Maggie Gyllenhaal
Encyclopedia
Margaret Ruth "Maggie" Gyllenhaal (icon;
born November 16, 1977) is an American actress. She is the daughter of director Stephen Gyllenhaal
and screenwriter Naomi Foner Gyllenhaal
(née Achs) and the older sister of actor Jake Gyllenhaal
. She made her screen debut when she began to appear in her father's films. Gyllenhaal achieved recognition in a supporting role in the indie
cult hit
Donnie Darko
(2001). Her breakthrough role was in the 2002 sadomasochistic romance Secretary
, for which she received critical acclaim and a Golden Globe
nomination.
Gyllenhaal has appeared in an eclectic range of films, including the indie film Sherrybaby
(2006), for which she was nominated for a Golden Globe, the romantic comedy Trust the Man
(2006), and big-budget films such as World Trade Center
(2006) and The Dark Knight
(2008). She next starred in the 2009 musical-drama Crazy Heart
, for which she was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress
. Gyllenhaal has also appeared in theatrical plays, including Closer
(2000), and television productions, including Strip Search (2004).
Gyllenhaal has been in a relationship with actor Peter Sarsgaard
since 2002. In 2006 the two became engaged, and Gyllenhaal gave birth to their daughter, Ramona, on October 3, 2006. On May 2, 2009, she married Sarsgaard in Italy. She is a politically active Democrat
and, like her brother and parents, supports the American Civil Liberties Union
. Prior to the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq
she participated in anti-war demonstrations
. Gyllenhaal drew criticism in 2005 for her opinion that America was "responsible in some way" for the September 11 attacks. She is actively involved in human rights, civil liberty, and anti-poverty campaigns.
and film producer and screenwriter Naomi Foner Gyllenhaal
(née
Achs). Jake Gyllenhaal
, her younger brother, is also an actor. Her father was raised in the Swedenborgian religion and is of the Swedish noble Gyllenhaal family
; her last purely Swedish ancestor was her great-grandfather, a descendant of Leonard Gyllenhaal
, a leading Swedenborgian who supported the printing and spreading of Swedenborg's writings. Her mother is from a Jewish
family in New York City and is the ex-wife of Eric Foner
, a history professor at Columbia University
. Her parents, who married in 1977, filed for divorce in October 2008.
Gyllenhaal grew up in Los Angeles and studied at the Harvard–Westlake
prep school. In 1995 she graduated from Harvard–Westlake and moved to New York to attend Columbia University
, where she studied literature and Eastern religions; she graduated in 1999 with a Bachelor of Arts degree. After studying at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art
in London, she took a summer job working as a waitress in a Massachusetts
restaurant.
(1992); A Dangerous Woman
(1993); and Homegrown
(1998) – were directed by her father; the last two also featured her brother; they had supporting roles as children. With their mother, she and Jake appeared in two episodes of Molto Mario, an Italian cooking show on the Food Network
. After graduating from college, she played supporting roles in films like Cecil B. Demented
(2000) and Riding in Cars with Boys
(2001). Gyllenhaal later achieved recognition in her own right playing her real brother's on-screen sister in the indie
cult hit
Donnie Darko
(2001).
She made her theatrical debut in the Berkeley Repertory Theatre
production of Patrick Marber
's Closer
, for which she received favorable reviews. Production started in May 2000 and ended in mid-July of that year. Gyllenhaal has performed in several other plays, including The Tempest
, Antony and Cleopatra
, The Butterfly Project, and No Exit
.
Secretary
(2002), a film about two people who embark on a mutually fulfilling BDSM
lifestyle. New York Times
critic Stephen Holden noted: "The role of Lee, which Maggie Gyllenhaal imbues with a restrained comic delicacy and sweetness, should make her a star." Mick LaSalle
of the San Francisco Chronicle
wrote: "Maggie Gyllenhaal, as the self-destructive secretary, is enigmatic and, at moments, sympathetic." The film received generally favorable reviews, and Gyllenhaal's performance earned her the Best Breakthrough Performance by an Actress award from the National Board of Review of Motion Pictures
, her first Golden Globe
nomination, and an Independent Spirit Award nomination. Secretary was Gyllenhaal's first film role which featured full frontal nudity
. Although impressed with the script, she initially had some qualms about doing the film, which she believed could deliver an anti-feminist message. Yet after carefully discussing the script with the film's director, Steven Shainberg
, she agreed to join the project. Although insisting Shainberg did not exploit her, Gyllenhaal has said she felt "scared when filming began" and that "in the wrong hands ... even in just slightly less intelligent hands, this movie could say something really weird." Since then, she is guarded about discussing her role in the film, saying only that "despite myself, sometimes the dynamic that you are exploring in your work spills over into your life."
She next played a supporting role in the comedy-drama Adaptation.
(2002), a film that tells the story of screenwriter Charlie Kaufman
's struggle to adapt The Orchid Thief
into a film. She later appeared in the unauthorized biography Confessions of a Dangerous Mind
(2002), part of an ensemble cast that included Sam Rockwell
, Drew Barrymore
, George Clooney
, and Julia Roberts
. The movie grossed $33 million worldwide. That same year, she had a smaller role in the comedy 40 Days and 40 Nights
.
In 2003 she co-starred with Julia Roberts in Mona Lisa Smile
in the role of Giselle. In an interview with The Daily Telegraph
, she revealed the reason for accepting the role was "to play somebody who feels confident in herself as a sexy, beautiful woman". The film generated mostly critical reviews, with Manohla Dargis
of the Los Angeles Times describing it as "smug and reductive". Her next roles were in smaller independent films: Casa de los Babys
(2003), a story about six American women impatiently waiting out their lengthy residency requirements in an unidentified South American country before picking up their adoptive babies, and Criminal
(2004), a remake of the Argentinian film Nine Queens, with John C. Reilly
and Diego Luna
. Gyllenhaal plays an honest hotel manager forced to help her crooked brother (Reilly) by seducing one of his victims. Gyllenhaal was invited to join the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
in 2004. She starred in the HBO film Strip Search (2004), where she portrayed an American student in China suspected of terrorism.
In 2004 Gyllenhaal returned to theater in a Los Angeles production of Tony Kushner
's Homebody/ Kabul as Priscilla, the Homebody's daughter, who spends most of the play searching for her elusive mother in Kabul
, Afghanistan
. Kushner gave her the role in Homebody/ Kabul on the strength of her performance in Closer. Ben Brantley of The New York Times wrote: "Ms. Gyllenhaal provides the essential bridge between the parts of the play's title." John Heilpern of The New York Observer noted that Gyllenhaal's performance was "compelling". Viewed as a sex symbol, she was ranked in the "Hot 100 List" by Maxim
magazine in 2004 and 2005.
Gyllenhaal's next film role was in the 2005 comedy-drama Happy Endings, in which she played an adventuress singer who seduces a young gay musician (Jason Ritter
) as well as his rich father (Tom Arnold
). She recorded songs for the movie's soundtrack, calling the role the "roughest, scariest acting ever" and adding she is more natural when singing on screen than when acting. Lisa Schwarzbaum of Entertainment Weekly
declared Gyllenhaal's performance "as wonderfully, naturally slouchy-sexy as her character is artificial".
, Stranger than Fiction, Monster House
, World Trade Center
, and Sherrybaby
. In Trust the Man, featuring Julianne Moore
, David Duchovny
, and Billy Crudup
, she played Elaine, who has been dating Tobey, Crudup's character, for seven years and has begun to feel that it is time for her to settle down and start a family. The film was critically and financially unsuccessful. Ethan Alter of Premiere
felt that the performances by Gyllenhaal and Duchovny were "much more at ease" and concluded with "that's probably because they're played these characters many times before". In Stranger than Fiction, Gyllenhaal played a love interest of Harold Crick, played by Will Ferrell
. Her performance in the film received favorable reviews; Mike Straka of Fox News
wrote: "Gyllenhaal has never been sexier in any film before and her interplay with Ferrell will propel her to more A-list films, leaving her indie-darling days behind, no doubt." She voiced Elizabeth "Zee" in the computer animated
horror film
Monster House. Gyllenhaal depicted Allison Jimeno, the wife of Port Authority officer Will Jimeno
, in Oliver Stone
's World Trade Center, based on the September 11 attacks in New York City. She regarded this as "one of the films she most enjoyed making". The film received favorable reviews and proved to be an international success, earning $162 million worldwide.
In Sherrybaby, Gyllenhaal played a young drug-addicted thief trying to put her life in order after prison so she can reconcile with her daughter. During promotion of the film, she noted of her portrayal of the character: "I think she's in such dire straights that all she has are these kind of naive, fierce hope. And while I was playing the part I was looking for pleasure and hope in everything, even in these really bleak things. And so it was really mostly after I finished the movie that I felt pain." Her performance in the film was well received: David Germain of the Associated Press
wrote, "Gyllenhaal humanizes her so deeply and richly ... that Sherry elicits sympathy even in her darkest and weakest moments", and Dennis Harvey of Variety
called her performance "naturalistic". For her work, Gyllenhaal earned her second Golden Globe Best Actress nomination and won the Best Actress category award at the 2006 Stockholm International Film Festival
.
