Jacob Benjamin Gyllenhaal (;Gig Patta: Good, good. And, um, just to wrap things up, I know you've been asked, you know, hundreds of times—I mean, how do you really pronounce your last name?Gyllenhaal: How do you think you pronounce my last name?Gig Patta: I thought it was pronounced /ˈdʒɪlənhɔːl/.Gyllenhaal: You got it! That's it.Gig Patta: Is that really...?Gyllenhaal: Yeah, there's no need for me even to say it. You got it perfectly.</ref> ; born December 19, 1980) is an American actor and producer. Born into the Gyllenhaal family, he is the son of director Stephen Gyllenhaal and screenwriter Naomi Foner. He began acting as a child, making his acting debut in "City Slickers" (1991), followed by roles in his father's films "A Dangerous Woman" (1993) and "Homegrown" (1998). His breakthrough roles were as Homer Hickam in "October Sky" (1999) and as a psychologically troubled teenager in "Donnie Darko" (2001). The disaster film "The Day After Tomorrow" (2004) was his most widely seen film up until that point.