years after the premiere,
the actor admitted that during the shooting, he was madly in love with Jennifer Aniston
but never told her about his feelings. In the same 2022, the young man started dating
actress Kirsten Dunst who was introduced to him by his sister. The fans were confident that
the couple would get married. Rumor had it, Jake even proposed to Kirsten and bought a
house for them to live together. But the girl was not ready for serious relationships, so
they broke up two years later. Despite that, the public still likes to remember the couple’s
adorable photos, some of which have become memes: for example, a photo of the actor watching
his girlfriend enjoying her meal in a café. By the way, shortly before meeting Gyllenhaal,
Kirsten played the girlfriend of Spider-Man, whom Jake could have played in the
second part of the franchise. Back then, Tobey Maguire injured his back, and the studio
almost approved our hero as a replacement, but in the end, there were no
changes in the cast. Aсtually, Jake could have also played Batman, Superman, and
Avatar, but those roles passed him by as well. In 2004, the actor played himself
in the failed comedy Jiminy Glick in Lalawood and one of the leading roles in
the science fiction disaster movie The Day After Tomorrow. The film received good reviews
from critics and was commercially successful. 2005 was a very successful year for Gyllenhaal.
He starred in the detective drama Proof and the military drama Jarhead, for which he received
$3 million. In fact, other actors who also competed for the leading role in Jarhead
were Leonardo DiCaprio and Tobey Maguire. Still, the most memorable film was Brokeback
Mountain: a story of same-sex love between two cowboys played by Jake Gyllenhaal
and Heath Ledger. During interviews, the actor admitted that he literally
begged the director to give him this role, as the movie addressed a taboo subject that
Jake wanted to explore. Our hero got so deep into the character that many viewers began
to suspect him of homosexuality. The actor took that as a compliment because it was a
sign of his brilliant acting. By the way, during the filming, the men kissed so passionately
that Jake thought Heath would break his nose. As a side note, the actors became great friends, and Gyllenhaal even became a
godfather to Ledger's daughter. The critics praised the movie, and our hero
was nominated for numerous film awards, including an Oscar. Moreover, he won the MTV Movie Award and a BAFTA. According to some
sources, the actor's fee was $521,000. In 2007, Jake starred in the detective
thriller Zodiac based on a true story. Gyllenhaal was the director's first choice for the
role of crime author Robert Graysmith, and if he had refused, the role would have been offered to
Orlando Bloom. The character was a young father, so the actor had to learn how to put old-fashioned
diapers on a doll before the filming. During the shooting, our hero
intervened in a conflict between Mark Ruffalo and Robert Downey
Jr. The fight was prevented, but Jake lost a tooth that was later
sold at a charity auction for $98,000. In the same year, the actor played one of
the leading roles in the thriller Rendition, where he dived into a romance with actress
Reese Witherspoon. At first, the couple hid their relationship, as Reese was not yet divorced
from her husband Ryan Phillippe. Soon enough, the lovers started appearing together in public
more often. According to rumors, Jake proposed to the girl, but she did not want to tie the knot
once again. Two years later, the couple broke up. In 2008, our hero had to experience a tragedy
– the death of Heath Ledger. Gyllenhaal found out about his close friend’s death during the
filming of Brothers and, shocked by what happened, he could not return to work for some time. At
that moment, Jake promised to play in decent movies only to pay his respect to Ledger and
give more attention to theater work. Indeed, since 2012, he regularly appeared on
stage in various plays and musicals. The film Brothers was released in 2009.