She appeared in The Dark Knight
(2008), the sequel to Batman Begins
(2005), in which she replaced Katie Holmes
as Assistant District Attorney
, Rachel Dawes
. Gyllenhaal acknowledged her character was a damsel in distress
to an extent, but said director Christopher Nolan
sought ways to empower her character, so "Rachel's really clear about what's important to her and unwilling to compromise her morals, which made a nice change" from the many conflicted characters she had previously portrayed. The Dark Knight was a financial and critical success, setting a new opening weekend box office record for North America. With revenue of $1 billion worldwide, it became the fourth highest grossing film of all time, and remains Gyllenhaal's most commercially successful picture to date. In a Salon.com
review of the film, Stephanie Zacharek called Gyllenhaal's character "a tough cookie in a Stanwyck
-style bias-cut gown" and stated that "the movie feels smarter and more supple when she's on-screen". IGN
film critic Todd Gilchrist wrote, "Gyllenhaal adds real depth and energy to Rachel Dawes."
Gyllenhaal played Yelena in the Classic Stage Company
's 2009 Off Broadway production of Anton Chekhov
's Uncle Vanya
in New York City. The cast also included Peter Sarsgaard
, Mamie Gummer
, Denis O'Hare
, and George Morfogen
. The production, directed by Austin Pendleton
, began previews on January 17 and ended its limited run on March 1. Joe Dziemianowicz of the New York Daily News was less than enthusiastic about her performance, writing: "Gyllenhaal, who was so dynamic as a druggie in the film Sherrybaby, plays Yelena with a slow-mo saunter and monotonous pasted-on smile that makes it seem as if she's been in Sherry's stash." However, Malcolm Johnson of the Hartford Courant
was complimentary, noting that she "ultimately blossoms" as the character.
Gyllenhaal agreed to appear in the comedy film Away We Go
, where she plays a bohemian college professor who is an old friend of John Krasinski
's character. The film generated broadly mixed reviews, with Owen Gleiberman
of Entertainment Weekly describing Gyllenhaal's subplot as "over-the-top". However, A. O. Scott
of the New York Times praised Gyllenhaal and co-star Allison Janney
for their performances, writing that "both [are] quite funny". Scott concluded with, "Ms. Gyllenhaal’s line about sex roles in 'the seahorse community' is the screenplay’s one clean satirical bull’s-eye". Her next role came in the musical-drama Crazy Heart
, in which she played journalist Jean Craddock, who falls for musician Bad Blake, played by Jeff Bridges
. The movie received favorable reviews, with Gyllenhaal receiving praise from critics. Peter Travers
of Rolling Stone reported that Gyllenhaal was "funny, touching and vital as Jean" and that her part was "conventionally conceived, but Gyllenhaal plays it with a tough core of intelligence and feeling." Her performance earned her an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress
.
In 2010 Gyllenhaal appeared in Nanny McPhee and the Big Bang
, the sequel to the 2005 film Nanny McPhee
. The role required her to speak with an English accent. The feature received mixed reviews, and earned $93 million worldwide. Away from acting, she served as host of the PBS
television documentary series Independent Lens
. Gyllenhaal will appear in Hysteria
, an independent movie focusing on the creation of the vibrator
.
In February 2011 Gyllenhaal starred in another Anton Chekhov production as the character Masha in Austin Pendleton's Three Sisters
at the Classic Stage Company. The play focuses on the Prozorov sisters (Gyllenhaal, Jessica Hecht
, and Juliet Rylance
) "unlucky in love, unhappy in the provinces and longing to return to Moscow", as summarized by Bloomberg
's Jeremy Gerard. The off-Broadway production began preview performances on January 12, with a limited engagement through March 6.
, a close friend of her brother Jake, since 2002. In April 2006, they announced their engagement. Their first child, Ramona, was born on October 3, 2006. On May 2, 2009, Gyllenhaal and Sarsgaard were married in a small chapel in Brindisi
, Italy. Gyllenhaal is currently expecting their second child. The family lives in Brooklyn
, New York.
, stating the reason for the invasion was "oil and imperialism". Gyllenhaal took part in Artists United to Win Without War, a campaign started by Robert Greenwald
with the aim of advancing progressive
causes and voicing opposition to the Iraq War
. She and her brother Jake filmed a commercial for Rock the Vote
, and visited the University of Southern California
(USC) campus to encourage students to vote in the 2004 U.S. presidential election
, in which she supported John Kerry
. Gyllenhaal supported Barack Obama
in the 2008 presidential election
. She has campaigned on behalf of the American Civil Liberties Union
(ACLU), an organization her family strongly supports.
Reebok
, and Agent Provocateur
, and recorded the first unabridged audiobook version of Sylvia Plath
's novel The Bell Jar
. Gyllenhaal is a supporter of Witness
, a non-profit organization that uses video and online technologies to expose human rights
violations. She co-hosted a benefit dinner with founder Peter Gabriel
in November 2007. Gyllenhaal helped raise funds for TrickleUp.org, a non-profit organization that helps impoverished people start a micro-enterprise
. For one of the fundraisers, Gyllenhaal helped design and promote a necklace that sold for $100; all proceeds from sales went to the charity. In October 2008 she hosted a fashion show event called "Fashionably Natural", which was presented by Gen Art and SoyJoy in Los Angeles. The show featured four up-and-coming designers who only worked with all-natural and eco-friendly fabrics and materials.
born November 16, 1977) is an American actress. She is the daughter of director Stephen Gyllenhaal
Stephen Gyllenhaal
-Personal life:Gyllenhaal was born in Cleveland, Ohio, the son of Virginia Lowrie and Hugh Anders Gyllenhaal. The Gyllenhaal family is a descendant of the cavalry officer Nils Gunnesson Haal, who was ennobled in 1652 when Queen Christina of Sweden conferred upon him the crest and family name,...
and screenwriter Naomi Foner Gyllenhaal
Naomi Foner Gyllenhaal
Naomi Gyllenhaal is an American screenwriter. She has written the screenplays for several feature films, including Running on Empty , Losing Isaiah, and most recently Bee Season. She is...
(née Achs) and the older sister of actor Jake Gyllenhaal
Jake Gyllenhaal
Jacob Benjamin "Jake" Gyllenhaal is an American actor. The son of director Stephen Gyllenhaal and screenwriter Naomi Foner, Gyllenhaal began acting at age ten...
. She made her screen debut when she began to appear in her father's films. Gyllenhaal achieved recognition in a supporting role in the indie
Independent film
An independent film, or indie film, is a professional film production resulting in a feature film that is produced mostly or completely outside of the major film studio system. In addition to being produced and distributed by independent entertainment companies, independent films are also produced...
cult hit
Cult following
A cult following is a group of fans who are highly dedicated to a specific area of pop culture. A film, book, band, or video game, among other things, will be said to have a cult following when it has a small but very passionate fan base...
Donnie Darko
Donnie Darko
Donnie Darko is a 2001 American psychological thriller film written and directed by Richard Kelly and starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Drew Barrymore, Patrick Swayze, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Noah Wyle, Jena Malone, and Mary McDonnell...
(2001). Her breakthrough role was in the 2002 sadomasochistic romance Secretary
Secretary (film)
Secretary is a 2002 independent film directed by Steven Shainberg and starring Maggie Gyllenhaal as Lee Holloway and James Spader as E. Edward Grey...
, for which she received critical acclaim and a Golden Globe
Golden Globe Award
The Golden Globe Award is an accolade bestowed by the 93 members of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association recognizing excellence in film and television, both domestic and foreign...
nomination.
Gyllenhaal has appeared in an eclectic range of films, including the indie film Sherrybaby
Sherrybaby
Sherrybaby is a 2006 American drama film written and directed by Laurie Collyer. Screened at the Sundance Film Festival on January 25, 2006, the film received a limited release in the United States on September 8, 2006.-Plot:...
(2006), for which she was nominated for a Golden Globe, the romantic comedy Trust the Man
Trust the Man
Trust the Man is a 2006 romantic comedy film, starring David Duchovny, Billy Crudup, Julianne Moore, and Maggie Gyllenhaal. It was directed and written by Bart Freundlich. The film primarily deals with three relationships, and a realization of just how important those relationships are...
(2006), and big-budget films such as World Trade Center
World Trade Center (film)
World Trade Center is a 2006 American disaster-drama film directed by Oliver Stone and based on the September 11 attacks at the World Trade Center. It stars Nicolas Cage, Maria Bello, Michael Peña, Maggie Gyllenhaal and Michael Shannon. The film was shot from October 19, 2005 - February 10, 2006...
(2006) and The Dark Knight
The Dark Knight (film)
The Dark Knight is a 2008 superhero film directed, produced and co-written by Christopher Nolan. Based on the DC Comics character Batman, the film is part of Nolan's Batman film series and a sequel to 2005's Batman Begins...
(2008). She next starred in the 2009 musical-drama Crazy Heart
Crazy Heart
Crazy Heart is a 2009 American musical-drama film, written and directed by Scott Cooper and based on the 1987 novel of the same name by Thomas Cobb. Jeff Bridges plays a down-and-out country music singer-songwriter who tries to turn his life around after beginning a relationship with a young...
, for which she was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress
Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress
Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize an actress who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry. Since its inception, however, the...
. Gyllenhaal has also appeared in theatrical plays, including Closer
Closer (play)
Closer is the third play written by English playwright Patrick Marber. The play was premiered at the Royal National Theatre's Cottesloe Theatre in London in 1997, and made its North American debut at the Music Box Theatre on Broadway on 25 January 1999....
(2000), and television productions, including Strip Search (2004).
