Jake Gyllenhaal In "Proof", featuring Gwyneth Paltrow and Anthony Hopkins, Gyllenhaal played a graduate student in mathematics who tries to convince Paltrow's character to publish a revolutionary proof to a problem puzzling the mathematicians' community. In "Jarhead", Gyllenhaal played a violent U.S. Marine during the first Gulf War. He also auditioned to be Batman for the blockbuster "Batman Begins" and came close to getting the role, but Christian Bale was ultimately chosen for it. In "Brokeback Mountain", Gyllenhaal and Heath Ledger play young men who meet as sheep herders and embark upon a sexual relationship that begins in the summer of 1963
Jake Gyllenhaal descendant of the Swedish noble Gyllenhaal family. Jake's last ancestor to be born in Sweden was his great-great-grandfather, Anders Leonard Gyllenhaal. Jake's mother is Jewish, and was born in New York City to a Jewish family from Russia and Poland. Gyllenhaal has said that he considers himself Jewish. On his 13th birthday, Gyllenhaal performed a "barmitzvah-like act, without the typical trappings", volunteering at a homeless shelter because his parents wanted to give him a sense of gratitude for his privileged lifestyle. His parents insisted that he have summer jobs to support himself and he thus worked as a lifeguard and