Gyllenhaal's co-star was Tobey Maguire. Initially, it was assumed that they
would play the opposite roles but later, the director doubted whether Maguire
would have been able to convincingly portray a negative character, so
the actors swapped their roles. One more star in this film was Natalie Portman,
who later dated Gyllenhaal for a short period. It was rumored that the celebrities' romance was just
Jake’s way to get distracted from his problems: in addition to his friend's death,
his parents’ divorce deepened his depression. Their 30-year marriage was
ruined by the infidelity of his father, who soon remarried. After the divorce, the actor's
mother moved to New York, followed by her son. In 2010, Gyllenhaal starred in the
sci-fi action film Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, for which he received $10
million, according to media reports. One more role was in the melodrama Love and Other Drugs,
for which he was nominated for a Golden Globe. In this movie, Jake's co-star was Anne Hathaway,
with whom he was rumored to have a romance. The celebrities fueled the flame by doing a revealing
photoshoot for Entertainment Weekly. However, after a while, everyone learned
that the actors were just friends. In the same year, the actor started a
relationship with singer Taylor Swift who was nine years younger than him. Three
months later, Gyllenhaal broke up with her over the phone. Swift took the breakup hard and even
wrote several songs about her ex. Interestingly, 10 years after the breakup, when the singer
re-recorded her 2012 album, she remembered her ex-boyfriend in the music video for the
10-minute version of “All Too Well”. Apparently, when they were dating, Swift left her scarf
at the actor's house. Jake seemed to have forgotten that and wore this accessory as
his own. Fans were amused by this fact, so they flooded the actor with messages asking
him to return Taylor's scarf. At the same time, during their relationship, Jake spared
no expense on his beloved one and even paid for private planes costing $160,000
for Swift so he could see her more often. In 2011, Gyllenhaal played the protagonist
in the sci-fi action film Source Code. In the movie, Jake’s character was supposed
to look confused, and to achieve this effect, the director resorted to a trick. The actor
wore special headphones that played random fragments of songs and unusual sounds
to get the desired facial expression. The following year, Gyllenhaal starred in the
short film Time to Dance and played a police officer in the action film End of Watch. He
prepared for the filming by riding along with police officers for five months and even
witnessed a crime during his first ride. Meanwhile, Jake added more fleeting
romantic pursuits to his list: Dakota Johnson, Minka Kelly, Alyssa
Miller, and model Emily DiDonato. In 2013, the actor starred in Denis
Villeneuve's psychological thriller Enemy – a story of an insane idea of a history
teacher to find his doppelgänger. The director was so impressed with Gyllenhaal's work that he
offered him a role in another film, Prisoners, where the actor played a detective investigating
a girl's disappearance. Ryan Gosling wanted to play this role as well, but the director,
with all due respect to Gosling's talent, did not change his decision. During the filming,
Jake Gyllenhaal made his own contributions to the film. For example, he added his character’s
nervous tic, the tattoos, and the Masonic ring. In 2014, the celebrity starred in the thriller
Nightcrawler, portraying an experienced thief, Louis Bloom. The actor had to lose nearly
30 pounds for the movie: to achieve that, he dedicated around eight hours a day to
physical exercise. Also, Jake performed most of the car stunts himself, including
the chase scene at the end of the film. Once, he got so much into this role that he accidentally
broke a mirror with his hand and got into hospital care where he got 14 stitches. His efforts
paid off: Jake Gyllenhaal was nominated for the Golden Globe, Saturn, Screen Actors
Guild, and BAFTA awards for this role. During the same period, Jake was
rumored to be dating Margot Robbie and Ruth Wilson, but he claimed his
colleagues were just his friends. In 2015, Jake Gyllenhaal expanded his filmography
by starring in Accidental Love, Demolition, and Everest. During the filming of Everest, he nearly
lost his hearing and narrowly escaped hypothermia. However, he was proud that he could provide
excellent results even in such extreme conditions. The same year, the actor starred
in a short film for Beyonce and Jay Z’s concert tour and in the sports
drama Southpaw as boxer Billy Hope. Jake prepared for the filming by spending
five months in the boxing ring and dedicating six hours a day to his training. Thanks to
that, he managed to get in good shape as he gained 28 lbs of muscle. Obviously, our hero