Gyllenhaal has been in a relationship with actor Peter Sarsgaard
Peter Sarsgaard
John Peter Sarsgaard is an American film and stage actor. He landed his first feature role in the movie Dead Man Walking in 1995. He then appeared in the 1998 independent films Another Day in Paradise and Desert Blue. That same year, Sarsgaard received a substantial role in The Man in the Iron...
since 2002. In 2006 the two became engaged, and Gyllenhaal gave birth to their daughter, Ramona, on October 3, 2006. On May 2, 2009, she married Sarsgaard in Italy. She is a politically active Democrat
Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
and, like her brother and parents, supports the American Civil Liberties Union
American Civil Liberties Union
The American Civil Liberties Union is a U.S. non-profit organization whose stated mission is "to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to every person in this country by the Constitution and laws of the United States." It works through litigation, legislation, and...
. Prior to the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq
2003 invasion of Iraq
The 2003 invasion of Iraq , was the start of the conflict known as the Iraq War, or Operation Iraqi Freedom, in which a combined force of troops from the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia and Poland invaded Iraq and toppled the regime of Saddam Hussein in 21 days of major combat operations...
she participated in anti-war demonstrations
Protests against the Iraq War
Beginning in 2002, and continuing after the 2003 invasion of Iraq, protests against the Iraq War were held in many cities worldwide, often coordinated to occur simultaneously around the world...
. Gyllenhaal drew criticism in 2005 for her opinion that America was "responsible in some way" for the September 11 attacks. She is actively involved in human rights, civil liberty, and anti-poverty campaigns.
Early life
Gyllenhaal was born in New York City to film director Stephen GyllenhaalStephen Gyllenhaal
-Personal life:Gyllenhaal was born in Cleveland, Ohio, the son of Virginia Lowrie and Hugh Anders Gyllenhaal. The Gyllenhaal family is a descendant of the cavalry officer Nils Gunnesson Haal, who was ennobled in 1652 when Queen Christina of Sweden conferred upon him the crest and family name,...
and film producer and screenwriter Naomi Foner Gyllenhaal
Naomi Foner Gyllenhaal
Naomi Gyllenhaal is an American screenwriter. She has written the screenplays for several feature films, including Running on Empty , Losing Isaiah, and most recently Bee Season. She is...
(née
Married and maiden names
A married name is the family name adopted by a person upon marriage. When a person assumes the family name of her spouse, the new name replaces the maiden name....
Achs). Jake Gyllenhaal
Jake Gyllenhaal
Jacob Benjamin "Jake" Gyllenhaal is an American actor. The son of director Stephen Gyllenhaal and screenwriter Naomi Foner, Gyllenhaal began acting at age ten...
, her younger brother, is also an actor. Her father was raised in the Swedenborgian religion and is of the Swedish noble Gyllenhaal family
Gyllenhaal family
Gyllenhaal is a Swedish noble family descended from the cavalry Lieutenant Nils Gunnarsson Haal , ennobled in 1652 with a change of surname to Gyllenhaal...
; her last purely Swedish ancestor was her great-grandfather, a descendant of Leonard Gyllenhaal
Leonard Gyllenhaal
Leonard Gyllenhaal was a Swedish military officer and entomologist.Born on the Ribbingsberg manor in Västergötland in west Sweden, Leonard Gyllenhaal was son of an army officer and belonged to a family of the lower nobility...
, a leading Swedenborgian who supported the printing and spreading of Swedenborg's writings. Her mother is from a Jewish
American Jews
American Jews, also known as Jewish Americans, are American citizens of the Jewish faith or Jewish ethnicity. The Jewish community in the United States is composed predominantly of Ashkenazi Jews who emigrated from Central and Eastern Europe, and their U.S.-born descendants...
family in New York City and is the ex-wife of Eric Foner
Eric Foner
Eric Foner is an American historian. On the faculty of the Department of History at Columbia University since 1982, he writes extensively on political history, the history of freedom, the early history of the Republican Party, African American biography, Reconstruction, and historiography...
, a history professor at Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
. Her parents, who married in 1977, filed for divorce in October 2008.
Gyllenhaal grew up in Los Angeles and studied at the Harvard–Westlake
Harvard-Westlake School
Harvard-Westlake School is an independent, co-educational university preparatory day school consisting of two campuses located in Los Angeles, California with approximately 1,600 students enrolled in grades 7 through 12....
prep school. In 1995 she graduated from Harvard–Westlake and moved to New York to attend Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
, where she studied literature and Eastern religions; she graduated in 1999 with a Bachelor of Arts degree. After studying at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art
Royal Academy of Dramatic Art
The Royal Academy of Dramatic Art is a drama school located in London, United Kingdom. It is generally regarded as one of the most renowned drama schools in the world, and is one of the oldest drama schools in the United Kingdom, having been founded in 1904.RADA is an affiliate school of the...
in London, she took a summer job working as a waitress in a Massachusetts
Massachusetts
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...
restaurant.
Early work
Gyllenhaal's first films – her feature film debut at the age of 15, WaterlandWaterland (film)
Waterland is a 1992 film directed by Stephen Gyllenhaal, based on the 1983 novel of the same name by Graham Swift. The film starred Jeremy Irons, Sinéad Cusack, Ethan Hawke, and John Heard.-Plot:...
(1992); A Dangerous Woman
A Dangerous Woman (1993 film)
A Dangerous Woman is a 1993 film from Amblin Entertainment and Gramercy Pictures directed by Stephen Gyllenhaal and written for the screen by his then wife Naomi Foner...
(1993); and Homegrown
Homegrown (film)
Homegrown is a 1998 comedy / thriller film. It was directed by Stephen Gyllenhaal and starred Billy Bob Thornton, John Lithgow, and Hank Azaria.-Plot:...
(1998) – were directed by her father; the last two also featured her brother; they had supporting roles as children. With their mother, she and Jake appeared in two episodes of Molto Mario, an Italian cooking show on the Food Network
Food Network
Food Network is a television specialty channel that airs both one-time and recurring programs about food and cooking. Scripps Networks Interactive owns 70 percent of the network, with Tribune Company controlling the remaining 30 percent....
. After graduating from college, she played supporting roles in films like Cecil B. Demented
Cecil B. Demented
Cecil B. Demented is a 2000 black comedy film written and directed by John Waters. The film stars Melanie Griffith as a snobby A-list Hollywood actress who is kidnapped by a band of terrorist filmmakers who force her to star in their underground film...
(2000) and Riding in Cars with Boys
Riding in Cars with Boys
Riding in Cars with Boys is a 2001 film based on the autobiography of the same name by Beverly Donofrio, about a woman who overcame difficulties including being a teen mother to earning a master's degree from the span of 1961 to 1986. It stars Drew Barrymore, Steve Zahn, Brittany Murphy, and James...
(2001). Gyllenhaal later achieved recognition in her own right playing her real brother's on-screen sister in the indie
Independent film
An independent film, or indie film, is a professional film production resulting in a feature film that is produced mostly or completely outside of the major film studio system. In addition to being produced and distributed by independent entertainment companies, independent films are also produced...
cult hit
Cult following
A cult following is a group of fans who are highly dedicated to a specific area of pop culture. A film, book, band, or video game, among other things, will be said to have a cult following when it has a small but very passionate fan base...
Donnie Darko
Donnie Darko
Donnie Darko is a 2001 American psychological thriller film written and directed by Richard Kelly and starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Drew Barrymore, Patrick Swayze, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Noah Wyle, Jena Malone, and Mary McDonnell...
(2001).
She made her theatrical debut in the Berkeley Repertory Theatre
Berkeley Repertory Theatre
Berkeley Repertory Theatre is a regional theater company located in Berkeley, California. It was founded in 1968, as the East Bay’s first resident professional theatre. Michael Leibert was the founding artistic director, who was then succeeded by Sharon Ott in 1984. The company runs seven...
production of Patrick Marber
Patrick Marber
Patrick Albert Crispin Marber is an English comedian, playwright, director, puppeteer, actor and screenwriter.-Early life and education:...
's Closer
Closer (play)
Closer is the third play written by English playwright Patrick Marber. The play was premiered at the Royal National Theatre's Cottesloe Theatre in London in 1997, and made its North American debut at the Music Box Theatre on Broadway on 25 January 1999....
, for which she received favorable reviews. Production started in May 2000 and ended in mid-July of that year. Gyllenhaal has performed in several other plays, including The Tempest
The Tempest
The Tempest is a play by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written in 1610–11, and thought by many critics to be the last play that Shakespeare wrote alone. It is set on a remote island, where Prospero, the exiled Duke of Milan, plots to restore his daughter Miranda to her rightful place,...
, Antony and Cleopatra
Antony and Cleopatra
Antony and Cleopatra is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written sometime between 1603 and 1607. It was first printed in the First Folio of 1623. The plot is based on Thomas North's translation of Plutarch's Lives and follows the relationship between Cleopatra and Mark Antony...
, The Butterfly Project, and No Exit
No Exit
No Exit is a 1944 existentialist French play by Jean-Paul Sartre. The original French title is Huis Clos, the French equivalent of the legal term in camera, referring to a private discussion behind closed doors; English translations have also been performed under the titles In Camera, No Way Out...
.
2002–2005
Gyllenhaal's break-out role was in the black comedyBlack comedy
A black comedy, or dark comedy, is a comic work that employs black humor or gallows humor. The definition of black humor is problematic; it has been argued that it corresponds to the earlier concept of gallows humor; and that, as humor has been defined since Freud as a comedic act that anesthetizes...
