Biography for
Maggie Gyllenhaal More at IMDbPro »

Date of Birth

16 November 1977, Lower East Side, New York City, New York, USA

Birth Name

Maggie Ruth Gyllenhaal

Height

5' 9" (1.75 m)

Mini Biography

Maggie Gyllenhaal made her debut in her father, Stephen Gyllenhaal,'s film Waterland (1992) and emerged as full-blown star in Secretary (2002). Her sweet looks and conduct has a deep on-screen subtle style that emerges from the characters she plays, large part or small. Gyllenhaal's career has already shown through her presence on screen.

After attending Columbia University, Gyllenhaal resides in New York City. She earned her BA in English, which gave her theater experience during college in addition to her literary point. In London, she studied briefly at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts. Focusing on English, her stage experience led her to acting after graduation.

IMDb Mini Biography By: Bee

Spouse

Peter Sarsgaard

(2 May 2009 - present) 1 child

Trivia

Older sister of Jake Gyllenhaal.

Daughter of Stephen Gyllenhaal and Naomi Foner.

Earned a B.A. in English from Columbia University (1999).

Studied briefly at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts in London.

The first six movies she made (Waterland (1992); A Dangerous Woman (1993); Shattered Mind (1996) (TV); The Patron Saint of Liars (1998) (TV); Homegrown (1998); Resurrection (1999) (TV)) were all directed by her father.

During the 2003 Academy Awards, she wore a peace sign pin in support of the organization Artists United to Win Without War.

She co-hosted the Sundance Awards 2003.

Played sister to real-life brother Jake Gyllenhaal in the movie Donnie Darko (2001).

Broke up with her artist boyfriend of five years during the filming of Secretary (2002).

Has been in three movies with her brother Jake Gyllenhaal: A Dangerous Woman (1993) (which was directed by their father), Homegrown (1998) (which was directed by their father), and Donnie Darko (2001).

Was born in New York City but grew up in Los Angeles where she and her brother attended the prestigious Harvard-Westlake prep school.

Her mother is a Golden Globe-winning, Oscar-nominated scriptwriter. Her father is an Emmy-nominated director, her grandmother is a doctor and Eric Foner, her mother's first husband, is an acclaimed historian at Columbia, the college she attended.

Was invited to join the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) after the 2004 Academy Awards.

Her mother is good friends, and was once the mentor of, Laurie Collyer who wrote SherryBaby (2006) (aka "Shall Not Want"), in which Maggie stars.

Graduated Harvard-Westlake (private) high school in North Hollywood, California.

Ranked as #58 in FHM's "100 Sexiest Women in the World 2005" special supplement. (2005)

Met her fiancé at a dinner party.

She and brother, Jake Gyllenhaal, attended Camp Walt Whitman, an outdoors summer camp in Western New Hampshire.

Maggie and her fiancé, Peter Sarsgaard, became the parents of a girl, named Ramona, on October 3, 2006 in New York City.

Loves musicals.

Quit smoking.

Her favorite actress is Gena Rowlands.

Is of Swedish (noble) and Russian-Jewish descent.

Was member of the dramatic jury at the Sundance Film Festival in 2004.

Her publicist is Amanda Silverman.

Returned to work six months after giving birth to her daughter Ramona in order to begin filming The Dark Knight (2008).

Personal Quotes

"I do seem to have a bit of a predilection for movies that say something transgressive."

"It's my responsibility to see what we can move and change about these old-school feminist mantras."

"I find myself more and more interested only in roles which move the world forward."

"You're invited to tons of parties, and you'll wear these shoes and that dress, and it can be enticing, but I think it also sucks you dry. If you do it a little, sure, it's fun, but too much and you start to lose your footing."

"Someone asked me why I didn't do teen movies or action movies, but I'm not interested in them."

"With everything I work on, I want to be put in a position that I have to be brave to do the project."

"These past couple of years have been about learning to not sabotage myself in a subtler way - for instance, even just by putting moisturiser on when I get out of the shower. Learning to honour myself and believing that I'm worth taking care of."

"I really hated charm school. I guess I'm just a little bit bad."

"There is a need, especially right now in America, to be a bit provocative."

"I want roles that challenge people to question where they are in life."

(While promoting Mona Lisa Smile (2003)) "I've realised that the only way to make movies that you're proud of, that don't fall into the sentimental bullshit that so many movies fall into, is to fight. You have to fight. So many people are willing to sleepwalk through things and fall into the not human, not interesting choice".

(On doing Homebody/Kabul) "To get people emotionally involved in something intellectual and political is important."

"I didn't act the way little kids do, I threw my whole self into it."

(About being the youngest actress on her film Casa de los babys (2003)) "I felt out of place and not listened to".

(On her new film Strip Search (2004) (TV)) "I think it's important to see. It's a real violation, and it forces people to get emotionally involved in something that's intellectual and political".

(referring to when she started acting) "Even in elementary school, I took it really seriously. I was always doing plays."

"There are two ways to be cool: One is to be disinterested and make it seem like you must be doing something much more interesting than everybody else if you are this disinterested. The other is to be extremely interested. You are not trying to please anyone, but you are really invested are really focused."

"I just want to support these films and be a part of them in any way because they are so provocative and interesting."

I don't think it is the narrative necessarily that is the most important thing I think it is the human interaction that is the most important thing.

I do see things sometimes that are good, but they don't feel like a challenge to me personally. Like, in my own life and so often I think the things that excite me are things that feel a little bit beyond my grasp.

I am looking for movies that are actually about something and that are questioning something. Movies that are provocative in some way and I am also looking for roles that I think will force me to grow or learn something about myself or the world in order to play them well.

When I started making movies, I didn't care if anybody saw them. And now I realize I don't want to make movies for the ten people that feel the same way about the world that I do! I want to make movies that people see.

Salary

World Trade Center (2006)

$500,000

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