Maggie Gyllenhaal
Maggie Gyllenhaal, 2008
Born	Margaret Ruth Gyllenhaal November 16, 1977 (1977-11-16) (age 31) Lower East Side, New York City, United States
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1992–present
Domestic partner(s)	Peter Sarsgaard (2002–present)
Awards won Other awards BSFC Award for Best Actress 2002 Secretary NBR Award for Best Breakthrough Performance by an Actress 2002 Secretary CFCS Award for Most Promising Performer 2003 Secretary, Adaptation. and Confessions of a Dangerous Mind OFCS Award for Best Breakthrough Performance 2003 Secretary

Margaret Ruth "Maggie" Gyllenhaal (pronounced /ˈdʒɪlənhɑːl/; born November 16, 1977) is an American stage and screen 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 at the age of 15, when she began to appear in her father's films. 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 break-through role 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). Gyllenhaal has also appeared in theatrical plays, including Closer (2000) and television productions including Strip Search (2004).

Since 2006, Gyllenhaal has been engaged to actor Peter Sarsgaard. She is a politically active Democrat and, like her brother and parents, supports the American Civil Liberties Union. Prior to the US-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 9/11 attacks. She is actively involved in human rights, civil liberty and anti-poverty campaigns.

Biography

Early life

Gyllenhaal was born in New York City to film director Stephen Gyllenhaal and film producer and screenwriter Naomi Achs.¹ Jake Gyllenhaal, her 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-great-grandfather, Leonard Gyllenhaal, a leading Swedenborgian who supported the printing and spreading of Swedenborg's writings.² 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.³

Gyllenhaal grew up in Los Angeles and studied at the Harvard-Westlake prep school.⁴ In 1995, she graduated from Hardvard-Westlake and moved to New York to attend Columbia University, where she studied literature and Eastern religions;⁴⁵ she graduated in 1999 with a Bachelor of Arts degree.⁴ After studying at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London,⁶ she had a summer job, working as a waitress in a Massachusetts restaurant.⁷

Career

Early work

Gyllenhaal's first films – her feature film debut, Waterland (1992); A Dangerous Woman (1993); and Homegrown (1998) – were directed by her father; the last two also featured her brother.⁴ With their mother, she and Jake appeared in two episodes of Molto Mario, an Italian cooking show on the Food Network.⁸ After graduating from college, she played supporting roles in films like Cecil B. Demented (2000), Riding in Cars with Boys (2001) and 40 Days and 40 Nights (2002)."⁹

She made her theatrical debut in the Berkeley Repertory Theatre production of Patrick Marber's Closer,¹⁰¹¹ for which she received favorable reviews.¹²¹³ Production started in May 2000 and ended in mid-July of that year.¹² Gyllenhaal has performed in several other plays, including The Tempest,¹⁴ Antony and Cleopatra, The Butterfly Project and No Exit.¹⁵

2002–2005

Gyllenhaal, attending an event in Barcelona, Spain in 2008

Gyllenhaal's break-out role was in the black comedy Secretary (2002), a film about two people who embark on a mutually fulfilling BDSM lifestyle.¹⁶ 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."¹⁶ Mick LaSalle of the San Francisco Chronicle wrote: "Maggie Gyllenhaal, as the self-destructive secretary, is enigmatic and, at moments, sympathetic."¹⁷ The film received generally favorable reviews,¹⁸ and Gyllenhaal's performance earned her the Best Breakthrough Performance award from the Online Film Critics Society,¹⁹ her first Golden Globe nomination and an Independent Spirit Award nomination.²⁰²¹ Secretary marked the first time Gyllenhaal performed full frontal nudity on film.²² Although impressed with the script, she initially had some qualms about doing the film, which she believed could deliver an antifeminist message. Yet after carefully discussing the script with the film's director, Steven Shainberg, she agreed to join the project.²³ Although insisting Shainberg did not exploit her, Gyllenhaal has said she felt "scared when filming began" and "the film falling into the wrong hands, slightly less intelligent hands, this movie could say something really weird."²² 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."²²

In 2003, she co-starred with Julia Roberts in Mona Lisa Smile.²⁴ In an interview with The Daily Telegraph, she revealed the reason for accepting the role of Giselle in Mona Lisa Smile was "to play somebody who feels confident in herself as a sexy, beautiful women".²⁵ Her next roles were in smaller independent films such as Casa de los Babys (2003) and Criminal (2004), a remake of the Argentinian film Nine Queens, with John C. Reilly and Diego Luna.²⁶ Gyllenhaal played an honest hotel manager forced to help her crooked brother (Reilly) by seducing one of his victims.²⁶ She starred in the HBO film Strip Search (2004), where she portrayed an American student in China suspected of terrorism.²⁷

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.²⁸ Ben Brantley of The New York Times wrote: "Ms. Gyllenhaal provides the essential bridge between the parts of the play's title."²⁹ John Heilpern of The New York Observer noted that Gyllenhaal's performance was "compelling".³⁰ Viewed as a sex symbol, she was ranked in the "Hot 100 List" by Maxim magazine in 2004 and 2005.³¹³²