Secretary
Secretary (film)
Secretary is a 2002 independent film directed by Steven Shainberg and starring Maggie Gyllenhaal as Lee Holloway and James Spader as E. Edward Grey...
(2002), a film about two people who embark on a mutually fulfilling BDSM
BDSM
BDSM is an erotic preference and a form of sexual expression involving the consensual use of restraint, intense sensory stimulation, and fantasy power role-play. The compound acronym BDSM is derived from the terms bondage and discipline , dominance and submission , and sadism and masochism...
lifestyle. New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
critic Stephen Holden noted: "The role of Lee, which Maggie Gyllenhaal imbues with a restrained comic delicacy and sweetness, should make her a star." Mick LaSalle
Mick LaSalle
Mick LaSalle is an American Mick LaSalle is an [[United States|American]] Mick LaSalle is an [[United States|American]] [[film reviewer] and the author of two books on pre-[[Motion Picture Production Code|Hays Code]] Hollywood...
of the San Francisco Chronicle
San Francisco Chronicle
thumb|right|upright|The Chronicle Building following the [[1906 San Francisco earthquake|1906 earthquake]] and fireThe San Francisco Chronicle is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of the U.S. state of California, but distributed throughout Northern and Central California,...
wrote: "Maggie Gyllenhaal, as the self-destructive secretary, is enigmatic and, at moments, sympathetic." The film received generally favorable reviews, and Gyllenhaal's performance earned her the Best Breakthrough Performance by an Actress award from the National Board of Review of Motion Pictures
National Board of Review of Motion Pictures
The National Board of Review of Motion Pictures was founded in 1909 in New York City, just 13 years after the birth of cinema, to protest New York City Mayor George B. McClellan, Jr.'s revocation of moving-picture exhibition licenses on Christmas Eve 1908. The mayor believed that the new medium...
, her first Golden Globe
Golden Globe Award
The Golden Globe Award is an accolade bestowed by the 93 members of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association recognizing excellence in film and television, both domestic and foreign...
nomination, and an Independent Spirit Award nomination. Secretary was Gyllenhaal's first film role which featured full frontal nudity
Nudity in film
Nudity in film is any presentation in motion pictures of people while naked or wearing less clothing than contemporary norms consider modest. Many actors and actresses have appeared nude, or exposing parts of their bodies or dressed in ways considered provocative by contemporary standards at some...
. Although impressed with the script, she initially had some qualms about doing the film, which she believed could deliver an anti-feminist message. Yet after carefully discussing the script with the film's director, Steven Shainberg
Steven Shainberg
Steven Shainberg is an American film director and producer.He is the nephew of author Lawrence Shainberg. Both are part of the Shainberg family of Memphis, Tennessee, founder of the Shainberg's chain of stores, which is now part of Dollar General.Shainberg received his BA from Yale University in...
, she agreed to join the project. Although insisting Shainberg did not exploit her, Gyllenhaal has said she felt "scared when filming began" and that "in the wrong hands ... even in just slightly less intelligent hands, this movie could say something really weird." Since then, she is guarded about discussing her role in the film, saying only that "despite myself, sometimes the dynamic that you are exploring in your work spills over into your life."
She next played a supporting role in the comedy-drama Adaptation.
Adaptation.
Adaptation. is a 2002 American comedy-drama film directed by Spike Jonze and written by Charlie Kaufman. The film is based on Susan Orlean's non-fiction book The Orchid Thief through self-referential events...
(2002), a film that tells the story of screenwriter Charlie Kaufman
Charlie Kaufman
Charles Stuart "Charlie" Kaufman is an American screenwriter, producer, and director. His film work includes Being John Malkovich, Human Nature, Adaptation, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and Synecdoche, New York...
's struggle to adapt The Orchid Thief
The Orchid Thief
The Orchid Thief is a 1998 non-fiction book by American journalist and author Susan Orlean, based on her investigation of the 1994 arrest of John Laroche and a group of Seminoles in south Florida for poaching rare orchids in the Fakahatchee Strand State Preserve.The book is based on an article that...
into a film. She later appeared in the unauthorized biography Confessions of a Dangerous Mind
Confessions of a Dangerous Mind
Confessions of a Dangerous Mind is a 2002 biographical spy film depicting the life of popular game show host and producer Chuck Barris, who claimed to have also been an assassin for the Central Intelligence Agency...
(2002), part of an ensemble cast that included Sam Rockwell
Sam Rockwell
Sam Rockwell is an American actor known for his leading roles in Lawn Dogs, Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, Choke and Moon, as well as for his supporting roles in The Green Mile, Iron Man 2, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Frost/Nixon, Galaxy Quest, Matchstick Men, The Assassination of...
, Drew Barrymore
Drew Barrymore
Drew Blyth Barrymore is an American actress, film director, screenwriter, producer and model. She is a member of the Barrymore family of American actors and granddaughter of John Barrymore. She first appeared in an advertisement when she was 11 months old. Barrymore made her film debut in Altered...
, George Clooney
George Clooney
George Timothy Clooney is an American actor, film director, producer, and screenwriter. For his work as an actor, he has received two Golden Globe Awards and an Academy Award...
, and Julia Roberts
Julia Roberts
Julia Fiona Roberts is an American actress. She became a Hollywood star after headlining the romantic comedy Pretty Woman , which grossed $464 million worldwide...
. The movie grossed $33 million worldwide. That same year, she had a smaller role in the comedy 40 Days and 40 Nights
40 Days and 40 Nights
This article refers to Michael Lehmann's 2002 film. For the 2007 Matthew Chapman book, see 40 Days and 40 Nights .40 Days and 40 Nights is a 2002 romantic comedy film directed by Michael Lehmann, written by Rob Perez and starring Josh Hartnett, Shannyn Sossamon and Paulo Costanzo...
.
In 2003 she co-starred with Julia Roberts in Mona Lisa Smile
Mona Lisa Smile
Mona Lisa Smile is a 2003 romantic drama film produced by Revolution Studios and Columbia Pictures in association with Red Om Films Productions, directed by Mike Newell, written by Lawrence Konner and Mark Rosenthal, and starring Julia Roberts, Kirsten Dunst, Maggie Gyllenhaal, and Julia Stiles...
in the role of Giselle. In an interview with The Daily Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph is a daily morning broadsheet newspaper distributed throughout the United Kingdom and internationally. The newspaper was founded by Arthur B...
, she revealed the reason for accepting the role was "to play somebody who feels confident in herself as a sexy, beautiful woman". The film generated mostly critical reviews, with Manohla Dargis
Manohla Dargis
Manohla Dargis is a chief film critic for The New York Times, along with A.O. Scott. She was formerly a chief film critic for the Los Angeles Times, the film editor at the LA Weekly, and a film critic at The Village Voice. She has written for a variety of publications, including Film Comment and...
of the Los Angeles Times describing it as "smug and reductive". Her next roles were in smaller independent films: Casa de los Babys
Casa de los Babys
Casa de los Babys is a 2003 drama film written, directed, and edited by filmmaker John Sayles. It features an ensemble cast, including Marcia Gay Harden, Maggie Gyllenhaal and Daryl Hannah.-Plot:...
(2003), a story about six American women impatiently waiting out their lengthy residency requirements in an unidentified South American country before picking up their adoptive babies, and Criminal
Criminal (film)
Criminal is a 2004 American film based upon the Argentine film Nine Queens. Directed by Gregory Jacobs, it stars John C. Reilly, Diego Luna, Maggie Gyllenhaal, and Maeve Quinlan and is a production of Section Eight, the production company of Steven Soderbergh and George Clooney.-Plot:John C. Reilly...
(2004), a remake of the Argentinian film Nine Queens, with John C. Reilly
John C. Reilly
John Christopher Reilly, Jr. is an American film and theater actor, singer, and comedian. Debuting in Casualties of War in 1989, he is one of several actors whose careers were launched by Brian De Palma. To date, he has appeared in more than fifty films, including three separate films in 2002...
and Diego Luna
Diego Luna
Diego Luna is a Mexican actor known for his childhood telenovela work, a starring role in the film Y tu mamá también, and supporting roles in American films. He is also known for his roles in Rudo y Cursi and Milk. Luna also had minor roles in Frida and Before Night Falls...
. Gyllenhaal plays an honest hotel manager forced to help her crooked brother (Reilly) by seducing one of his victims. Gyllenhaal was invited to join the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is a professional honorary organization dedicated to the advancement of the arts and sciences of motion pictures...
in 2004. She starred in the HBO film Strip Search (2004), where she portrayed an American student in China suspected of terrorism.
In 2004 Gyllenhaal returned to theater in a Los Angeles production of Tony Kushner
Tony Kushner
Anthony Robert "Tony" Kushner is an American playwright and screenwriter. He received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1993 for his play, Angels in America: A Gay Fantasia on National Themes, and co-authored with Eric Roth the screenplay for the 2005 film, Munich.-Life and career:Kushner was born...
's Homebody/ Kabul as Priscilla, the Homebody's daughter, who spends most of the play searching for her elusive mother in Kabul
Kabul
Kabul , spelt Caubul in some classic literatures, is the capital and largest city of Afghanistan. It is also the capital of the Kabul Province, located in the eastern section of Afghanistan...
, Afghanistan
Afghanistan
Afghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...
