Jacob Benjamin Gyllenhaal (born December 19, 1980) is an American actor.

He’s 27!

The son of director Stephen Gyllenhaal and screenwriter Naomi Foner, Gyllenhaal began acting at 11 years old. He has appeared in diverse roles since his first lead role in 1999′s October Sky, followed by the 2001 cult hit Donnie Darko, in which he played a psychologically troubled teen and onscreen brother to his real-life sister, actor Maggie Gyllenhaal.

In the 2004 blockbuster The Day After Tomorrow he portrayed a student caught in a cataclysmic global cooling event, alongside Dennis Quaid as his father. He then played against type as a frustrated Marine in Jarhead (2005). The same year, he won critical acclaim portraying a role that entered popular shorthand as a “gay cowboy”, in the controversial but highly lauded film Brokeback Mountain.

Gyllenhaal was born in Los Angeles, California to film director Stephen Gyllenhaal and film producer and screenwriter Naomi Foner. Maggie Gyllenhaal, his sister, is also an actor, and played his sister in the movie Donnie Darko. Gyllenhaal’s father was raised in the Swedenborgian religion and is a descendant of the Swedish noble Gyllenhaal family. His last native Swedish ancestor was his great-great-grandfather, Anders Leonard Gyllenhaal. Gyllenhaal’s mother is from a Jewish family from New York City.

Gyllenhaal’s Bar Mitzvah celebration took place at a homeless shelter because his parents wanted to instill in him a sense of gratitude for his privileged lifestyle. Gyllenhaal has said that he considers himself “more Jewish than anything else”. Gyllenhaal’s parents insisted that he have summer jobs to support himself. He worked as a lifeguard, and as a busboy at a restaurant operated by a family friend.

Personal Life:

Gyllenhaal’s sister Maggie is engaged to actor Peter Sarsgaard, Gyllenhaal’s co-star in Jarhead and Rendition. Gyllenhaal’s niece, Ramona Sarsgaard, was born on October 3, 2006. In December, 2006, they escaped a fire that destroyed Manka’s, a famed lodge and restaurant in Inverness, California, at which they were vacationing. Jamie Lee Curtis is Gyllenhaal’s godmother, and he has repeatedly referred to his godfathers being a gay couple. Gyllenhaal himself is the godfather of Matilda Rose Ledger (born October 28, 2005), daughter of close friends Heath Ledger and Michelle Williams, both of whom co-starred with him in Brokeback Mountain. His uncle, Anders Gyllenhaal, is the executive editor of The Miami Herald. His late uncle is filmmaker Robert Achs.

Gyllenhaal dated Rilo Kiley singer Jenny Lewis in 2001, and later actress Kirsten Dunst. The couple met through Gyllenhaal’s sister Maggie, Dunst’s Mona Lisa Smile co-star, and began dating in September 2002. They were reported to have officially broken up in July 2004, but the relationship continued off and on until December 2005. With Dunst, Gyllenhaal shared a German Shepherd named Atticus which they rescued from a Los Angeles dog shelter. Gyllenhaal also owns a Puggle named Boo Radley. Both dogs are named after characters from the Harper Lee novel To Kill a Mockingbird, one of Gyllenhaal’s favorite novels.

In 2007, there was speculation between Gyllenhaal and his Rendition co-star Reese Witherspoon. However, with all the denial, in October of ’07, Gyllenhaal and Witherspoon’s relationship once again provoked wide media interest as photos of the pair vacationing together in Rome, Italy were released. Of course they are dating.

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