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 also recorded songs for the movie's soundtrack.²⁴³³ She called the role the "roughest, scariest acting ever" and said she is more natural singing on screen than acting.³³ Lisa Schwarzbaum of Entertainment Weekly declared Gyllenhaal's performance "as wonderfully, naturally slouchy-sexy as her character is artificial".³⁴ Gyllenhaal was invited to join the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in 2006.³⁵

2006–present

Following Happy Endings, she starred in the 2006 films Trust the Man, 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.³⁶³⁷ In Stranger than Fiction, Gyllenhaal played a love interest of Harold Crick, played by Will Ferrell.³⁸ 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. [...] I loved Gyllenhaal in this movie."³⁹ She voiced Elizabeth "Zee" in the computer animated horror film Monster House.⁴⁰⁴¹ Gyllenhaal was cast in Oliver Stone's World Trade Center, based on the September 11 attacks of the same-title towers of New York City.⁴²⁴³

Gyllenhaal at the premiere of The Dark Knight in New York City, July 14, 2008.

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 sic 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."⁴⁴ 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",⁴⁵ and Dennis Harvey of Variety called her performance "naturalistic".⁴⁶ For her work, Gyllenhaal earned her second Golden Globe Best Actress nomination⁴⁷⁴⁸ and won the Best Actress category award at the 2006 Stockholm International Film Festival.⁴⁹⁵⁰

In February 2008, Gyllenhaal was cast to play Suky in Rebecca Miller's The Private Lives of Pippa Lee⁵¹ but pulled out before production began and was replaced by Maria Bello.⁵²⁵³ She recently finished filming the comedy Farlanders, to be released in 2009,⁵⁴ in which she plays a bohemian college professor who is an old friend of John Krasinski's character.⁵⁵⁵⁶

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.⁵⁷⁵⁸ 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.⁵⁹ The Dark Knight was a financial success, setting a record worldwide, opening-weekend gross of $158,411,483 on its opening day.⁶⁰⁶¹ 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".⁶² IGN film critic Todd Gilchrist wrote, "Gyllenhaal adds real depth and energy to Rachel Dawes."⁶³

Personal life

Gyllenhaal has been in a relationship with actor Peter Sarsgaard,⁶⁴⁶⁵ a close friend of her brother Jake, since 2002.²⁴ In April 2006 they announced their engagement.⁶⁶⁶⁷ They have a daughter Ramona, born October 4, 2006,⁶⁸ and live in Brooklyn, New York.⁶⁹

Gyllenhaal is politically active. At the 75th Academy Awards, she protested against the Iraq war, stating the reason for the invasion was "oil and imperialism".⁷⁰⁷¹ Gyllenhaal also 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.⁶⁷² 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 US presidential election,⁷³ in which she supported John Kerry.⁷⁴⁷⁵ Gyllenhaal supported Barack Obama in the 2008 presidential election.⁷⁶⁷⁷ She has campaigned on behalf of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), an organization her family strongly supports.⁵⁴⁷⁸

Besides acting, she has modeled for Miu Miu,⁷⁹ Reebok,⁸⁰ and Agent Provocateur,⁶⁴⁸¹ and recorded the first unabridged audiobook version of Sylvia Plath's novel The Bell Jar.⁸² Gyllenhaal is a supporter of Witness, a non-profit organization that uses video and online technologies to expose human rights violations.⁸³⁸⁴ She co-hosted a benefit dinner with founder Peter Gabriel in November 2007.⁸⁵⁸⁶ Gyllenhaal helped raise funds for TrickleUp.org, a non-profit organization that helps impoverished people start a micro-enterprise.⁸⁷ For one of the fundraisers, Gyllenhaal helped design and promote a necklace that sold for USD$100; all proceeds from sales went to the charity.⁸⁸

Controversy

Gyllenhaal drew criticism for comments on the September 11 attacks made during an interview with NY1 at the 2005 Tribeca Film Festival. She remarked, "I think America has done reprehensible things and is responsible in some way..." In response to the criticism, she issued a statement saying that 9/11 was "an occasion to be brave enough to ask some serious questions about America's role in the world" and that it was "useful as individuals or nations to ask how we may have knowingly or unknowingly contributed to this conflict." She pointedly denied saying that the 9/11 attacks were deserved.⁸⁹⁹⁰ Gyllenhaal later said that she regretted her comments and asserted that film interviews were not the "right place" to discuss politics.⁹¹ Gyllenhaal also said that she had "nothing but gratitude and admiration" for firefighters and that she should have "been more gentle and more thoughtful" in her comments.⁹²

Gyllenhaal eventually met with Port Authority officer Will Jimeno and his wife, Allison, whom Gyllenhaal depicted in the 2006 film World Trade Center.⁹² She said she would have left the project if the Jimenos wanted, but Allison Jimeno expressed that she and her husband were comfortable with her and "had no problem with her in [the] movie".⁹³⁹⁴

Filmography

References