. Kushner gave her the role in Homebody/ Kabul on the strength of her performance in Closer. Ben Brantley of The New York Times wrote: "Ms. Gyllenhaal provides the essential bridge between the parts of the play's title." John Heilpern of The New York Observer noted that Gyllenhaal's performance was "compelling". Viewed as a sex symbol, she was ranked in the "Hot 100 List" by Maxim
Maxim (magazine)
Maxim is an international men's magazine based in the United Kingdom and known for its pictorials featuring popular actresses, singers, and female models, sometimes pictured dressed, often pictured scantily dressed but not fully nude....
magazine in 2004 and 2005.
Gyllenhaal's next film role was in the 2005 comedy-drama Happy Endings, in which she played an adventuress singer who seduces a young gay musician (Jason Ritter
Jason Ritter
Jason Morgan Ritter is an American actor, son of the late actor John Ritter and actress Nancy Morgan. Ritter is probably best known for his role as Kevin Girardi in the television series Joan of Arcadia and as Sean Walker in the NBC series The Event.-Early life:Ritter was born in Los Angeles,...
) as well as his rich father (Tom Arnold
Tom Arnold (actor)
Thomas Dwaine "Tom" Arnold is an American actor and comedian. He has appeared in many films, perhaps most notably True Lies . He was the host of The Best Damn Sports Show Period for four years.-Early life:...
). She recorded songs for the movie's soundtrack, calling the role the "roughest, scariest acting ever" and adding she is more natural when singing on screen than when acting. Lisa Schwarzbaum of Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly is an American magazine, published by the Time division of Time Warner, that covers film, television, music, broadway theatre, books and popular culture...
declared Gyllenhaal's performance "as wonderfully, naturally slouchy-sexy as her character is artificial".
2006–present
Following Happy Endings, she starred in the 2006 films Trust the ManTrust the Man
Trust the Man is a 2006 romantic comedy film, starring David Duchovny, Billy Crudup, Julianne Moore, and Maggie Gyllenhaal. It was directed and written by Bart Freundlich. The film primarily deals with three relationships, and a realization of just how important those relationships are...
, Stranger than Fiction, Monster House
Monster House (film)
Monster House is a 2006 computer animated motion capture horror/comedy film produced by ImageMovers and Amblin Entertainment, and distributed by Columbia Pictures. Executive produced by Robert Zemeckis and Steven Spielberg, this is the first time since Back to the Future Part III that they have...
, World Trade Center
World Trade Center (film)
World Trade Center is a 2006 American disaster-drama film directed by Oliver Stone and based on the September 11 attacks at the World Trade Center. It stars Nicolas Cage, Maria Bello, Michael Peña, Maggie Gyllenhaal and Michael Shannon. The film was shot from October 19, 2005 - February 10, 2006...
, and Sherrybaby
Sherrybaby
Sherrybaby is a 2006 American drama film written and directed by Laurie Collyer. Screened at the Sundance Film Festival on January 25, 2006, the film received a limited release in the United States on September 8, 2006.-Plot:...
. In Trust the Man, featuring Julianne Moore
Julianne Moore
Julianne Moore is an American actress and a children's book author. Throughout her career, she has been nominated for four Oscars, six Golden Globes, three BAFTAs and nine Screen Actors Guild Awards....
, David Duchovny
David Duchovny
David William Duchovny is an American actor, writer and director. He has won Golden Globe awards for his work as FBI Special Agent Fox Mulder on The X-Files and as Hank Moody on Californication.-Early life:...
, and Billy Crudup
Billy Crudup
William Gaither "Billy" Crudup is an American actor of film and stage. He is well known for his roles as guitarist Russell Hammond in Almost Famous, Will Bloom in Big Fish, and Ashitaka in Princess Mononoke. He also starred in the 2007 romantic comedy film Dedication, alongside Mandy Moore...
, she played Elaine, who has been dating Tobey, Crudup's character, for seven years and has begun to feel that it is time for her to settle down and start a family. The film was critically and financially unsuccessful. Ethan Alter of Premiere
Premiere (magazine)
Premiere was an American and New York City-based film magazine published by Hachette Filipacchi Media U.S., published between the years 1987 and 2007. The original version of the magazine, Première , was started in France in 1976 and is still being published there.-History:The magazine originally...
felt that the performances by Gyllenhaal and Duchovny were "much more at ease" and concluded with "that's probably because they're played these characters many times before". In Stranger than Fiction, Gyllenhaal played a love interest of Harold Crick, played by Will Ferrell
Will Ferrell
John William "Will" Ferrell is an American comedian, impressionist, actor, and writer. Ferrell first established himself in the late 1990s as a cast member on the NBC sketch comedy show Saturday Night Live, and has subsequently starred in the comedy films Old School, Elf, Anchorman, Talladega...
. Her performance in the film received favorable reviews; Mike Straka of Fox News
Fox News Channel
Fox News Channel , often called Fox News, is a cable and satellite television news channel owned by the Fox Entertainment Group, a subsidiary of News Corporation...
wrote: "Gyllenhaal has never been sexier in any film before and her interplay with Ferrell will propel her to more A-list films, leaving her indie-darling days behind, no doubt." She voiced Elizabeth "Zee" in the computer animated
Computer animation
Computer animation is the process used for generating animated images by using computer graphics. The more general term computer generated imagery encompasses both static scenes and dynamic images, while computer animation only refers to moving images....
horror film
Horror film
Horror films seek to elicit a negative emotional reaction from viewers by playing on the audience's most primal fears. They often feature scenes that startle the viewer through the means of macabre and the supernatural, thus frequently overlapping with the fantasy and science fiction genres...
Monster House. Gyllenhaal depicted Allison Jimeno, the wife of Port Authority officer Will Jimeno
Will Jimeno
William J. Jimeno is a Port Authority Police officer who survived the September 11 attacks. He was buried under the rubble for a total of 13 hours, but survived, along with fellow Port Authority officer John McLoughlin....
, in Oliver Stone
Oliver Stone
William Oliver Stone is an American film director, producer and screenwriter. Stone became well known in the late 1980s and the early 1990s for directing a series of films about the Vietnam War, for which he had previously participated as an infantry soldier. His work frequently focuses on...
's World Trade Center, based on the September 11 attacks in New York City. She regarded this as "one of the films she most enjoyed making". The film received favorable reviews and proved to be an international success, earning $162 million worldwide.
In Sherrybaby, Gyllenhaal played a young drug-addicted thief trying to put her life in order after prison so she can reconcile with her daughter. During promotion of the film, she noted of her portrayal of the character: "I think she's in such dire straights that all she has are these kind of naive, fierce hope. And while I was playing the part I was looking for pleasure and hope in everything, even in these really bleak things. And so it was really mostly after I finished the movie that I felt pain." Her performance in the film was well received: David Germain of the Associated Press
Associated Press
The Associated Press is an American news agency. The AP is a cooperative owned by its contributing newspapers, radio and television stations in the United States, which both contribute stories to the AP and use material written by its staff journalists...
wrote, "Gyllenhaal humanizes her so deeply and richly ... that Sherry elicits sympathy even in her darkest and weakest moments", and Dennis Harvey of Variety
Variety (magazine)
Variety is an American weekly entertainment-trade magazine founded in New York City, New York, in 1905 by Sime Silverman. With the rise of the importance of the motion-picture industry, Daily Variety, a daily edition based in Los Angeles, California, was founded by Silverman in 1933. In 1998, the...
called her performance "naturalistic". For her work, Gyllenhaal earned her second Golden Globe Best Actress nomination and won the Best Actress category award at the 2006 Stockholm International Film Festival
Stockholm International Film Festival
The Stockholm International Film Festival is an annual film festival held in Stockholm, Sweden. It was launched in 1990 and has been held every year in the second half of November...
.
She appeared in The Dark Knight
The Dark Knight (film)
The Dark Knight is a 2008 superhero film directed, produced and co-written by Christopher Nolan. Based on the DC Comics character Batman, the film is part of Nolan's Batman film series and a sequel to 2005's Batman Begins...
(2008), the sequel to Batman Begins
Batman Begins
Batman Begins is a 2005 American superhero action film based on the fictional DC Comics character Batman, directed by Christopher Nolan. It stars Christian Bale as Batman, along with Michael Caine, Gary Oldman, Liam Neeson, Katie Holmes, Cillian Murphy, Morgan Freeman, Ken Watanabe, Tom Wilkinson,...
(2005), in which she replaced Katie Holmes
Katie Holmes
Katherine Noelle "Katie" Holmes is an American actress who first achieved fame for her role as Joey Potter on The WB television teen drama Dawson's Creek from 1998 to 2003. Her movie roles have included the blockbuster Batman Begins along with art house films such as The Ice Storm and thrillers...
as Assistant District Attorney
Prosecutor
The prosecutor is the chief legal representative of the prosecution in countries with either the common law adversarial system, or the civil law inquisitorial system...
, Rachel Dawes
Rachel Dawes
Rachel Dawes is a fictional character who first appeared in Christopher Nolan's 2005 feature film, Batman Begins. She was portrayed in that film by Katie Holmes and as a child in flashback scenes by Emma Lockhart. Katie Holmes also voiced Rachel in the Batman Begins video game. Maggie Gyllenhaal...
