Maggie Gyllenhaal Biography

Maggie Ruth Gyllenhaal was born on Nov. 19, 1977, in New York City.  Maggie Gyllenhaal mother, Naomi Finer, was a PBS children's television producer-turned-screenwriter (Oscar nominated for 1988's "Running on Empty"), while her father, Stephen Gyllenhaal, was a published poet and Emmy-nominated director, whose films included "A Killing in a Small Town" (1990), "Losing Isaiah" (1995) and "Homegrown" (1998). When Gyllenhaal was a year old, her parents' rising careers led the family to move to Los Angeles, where they gave birth to son Jake two years later. Despite the Gyllenhaal's ascent in the filmmaking business, their home revolved more around intellectual pursuits than Hollywood indulgence; their circle of family friends including academics, artists, and activists. Brother and sister attended the prestigious Harvard-Wakeland prep school, where Gyllenhaal was an excellent student and active in the drama program. Maggie Gyllenhaal was also a self-proclaimed rebel who tried to distance herself from the wealthy lifestyle of her classmates, despite appearances on the big screen in "Waterland" (1992), directed by her father and starring Jeremy Irons and Ethan Hawke, and "A Dangerous Woman" (1993), also directed by her father.

In 1995, Gyllenhaal graduated from high school and moved to New York to attend Columbia University, again trying to establish her independence from Hollywood privilege by living off campus in a cheap apartment in Brooklyn.  


Maggie Gyllenhaal had made a promise to herself to put her acting career on hold while focusing on a degree in literature, but during her time at Columbia, she did appear in two more of her father's productions including a pair of television movies and the feature "Homegrown" (1998), which also included brother Jake in a supporting role.

After receiving her bachelor's degree from Columbia in 1999 - the same year her brother entered the school as a freshman - Gyllenhaal spent a summer in London, filled with theatrical training at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts before returning home to look for work in independent films - a genre she felt she would provide her with more freedom to choose roles that spoke to her sensibilities.  Maggie Gyllenhaal got off to an auspicious start playing a Satan worshipping make-up artist in director John Waters' Hollywood satire, "Cecil B. Demented" (2000).  Maggie Gyllenhaal enjoyed a run onstage as a stripper in Patrick Marber's Tony-nominated play "Closer;" first with the Berkeley Repertory Theater, followed by a run at the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles. Back onscreen, Gyllenhaal followed up with an appearance in one of the boldest space/time continuum dramas ever to involve an evil rabbit, "Donnie Darko" (2001), playing the sister of real life brother Jake in the indie cult favorite.