'''Jacob Benjamin "Jake" Gyllenhaal''' (pronounced ''Jill-en-hall'') (born December 19, 1980) is an Academy Award-nominated and BAFTA Award-winning American actor.
The son of a film director and a screenwriter, Gyllenhaal began acting at age eleven and during his short career has revealed himself to be a versatile actor, starring in a range of films such as the cult hit ''
Donnie Darko'' in which he played a troubled schizophrenic, the popular blockbuster ''
The Day After Tomorrow'' in which he starred as a high school student caught in a cataclysmic storm, ''
Jarhead'', where Gyllenhaal played against type and transformed himself into an angry Marine, and most recently the controversial "gay cowboy movie" ''
Brokeback Mountain''. He is viewed internationally as a sex symbol and was voted one of ''People'' magazine's "50 Most Beautiful People" for the year 2006.
[http://et.tv.yahoo.com/micro/etonmtv/14589/ Yahoo!] Besides his career, Gyllenhaal actively supports both political and social causes, such as appearing in Rock the Vote commercials, campaigning for the Democrats in the 2004 election, promoting environmental causes, and campaigning for the ACLU.
[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L6uTOk3Rkak Rock the vote video, Youtube]Biography
Early life
Gyllenhaal was born in Los Angeles, California, the son of film director Stephen Gyllenhaal and film producer and screenwriter Naomi Foner Gyllenhaal (née Achs).
[http://film.guardian.co.uk/interview/interviewpages/0,6737,1604325,00.html ''The Guardian'', Fred Schruers] Gyllenhaal's father was raised in the Swedenborgian religion and is a descendant of the Swedish noble Gyllenhaal family; his last Swedish ancestor was his great-great-grandfather, Anders Leonard Gyllenhaal.
[http://worldconnect.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=arc150&id=I098841 Rootsweb.com] His mother is from a New York City Jewish-American family; she is the ex-wife of Eric Foner, a history professor at Columbia University. His sister, Maggie Gyllenhaal, is also an actress. Gyllenhaal was raised in the Jewish faith and had his bar mitzvah at a homeless shelter, as his parents wanted to instill a sense of gratitude for his privileged lifestyle.
[http://www.contactmusic.com/new/xmlfeed.nsf/mndwebpages/gyllenhaals%20homeless%20shelter%20bar-mitzvah Contact musichttp://www.jewishsf.com/content/2-0-/module/displaystory/story_id/22714/edition_id/455/format/html/displaystory.html ''Jewish News Weekly'' ] They also insisted he get summer jobs to support himself; Gyllenhaal worked as a lifeguard and a busboy at a restaurant run by a friend of the family.
[http://uk.filmforce.ign.com/articles/519/519613p2.html Ign.com, Steven Horn]He graduated from the Harvard-Westlake School in Los Angeles in 1998, then attended Columbia University (where his sister and mother have also attended) to study Eastern religions and philosophy. However, Gyllenhaal dropped out after two years to concentrate on his acting career. He has stated that he hopes to go back one day and finish his degree.
[http://film.guardian.co.uk/interview/interviewpages/0,6737,1604325,00.html ''The Guardian'', Fred Schruers]Career
Jake Gyllenhaal made his film debut at age eleven in ''City Slickers'', as the son of Billy Crystal's character. However, his parents would not allow him to subsequently appear in ''The Mighty Ducks'', as he