. Gyllenhaal acknowledged her character was a damsel in distress
Damsel in distress
The subject of the damsel in distress, or persecuted maiden, is a classic theme in world literature, art, and film. She is usually a beautiful young woman placed in a dire predicament by a villain or monster and who requires a hero to achieve her rescue. She has become a stock character of fiction,...
to an extent, but said director Christopher Nolan
Christopher Nolan
Christopher Jonathan James Nolan is a British-American film director, screenwriter and producer.He received serious notice after his second feature Memento , which he wrote and directed based on a story idea by his brother, Jonathan Nolan. Jonathan went to co-write later scripts with him,...
sought ways to empower her character, so "Rachel's really clear about what's important to her and unwilling to compromise her morals, which made a nice change" from the many conflicted characters she had previously portrayed. The Dark Knight was a financial and critical success, setting a new opening weekend box office record for North America. With revenue of $1 billion worldwide, it became the fourth highest grossing film of all time, and remains Gyllenhaal's most commercially successful picture to date. In a Salon.com
Salon.com
Salon.com, part of Salon Media Group , often just called Salon, is an online liberal magazine, with content updated each weekday. Salon was founded by David Talbot and launched on November 20, 1995. It was the internet's first online-only commercial publication. The magazine focuses on U.S...
review of the film, Stephanie Zacharek called Gyllenhaal's character "a tough cookie in a Stanwyck
Barbara Stanwyck
Barbara Stanwyck was an American actress. She was a film and television star, known during her 60-year career as a consummate and versatile professional with a strong screen presence, and a favorite of directors including Cecil B. DeMille, Fritz Lang and Frank Capra...
-style bias-cut gown" and stated that "the movie feels smarter and more supple when she's on-screen". IGN
IGN
IGN is an entertainment website that focuses on video games, films, music and other media. IGN's main website comprises several specialty sites or "channels", each occupying a subdomain and covering a specific area of entertainment...
film critic Todd Gilchrist wrote, "Gyllenhaal adds real depth and energy to Rachel Dawes."
Gyllenhaal played Yelena in the Classic Stage Company
Classic Stage Company
Classic Stage Company, or CSC, is a classical Off-Broadway theater dedicated to reimagining the classical repertory for a contemporary American audience, presenting plays from the past that speak directly to today's issues. Founded in 1967, Classic Stage Company is one of Off-Broadway's...
's 2009 Off Broadway production of Anton Chekhov
Anton Chekhov
Anton Pavlovich Chekhov was a Russian physician, dramatist and author who is considered to be among the greatest writers of short stories in history. His career as a dramatist produced four classics and his best short stories are held in high esteem by writers and critics...
's Uncle Vanya
Uncle Vanya
Uncle Vanya is a play by the Russian playwright Anton Chekhov. It was first published in 1897 and received its Moscow première in 1899 in a production by the Moscow Art Theatre, under the direction of Konstantin Stanislavski....
in New York City. The cast also included Peter Sarsgaard
Peter Sarsgaard
John Peter Sarsgaard is an American film and stage actor. He landed his first feature role in the movie Dead Man Walking in 1995. He then appeared in the 1998 independent films Another Day in Paradise and Desert Blue. That same year, Sarsgaard received a substantial role in The Man in the Iron...
, Mamie Gummer
Mamie Gummer
Mary Willa "Mamie" Gummer is an American actress, and the daughter of actress Meryl Streep.-Early life:Mamie Gummer was born to actress Meryl Streep, and sculptor Don Gummer...
, Denis O'Hare
Denis O'Hare
Denis O'Hare is an American actor noted for his award winning performances in Take Me Out and Sweet Charity as well as the HBO television show True Blood. He is also known for his supporting roles in the films Charlie Wilson's War and Milk...
, and George Morfogen
George Morfogen
George Morfogen is an American actor. He is known for playing Bob Rebadow in the HBO show Oz, and for his role as Stanley Bernstein in the original V miniseries....
. The production, directed by Austin Pendleton
Austin Pendleton
Austin Pendleton is an American film, television, and stage actor, a playwright, and a theatre director and instructor.-Life and career:...
, began previews on January 17 and ended its limited run on March 1. Joe Dziemianowicz of the New York Daily News was less than enthusiastic about her performance, writing: "Gyllenhaal, who was so dynamic as a druggie in the film Sherrybaby, plays Yelena with a slow-mo saunter and monotonous pasted-on smile that makes it seem as if she's been in Sherry's stash." However, Malcolm Johnson of the Hartford Courant
The Hartford Courant
The Hartford Courant is the largest daily newspaper in the U.S. state of Connecticut, and is a morning newspaper for most of the state north of New Haven and east of Waterbury...
was complimentary, noting that she "ultimately blossoms" as the character.
Gyllenhaal agreed to appear in the comedy film Away We Go
Away We Go (film)
Away We Go is a 2009 comedy-drama directed by Academy Award-winning director Sam Mendes and written by the husband-and-wife team of Dave Eggers and Vendela Vida...
, where she plays a bohemian college professor who is an old friend of John Krasinski
John Krasinski
John Burke Krasinski is an American actor, film director, and writer. He is most widely known for playing Jim Halpert on the NBC sitcom The Office...
's character. The film generated broadly mixed reviews, with Owen Gleiberman
Owen Gleiberman
Owen Gleiberman is an American film critic for Entertainment Weekly, a position he has held since the magazine's launch in 1990. From 1981–89, he worked at the Boston Phoenix....
of Entertainment Weekly describing Gyllenhaal's subplot as "over-the-top". However, A. O. Scott
A. O. Scott
Anthony Oliver Scott, known as A. O. Scott , is an American journalist and critic. He is a chief film critic for The New York Times, along with Manohla Dargis.-Background and education:...
of the New York Times praised Gyllenhaal and co-star Allison Janney
Allison Janney
Allison Brooks Janney is an American actress, best known for her role as C.J. Cregg on the television series The West Wing.- Personal life :...
for their performances, writing that "both [are] quite funny". Scott concluded with, "Ms. Gyllenhaal’s line about sex roles in 'the seahorse community' is the screenplay’s one clean satirical bull’s-eye". Her next role came in the musical-drama Crazy Heart
Crazy Heart
Crazy Heart is a 2009 American musical-drama film, written and directed by Scott Cooper and based on the 1987 novel of the same name by Thomas Cobb. Jeff Bridges plays a down-and-out country music singer-songwriter who tries to turn his life around after beginning a relationship with a young...
, in which she played journalist Jean Craddock, who falls for musician Bad Blake, played by Jeff Bridges
Jeff Bridges
Jeffrey Leon "Jeff" Bridges is an American actor and musician. He won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his role as Otis "Bad" Blake in the 2009 film Crazy Heart....
. The movie received favorable reviews, with Gyllenhaal receiving praise from critics. Peter Travers
Peter Travers
Peter Travers is an American film critic, who has written for, in turn, People and Rolling Stone. Travers also hosts a celebrity interview show called Popcorn on ABC News Now and ABCNews.com.-Career:...
of Rolling Stone reported that Gyllenhaal was "funny, touching and vital as Jean" and that her part was "conventionally conceived, but Gyllenhaal plays it with a tough core of intelligence and feeling." Her performance earned her an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress
Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress
Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize an actress who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry. Since its inception, however, the...
.
In 2010 Gyllenhaal appeared in Nanny McPhee and the Big Bang
Nanny McPhee and the Big Bang
Nanny McPhee and the Big Bang is a 2010 family film. It is a sequel to the 2005 film Nanny McPhee. It was adapted by Emma Thompson from Christianna Brand's Nurse Matilda books...
, the sequel to the 2005 film Nanny McPhee
Nanny McPhee
Nanny McPhee is a 2005 fantasy film starring Emma Thompson and Colin Firth. Thompson also wrote the screenplay, which is adapted from Christianna Brand's Nurse Matilda books.-Plot:...
. The role required her to speak with an English accent. The feature received mixed reviews, and earned $93 million worldwide. Away from acting, she served as host of the PBS
Public Broadcasting Service
The Public Broadcasting Service is an American non-profit public broadcasting television network with 354 member TV stations in the United States which hold collective ownership. Its headquarters is in Arlington, Virginia....
television documentary series Independent Lens
Independent Lens
Airing weekly on PBS through ITVS, the Emmy Award-winning series Independent Lens introduces new drama and documentary films made by independent filmmakers. Past seasons of Independent Lens have been presented by hosts Angela Bassett, Don Cheadle, Susan Sarandon, Edie Falco, Terrence Howard, Maggie...
. Gyllenhaal will appear in Hysteria
Hysteria (2011 film)
Hysteria is a British romantic comedy film directed by Tanya Wexler. It stars Felicity Jones, Maggie Gyllenhaal and Hugh Dancy. The film, set in the Victorian era, is about the invention of the vibrator...
, an independent movie focusing on the creation of the vibrator
Vibrator (sex toy)
Vibrators are devices for the body and skin, to stimulate the nerves for a relaxing and pleasurable feeling. Some vibrators are designed to ergonomically stimulate erogenous zones for erotic stimulation.-History:...
.
In February 2011 Gyllenhaal starred in another Anton Chekhov production as the character Masha in Austin Pendleton's Three Sisters
Three Sisters (play)
Three Sisters is a play by Russian author and playwright Anton Chekhov, perhaps partially inspired by the situation of the three Brontë sisters, but most probably by the three Zimmermann sisters in Perm...
at the Classic Stage Company. The play focuses on the Prozorov sisters (Gyllenhaal, Jessica Hecht
Jessica Hecht
Jessica Hecht is an American actress, known for numerous Broadway appearances and TV roles.-Background:Hecht was born in Princeton, New Jersey, the daughter of Lenore, a psychotherapist, and Richard Hecht, a physicist. Jessica moved with her parents and her sister to Bloomfield, CT, at the age of...
