Jake Gyllenhaal

Jake Gyllenhaal was born in Los Angeles in 1980 and has appeared in a number of award-winning films including Brokeback Mountain, The Day after Tomorrow and Nightcrawler. In recent years, Gyllenhaal has appeared in numerous productions, including the 2017 Broadway revival of Sunday in the Park with George opposite Annaleigh Ashford.

Hailing from a performing family, Gyllenhaal’s acting career began in the 1990s, when he appeared in the 1991 film City Slickers at 11 years old. With a continued interest in acting throughout his teenage years, he regularly auditioned for films and television shows, successfully landing his first lead role at 19. In 1999, he played Homer Hickam in October Sky, which was considered to be his breakout role that catapulted his career. Notable films in Gyllenhaal’s early career include Donnie Darko, Bubble Boy and Moonlight Mile.

In 2005, he played Jack Twist in the critically-acclaimed Brokeback Mountain, opposite Heath Ledger. Winning a BAFTA award for best actor in a supporting role, the movie has since been selected for preservation by the United States National Film Registry in 2018, praised for being ‘culturally, historically or aesthetically significant’. In recent years, Gyllenhaal’s film credits include Love & Other Drugs (2010) alongside Anne Hathaway, a Golden Globe-nominated performance in Nightcrawler (2014), and Nocturnal Animals (2016), directed by Tom Ford.

Gyllenhaal has also delivered award-winning performances on stage. In 2002, he made his professional theatre debut in the West End transfer of Kenneth Lonergan’s This Is Our Youth at the Garrick Theatre. Playing for just eight weeks, he starred alongside Anna Paquin and Hayden Christensen and received positive reviews, as well as outstanding newcomer at the 2002 Evening Standard Theatre Awards.

In 2012, Gyllenhaal made his off-Broadway debut in If There Is I Haven’t Found it Yet in 2012, first performed at the Bush Theatre in London. Two years later, he made his Broadway debut in 2014 in Constellations opposite Ruth Wilson, playing a beekeeper named Roland. For his performance, Gyllenhaal was nominated for best actor in the Drama League Awards.

His musical theatre debut came in 2016, playing George in four concert performances of Sunday in the Park with George at the New York City Center, alongside Annaleigh Ashford. The pair reprised their performances in the 2017 Broadway transfer at the Hudson Theatre from 23rd February, which played for a limited engagement of two months. In a review by New York Theatre Guide, the “concert-style production onstage could not be more dramatic, but make no mistake about it: this Sunday In The Park With George is a jewel in its own right, radiant with talent, and shimmering with color and light.”