Heath Ledger York Film Critics Circle and the San Francisco Film Critics Circle for his performance in "Brokeback Mountain", in which he plays Wyoming ranch hand Ennis Del Mar, who has a love affair with aspiring rodeo rider Jack Twist, played by Jake Gyllenhaal. He also received a nomination for Golden Globe Best Actor in a Drama and a nomination for Academy Award for Best Actor for this performance, making him, at age 26, the ninth-youngest nominee for a Best Actor Oscar. In "The New York Times" review of the film, critic Stephen Holden writes: "Both Mr. Ledger and Mr. Gyllenhaal make
Jake Gyllenhaal only other film not directed by his father, in which Gyllenhaal was allowed to perform, was the 1993 film "Josh and S.A.M.", a little-known children's adventure. Gyllenhaal graduated from the Harvard-Westlake School in Los Angeles in 1998, then attended Columbia University, where his sister was a senior and from which his mother had graduated, to study Eastern religions and philosophy. Gyllenhaal dropped out after two years to concentrate on acting but has expressed intentions to eventually finish his degree. Gyllenhaal's first lead role was in "October Sky", Joe Johnston's 1999 adaptation of the Homer Hickam autobiography "Rocket Boys", in which