, and Juliet Rylance
Juliet Rylance
Juliet Rylance is an Obie Award-winning English actress.-Personal life:Rylance was born Juliet van Kampen in Hammersmith, London to Claire van Kampen, a composer and Chris van Kampen, an architect. Her stepfather is the British actor and director Mark Rylance...
) "unlucky in love, unhappy in the provinces and longing to return to Moscow", as summarized by Bloomberg
Bloomberg L.P.
Bloomberg L.P. is an American privately held financial software, media, and data company. Bloomberg makes up one third of the $16 billion global financial data market with estimated revenue of $6.9 billion. Bloomberg L.P...
's Jeremy Gerard. The off-Broadway production began preview performances on January 12, with a limited engagement through March 6.
Personal life
Gyllenhaal has been in a relationship with actor Peter SarsgaardPeter Sarsgaard
John Peter Sarsgaard is an American film and stage actor. He landed his first feature role in the movie Dead Man Walking in 1995. He then appeared in the 1998 independent films Another Day in Paradise and Desert Blue. That same year, Sarsgaard received a substantial role in The Man in the Iron...
, a close friend of her brother Jake, since 2002. In April 2006, they announced their engagement. Their first child, Ramona, was born on October 3, 2006. On May 2, 2009, Gyllenhaal and Sarsgaard were married in a small chapel in Brindisi
Brindisi
Brindisi is a city in the Apulia region of Italy, the capital of the province of Brindisi, off the coast of the Adriatic Sea.Historically, the city has played an important role in commerce and culture, due to its position on the Italian Peninsula and its natural port on the Adriatic Sea. The city...
, Italy. Gyllenhaal is currently expecting their second child. The family lives in Brooklyn
Brooklyn
Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...
, New York.
Politics
Gyllenhaal is politically active. At the 18th Independent Spirit Awards, she spoke out against the Iraq warProtests against the Iraq War
Beginning in 2002, and continuing after the 2003 invasion of Iraq, protests against the Iraq War were held in many cities worldwide, often coordinated to occur simultaneously around the world...
, stating the reason for the invasion was "oil and imperialism". Gyllenhaal took part in Artists United to Win Without War, a campaign started by Robert Greenwald
Robert Greenwald
Robert Greenwald is an American film director, film producer, and political activist.-Early life:Greenwald was born and raised in New York City, the son of Ruth and Harold Greenwald. He attended the city's High School of Performing Arts...
with the aim of advancing progressive
Progressivism
Progressivism is an umbrella term for a political ideology advocating or favoring social, political, and economic reform or changes. Progressivism is often viewed by some conservatives, constitutionalists, and libertarians to be in opposition to conservative or reactionary ideologies.The...
causes and voicing opposition to the Iraq War
Opposition to the Iraq War
Significant opposition to the Iraq War occurred worldwide, both before and during the initial 2003 invasion of Iraq by the United States, United Kingdom, and smaller contingents from other nations, and throughout the subsequent occupation...
. She and her brother Jake filmed a commercial for Rock the Vote
Rock the Vote
Rock the Vote is a non-profit organization in the United States of America whose mission is to engage and build the political power of young people....
, and visited the University of Southern California
University of Southern California
The University of Southern California is a private, not-for-profit, nonsectarian, research university located in Los Angeles, California, United States. USC was founded in 1880, making it California's oldest private research university...
(USC) campus to encourage students to vote in the 2004 U.S. presidential election
United States presidential election, 2004
The United States presidential election of 2004 was the United States' 55th quadrennial presidential election. It was held on Tuesday, November 2, 2004. Republican Party candidate and incumbent President George W. Bush defeated Democratic Party candidate John Kerry, the then-junior U.S. Senator...
, in which she supported John Kerry
John Kerry
John Forbes Kerry is the senior United States Senator from Massachusetts, the 10th most senior U.S. Senator and chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. He was the presidential nominee of the Democratic Party in the 2004 presidential election, but lost to former President George W...
. Gyllenhaal supported Barack Obama
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in...
in the 2008 presidential election
United States presidential election, 2008
The United States presidential election of 2008 was the 56th quadrennial presidential election. It was held on November 4, 2008. Democrat Barack Obama, then the junior United States Senator from Illinois, defeated Republican John McCain, the senior U.S. Senator from Arizona. Obama received 365...
. She has campaigned on behalf of the American Civil Liberties Union
American Civil Liberties Union
The American Civil Liberties Union is a U.S. non-profit organization whose stated mission is "to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to every person in this country by the Constitution and laws of the United States." It works through litigation, legislation, and...
(ACLU), an organization her family strongly supports.
Charity work
Besides acting, she has modeled for Miu MiuMiu Miu
Miu Miu is a high fashion brand from the Prada fashion house, opened in 1993 and headed by Miuccia Prada. The name of the collection is taken from Miuccia Prada’s nickname.-Stores:...
Reebok
Reebok
Reebok International Limited, a subsidiary of the German sportswear company Adidas since 2005, is a producer of Athletic shoes, apparel, and accessories. The name comes from the Afrikaans spelling of rhebok, a type of African antelope or gazelle...
, and Agent Provocateur
Agent Provocateur (lingerie)
Agent Provocateur is a British lingerie retailer founded in 1994 by Joseph Corré and Serena Rees. The first shop was opened on London's Broadwick Street in the Soho district in 1994. Since then, the company has opened 30 stores in 13 countries across the globe. In 2007, Agent Provocateur was...
, and recorded the first unabridged audiobook version of Sylvia Plath
Sylvia Plath
Sylvia Plath was an American poet, novelist and short story writer. Born in Massachusetts, she studied at Smith College and Newnham College, Cambridge before receiving acclaim as a professional poet and writer...
's novel The Bell Jar
The Bell Jar
The Bell Jar is American writer and poet Sylvia Plath's only novel, which was originally published under the pseudonym "Victoria Lucas" in 1963. The novel is semi-autobiographical with the names of places and people changed...
. Gyllenhaal is a supporter of Witness
Witness (human rights group)
WITNESS is a human rights non-profit organization based out of Brooklyn, NY. Their mission statement is "WITNESS uses video to open the eyes of the world to human rights violations...
, a non-profit organization that uses video and online technologies to expose human rights
Human rights
Human rights are "commonly understood as inalienable fundamental rights to which a person is inherently entitled simply because she or he is a human being." Human rights are thus conceived as universal and egalitarian . These rights may exist as natural rights or as legal rights, in both national...
violations. She co-hosted a benefit dinner with founder Peter Gabriel
Peter Gabriel
Peter Brian Gabriel is an English singer, musician, and songwriter who rose to fame as the lead vocalist and flautist of the progressive rock group Genesis. After leaving Genesis, Gabriel went on to a successful solo career...
in November 2007. Gyllenhaal helped raise funds for TrickleUp.org, a non-profit organization that helps impoverished people start a micro-enterprise
Micro-enterprise
A micro-enterprise is a type of small business, often registered, having five or fewer employees and requiring seed capital of not more than $35,000. The term is often used in Australia to refer to a business with a single owner-operator, and having up to 20 employees...
. For one of the fundraisers, Gyllenhaal helped design and promote a necklace that sold for $100; all proceeds from sales went to the charity. In October 2008 she hosted a fashion show event called "Fashionably Natural", which was presented by Gen Art and SoyJoy in Los Angeles. The show featured four up-and-coming designers who only worked with all-natural and eco-friendly fabrics and materials.