takes all his roles seriously. For example, if he has to speak a different language for the
role, he not only learns the necessary lines by heart but also devotes some time to studying
the language to improve his pronunciation. Gyllenhaal’s co-start was Rachel McAdams who was
also rumored to have a fleeting affair with Jake. In 2016, the actor appeared in an episode
of the TV series Inside Amy Schumer and starred in the thriller Nocturnal
Animals, where he played a double role: a writer and the hero of his book. He was
nominated for a BAFTA award for this work. Then, our hero got featured in the films Life, Okja, Stronger, Wildlife,
and The Sisters Brothers. In 2018, Jake started dating French model
Jeanne Cadieu who is 16 years younger than him. If earlier he used to justify his
fleeting romances with his desire to be free, today, the actor admits that he dreams
of a family and children. By the way, his relationship with Jeanne is his longest
one – the couple lives together and may soon get married. The media gossip that it’s
extremely important for Gyllenhaal what his mother thinks of his future wife. Having
a degree in psychology, Naomi allegedly checks every potential daughter-in-law and has
never approved of his previous girlfriends. In 2019, the actor starred in
the horror film Velvet Buzzsaw, the children's musical comedy John Mulaney &
The Sack Lunch Bunch, and finally got a role in the Spider-Man film Far From Home. On the
screen, he portrayed the supervillain Mysterio. In 2021, Gyllenhaal voiced the cartoon
Spirit Untamed and starred in the thriller The Guilty. The following year,
he appeared in the action film Ambulance and performed the voice acting
for the cartoon Strange World. Currently, Jake continues to play in movies.
Recently, there was the premiere of the action movie The Covenant. Right now, a TV series
Presumed Innocent is being filmed and the action movie Roadside Diner is in post-production.
To play in this film, the actor took part in the traditional UFC weigh-in. The shooting took
place in Las Vegas at the T-Mobile arena. Also, in the future, the celebrity will
take part in the films Francis and the Godfather and Prophet as well as in several other
projects with the launch dates still uncertain. In addition, Gyllenhaal has managed to work as a
producer. He already has 19 films under his belt. Today, the celebrity's net worth is estimated
at $80 million earned as an actor. Experts believe that his acting fees range from
8 to 15 million dollars. Additionally, our hero earns money thanks to advertising
contracts. The actor has collaborated with the fashion brands Cartier, Calvin Klein, and
Prada, the porcelain manufacturer Richard Ginori, and recently starred in an
advertisement for vegan eggs. In his free time, the actor likes to
do woodwork and cook. What’s more, he tries to attend the gym and meditate every
day. By the way, Jake practices Buddhism. Also, the man has pets:
dogs Boo Radley and Atticus, which he adopted from a shelter. Gyllenhaal named the dogs after the main characters of
his favorite book To Kill a Mockingbird. The celebrity is engaged in public services: he
is a supporter of the environmental movement and recycling. He annually allocates $400,000 for
planting trees in the forests of Mozambique and also flies to the Arctic to draw public
attention to climate change. In addition, he donates money to charity organizations
fighting cancer and other diseases. Jake and his beloved one live in New York
on the 5th floor of an apartment building in Tribeca. The man bought the apartment in 2017
for $8.6 million. The property covers an area of approximately 2900 square feet and includes three
bedrooms, three bathrooms, a spacious living room, and a kitchen-dining room. There is also an
underground parking, a pool, and a garden. According to some reports, Gyllenhaal has
two more real estate objects in New York: a penthouse in Soho costing $3.5 million and
a townhouse in Tribeca worth $3.75 million. Before moving to New York, the actor
lived in Los Angeles: there, in 2005, he bought a mansion in the Hollywood
Hills for $2.5 million. The property had an area of approximately 2800 square
feet featuring a garden and a swimming pool with a relaxation zone. In 2014, the
man sold the house for $3.5 million. Jake owns a car collection
including the Audi Q7 priced at $55,000, the Mercedes-Benz E500 for $62,000,
the Lexus RX and BMW i3 worth $45,000 each, as well as the Bentley Flying Spur valued at
$200,000 and the Porsche Cayenne for $68,000. In fact, Jake's first car was a 1990 Volvo. Also, he received his first driving lesson
from his godfather, Paul Newman. Throughout his career, the actor has appeared
in more than 70 films of various genres. Which movie featuring Jake
Gyllenhaal do you like the most?
