December 19th, 2008 - Happy Birthday Jake Gyllenhaal!

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

The son of director Stephen Gyllenhaal and screenwriter Naomi Foner, Gyllenhaal began acting at age ten.

He has appeared in diverse roles since his first lead role in 1999’s October Sky, followed by the 2001 indie cult hit Donnie Darko, in which he played a psychologically troubled teen and onscreen brother to his real-life sister, actress 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 as Jack Twist in the film Brokeback Mountain opposite Heath Ledger.

On May 20, 2008 it was announced that Gyllenhaal will play the lead role in the movie adaptation of the video game Prince of Persia: Sands of Time, produced by Jerry Bruckheimer.

Gyllenhaal was born in Los Angeles, California, the son of film director Stephen Gyllenhaal and film producer and screenwriter Naomi Foner (née Achs). Maggie Gyllenhaal, his sister, is also an actress, and played his sister in the movie Donnie Darko.

Gyllenhaal is currently dating his Rendition co-star, Reese Witherspoon. Witherspoon confirmed the relationship, about which the media has speculated since early 2007, in an interview for the November 2008 issue of Vogue.

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