Filmography
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1992 | Waterland Waterland (film) Waterland is a 1992 film directed by Stephen Gyllenhaal, based on the 1983 novel of the same name by Graham Swift. The film starred Jeremy Irons, Sinéad Cusack, Ethan Hawke, and John Heard.-Plot:... |
Maggie Ruth | |
| 1993 | A Dangerous Woman A Dangerous Woman (1993 film) A Dangerous Woman is a 1993 film from Amblin Entertainment and Gramercy Pictures directed by Stephen Gyllenhaal and written for the screen by his then wife Naomi Foner... |
Patsy | |
| 1996 | Shattered Mind | Clothes clerk | TV |
| 1998 | Homegrown Homegrown (film) Homegrown is a 1998 comedy / thriller film. It was directed by Stephen Gyllenhaal and starred Billy Bob Thornton, John Lithgow, and Hank Azaria.-Plot:... |
Christina | |
| 1998 | Lorraine Thomas | TV | |
| 1999 | Resurrection | Mary | TV |
| 2000 | Mira | ||
| 2000 | Cecil B. Demented Cecil B. Demented Cecil B. Demented is a 2000 black comedy film written and directed by John Waters. The film stars Melanie Griffith as a snobby A-list Hollywood actress who is kidnapped by a band of terrorist filmmakers who force her to star in their underground film... |
Raven | |
| 2001 | Riding in Cars with Boys Riding in Cars with Boys Riding in Cars with Boys is a 2001 film based on the autobiography of the same name by Beverly Donofrio, about a woman who overcame difficulties including being a teen mother to earning a master's degree from the span of 1961 to 1986. It stars Drew Barrymore, Steve Zahn, Brittany Murphy, and James... |
Amelia Forrester | |
| 2001 | Donnie Darko Donnie Darko Donnie Darko is a 2001 American psychological thriller film written and directed by Richard Kelly and starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Drew Barrymore, Patrick Swayze, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Noah Wyle, Jena Malone, and Mary McDonnell... |
Elizabeth Darko | |
| 2002 | Confessions of a Dangerous Mind Confessions of a Dangerous Mind Confessions of a Dangerous Mind is a 2002 biographical spy film depicting the life of popular game show host and producer Chuck Barris, who claimed to have also been an assassin for the Central Intelligence Agency... |
Debbie | Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Most Promising Performer Chicago Film Critics Association Awards 2002 The 15th Chicago Film Critics Association Awards, given on 8 January 2003, honored the finest achievements in 2002 filmmaking.-Winners:*Best Actor:**Daniel Day-Lewis - Gangs of New York*Best Actress:**Julianne Moore - Far from Heaven... |
| 2002 | Adaptation. Adaptation. Adaptation. is a 2002 American comedy-drama film directed by Spike Jonze and written by Charlie Kaufman. The film is based on Susan Orlean's non-fiction book The Orchid Thief through self-referential events... |
Caroline Cunningham | Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Most Promising Performer |
| 2002 | 40 Days and 40 Nights 40 Days and 40 Nights This article refers to Michael Lehmann's 2002 film. For the 2007 Matthew Chapman book, see 40 Days and 40 Nights .40 Days and 40 Nights is a 2002 romantic comedy film directed by Michael Lehmann, written by Rob Perez and starring Josh Hartnett, Shannyn Sossamon and Paulo Costanzo... |
Sam | |
| 2002 | Secretary Secretary (film) Secretary is a 2002 independent film directed by Steven Shainberg and starring Maggie Gyllenhaal as Lee Holloway and James Spader as E. Edward Grey... |
Lee Holloway | |
| 2003 | Mona Lisa Smile Mona Lisa Smile Mona Lisa Smile is a 2003 romantic drama film produced by Revolution Studios and Columbia Pictures in association with Red Om Films Productions, directed by Mike Newell, written by Lawrence Konner and Mark Rosenthal, and starring Julia Roberts, Kirsten Dunst, Maggie Gyllenhaal, and Julia Stiles... |
Giselle Levy | |
| 2003 | Casa de los Babys Casa de los Babys Casa de los Babys is a 2003 drama film written, directed, and edited by filmmaker John Sayles. It features an ensemble cast, including Marcia Gay Harden, Maggie Gyllenhaal and Daryl Hannah.-Plot:... |
Jennifer | |
| 2004 | Criminal Criminal (film) Criminal is a 2004 American film based upon the Argentine film Nine Queens. Directed by Gregory Jacobs, it stars John C. Reilly, Diego Luna, Maggie Gyllenhaal, and Maeve Quinlan and is a production of Section Eight, the production company of Steven Soderbergh and George Clooney.-Plot:John C. Reilly... |
Valerie | |
| 2004 | Strip Search | Linda Sykes | TV |
| 2005 | Emme | ||
| 2005 | Happy Endings | Jude | Nominated — Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Female |
| 2006 | Stranger than Fiction | Ana Pascal | Nominated — Saturn Award for Best Actress |
| 2006 | Trust the Man Trust the Man Trust the Man is a 2006 romantic comedy film, starring David Duchovny, Billy Crudup, Julianne Moore, and Maggie Gyllenhaal. It was directed and written by Bart Freundlich. The film primarily deals with three relationships, and a realization of just how important those relationships are... |
Elaine | |
| 2006 | Sherrybaby Sherrybaby Sherrybaby is a 2006 American drama film written and directed by Laurie Collyer. Screened at the Sundance Film Festival on January 25, 2006, the film received a limited release in the United States on September 8, 2006.-Plot:... |
Sherry Swanson | |
| 2006 | Paris, je t'aime Paris, je t'aime Paris, Je t'aime is a 2006 anthology film starring an ensemble cast of actors of various nationalities. The two-hour film consists of eighteen short films set in different arrondissements... |
Liz | Segment "Quartier des Enfants Rouges" only |
| 2006 | World Trade Center World Trade Center (film) World Trade Center is a 2006 American disaster-drama film directed by Oliver Stone and based on the September 11 attacks at the World Trade Center. It stars Nicolas Cage, Maria Bello, Michael Peña, Maggie Gyllenhaal and Michael Shannon. The film was shot from October 19, 2005 - February 10, 2006... |
Allison Jimeno | |
| 2006 | Monster House Monster House (film) Monster House is a 2006 computer animated motion capture horror/comedy film produced by ImageMovers and Amblin Entertainment, and distributed by Columbia Pictures. Executive produced by Robert Zemeckis and Steven Spielberg, this is the first time since Back to the Future Part III that they have... |
Elizabeth "Zee" | Nominated — Annie Award for Best Voice Acting in an Animated Feature Production Annie Award The Annie Awards have been presented by the Los Angeles, California branch of the International Animated Film Association, ASIFA-Hollywood since 1972... |
| 2008 | Rachel Dawes Rachel Dawes Rachel Dawes is a fictional character who first appeared in Christopher Nolan's 2005 feature film, Batman Begins. She was portrayed in that film by Katie Holmes and as a child in flashback scenes by Emma Lockhart. Katie Holmes also voiced Rachel in the Batman Begins video game. Maggie Gyllenhaal... |
||
| 2009 | Away We Go Away We Go (film) Away We Go is a 2009 comedy-drama directed by Academy Award-winning director Sam Mendes and written by the husband-and-wife team of Dave Eggers and Vendela Vida... |
Ellen "LN" | |
| 2008 | Crazy Heart Crazy Heart Crazy Heart is a 2009 American musical-drama film, written and directed by Scott Cooper and based on the 1987 novel of the same name by Thomas Cobb. Jeff Bridges plays a down-and-out country music singer-songwriter who tries to turn his life around after beginning a relationship with a young... |
Jean Craddock | |
| 2010 | Nanny McPhee and the Big Bang Nanny McPhee and the Big Bang Nanny McPhee and the Big Bang is a 2010 family film. It is a sequel to the 2005 film Nanny McPhee. It was adapted by Emma Thompson from Christianna Brand's Nurse Matilda books... |
Mrs. Green | |
| 2011 | Hysteria Hysteria (2011 film) Hysteria is a British romantic comedy film directed by Tanya Wexler. It stars Felicity Jones, Maggie Gyllenhaal and Hugh Dancy. The film, set in the Victorian era, is about the invention of the vibrator... |
Charlotte Dalrymple | Post-production |
| 2012 | Steel Town | Filming | |
| 2012 | Voice from the Stone | Verena | Pre-production |
| 2012 | Innocence | Pamela | Pre-production |
Further reading
- Berkshire, Geoff. "'Dark Knight' Q&A: Maggie Gyllenhaal." Chicago Metromix. July 13, 2008. Accessed December 15, 2008.
- Blanks, Tim. "Maggie Gyllenhaal." Interview Magazine. November 17, 2008. Accessed January 13, 2009.
- Brinton, Jessica. "Maggie Gyllenhaal's rising star." The Times. July 20, 2008. Accessed October 9, 2008.
- DiLiberto, Rebecca. "Finding her place in a new world order." The Boston Globe. July 22, 2008. Accessed December 14, 2008.
- Fischer, Paul. "Maggie Gyllenhaal Dark Knight Interview." Femail. Accessed October 9, 2008.
- Freydkin, Donna. "'Dark Knight' puts spotlight on publicity-shunning Gyllenhaal." USA Today. July 13, 2008. Accessed September 27, 2008.
- Freydkin, Donna. "Gyllenhaal does something for herself: Star in 'Crazy Heart'." USA Today. January 3, 2010. Accessed January 4, 2010.* Head, Steve. "IGN: Happy Endings for Ms. Gyllenhaal." IGN Movies. January 3, 2005. Accessed November 4, 2008.
- Heyman, Marshall. "The Pictures: Sad-Eyed Siblings." New York Magazine. July 22, 2002. Accessed January 14, 2009.
- Hill, Lawrence. "Lady of the Knight." Sunday Herald. September 27, 2008. Accessed September 27, 2008.
- Kelly, Nick. "A light that never goes out." Irish Independent. July 25, 2008. Accessed April 3, 2009.
- Lytal, Cristy. "Maggie Gyllenhaal in ‘The Dark Knight’." Los Angeles Times. July 17, 2008. Accessed February 2, 2009.
- Rees, Serena. "Maggie Gyllenhaal: Romantic chemistry." The Daily Telegraph. May 9, 2007. Accessed September 27, 2008.
- Riggs, Jonathan. "Maggie Begins." Instinct Magazine. August 1, 2005. Accessed December 14, 2008.
- Rosen, Alison. "The Hot Seat–Maggie Gyllenhaal." Time Out New York. Issue 570: August 31 – September 6, 2006. Accessed December 14, 2008.
- Schwartz, Missy. "Maggie, Maybe...." Entertainment Weekly. July 28, 2006. Accessed May 28, 2009.
- Snook, Raven. "Features–Maggie Gyllenhaal interview." Time Out New York Kids. Issue 38: December 1–30, 2008.
- Stewart, Sara. "Maggie Gyllenhaal." New York Post. July 6, 2008. Accessed September 27, 2008.
- Wolf, Jeanne. "Maggie Gyllenhaal Is No Stay At Home Mom." Parade. July 11, 2008. Accessed January 13, 2009.