Jake Gyllenhaal has built an impressive acting résumé of his own, and he’s had an extended family of acclaimed actors to learn from and lean on for support.
The Presumed Innocent star was born to Stephen and Naomi Gyllenhaal in 1980, three years after they welcomed his sister, Maggie Gyllenhaal, in 1977. Although Stephen and Naomi aren’t actors, both work in the entertainment industry — Stephen as a director and Naomi as a screenwriter and producer.
Maggie is also an actress, known for 2002’s Secretary and 2001’s Donnie Darko, in which she costarred with her brother. The siblings reunite on a project for the first time in over two decades with The Bride!, written and directed by Maggie.
Jake’s immediate family members aren’t the only entertainers in his life: his brother‑in‑law, Peter Sarsgaard, is an actor, and both his godfather and godmother — Paul Newman and Jamie Lee Curtis — are Hollywood legends.
“We were raised in Los Angeles near the unfashionable Eastside. Home was like a circus, with writers and filmmakers coming in and out,” Jake told The Guardian in December 2010. “We had a room above the garage rented by Steven Soderbergh — before he was Steven Soderbergh. We were brought up with a great respect of storytelling.”
As The Bride! hits U.S. theaters on March 6, 2026, here’s everything to know about Jake Gyllenhaal’s famous family.
Jake Gyllenhaal’s mother Naomi Gyllenhaal
Naomi has had a prolific career of her own, writing 1986’s Violets Are Blue and 1988’s Running On Empty, the latter earning her an Oscar nomination for Best Original Screenplay. She also collaborated with Stephen on two films, A Dangerous Woman and Losing Isaiah, though she later told the Los Angeles Times in 2005 that working together had been “a mistake” due to creative differences.
Naomi made her directorial debut with Very Good Girls in 2013, starring Dakota Fanning and Elizabeth Olsen. She had written the screenplay 20 years earlier and knew she couldn’t let anyone else direct it, she told Interview Magazine. “This one I was saving,” she said. “It felt like the ground I had to stand on, and it was also the size and character‑driven piece that I thought I could manage as a director.”
As a working mother raising her children alongside another creative in Hollywood, Naomi told the Los Angeles Times that she often struggled to balance the “selflessness” required of motherhood with the “selfishness” her work demanded. “I made a lot of mistakes,” she said. “Believe me, I was not a perfect mother, as they will tell you. But I do think that a gift I can give them is the idea that it’s never too late to do the work. Because life doesn’t only go in one direction.”
Jake Gyllenhaal’s father Stephen Gyllenhaal
Stephen has been a director since 1979, working in both television and film. His credits include episodes of Blue Bloods, Twin Peaks, and Rectify, as well as the films Paris Trout, Family of Spies, Waterland, and Girl Fight. In 1990, he earned a Primetime Emmy nomination for A Killing in a Small Town, and the following year he won a Directors Guild Award for Paris Trout.
Stephen also worked with Jake, directing him in a 1994 episode of Homicide: Life on the Streets when Jake was 14. But more than their professional collaboration, Jake values his father’s support, he told Entertainment Tonight in April 2022 at the premiere of Ambulance. “The only thing that really matters is family and the people that we love,” he said. “Seeing my dad anywhere — but especially here — just his support means everything to me.”
Jake Gyllenhaal’s sister Maggie Gyllenhaal
Like her brother, Maggie is an Oscar‑nominated actress, earning a nomination for her performance in 2010’s Crazy Heart. Jake has often said that watching his older sister act inspired him to pursue the craft, telling The Hollywood Reporter in June 2024 that seeing her in a school production of South Pacific was one of his earliest inspirations. “My sister has always been brilliant,” he said. “She takes a step and does something and I’m like, ‘Whoa, holy shit. All right, I’m going to try this.’ ”
The two starred together in 2001’s Donnie Darko as siblings, a role that earned Jake an Oscar nomination. “To play brother and sister came really easily,” Maggie told Vanity Fair in September 2019. “There were a lot of feelings that come along with that, and they’re all in the movie.”
Jake and Maggie reunited professionally for the first time in over two decades on the 2026 sci‑fi horror film The Bride!, a reimagining of The Bride of Frankenstein. Maggie wrote and directed the film, starring Jessie Buckley and Christian Bale, while Jake appeared in a small supporting role. She told The New York Times she waited until she was “absolutely sure” before asking him to join the project, explaining that she needed to “separate” from her family to establish her “own thing.”
Jake Gyllenhaal’s brother-in-law Peter Sarsgaard
Jake has also worked with Maggie’s husband, Peter Sarsgaard, whom she married in 2009. Sarsgaard is known for roles in 2003’s Shattered Glass and 2013’s Blue Jasmine. He and Jake costar in Apple TV+’s Presumed Innocent, which premiered in June 2024, and both have said that their real‑life closeness informed their onscreen dynamic, even as they played adversaries.
Jake Gyllenhaal’s godmother Jamie Lee Curtis
Another figure close to the Gyllenhaal family is Oscar‑winning actress Jamie Lee Curtis, known for 2022’s Everything Everywhere All at Once and 1978’s Halloween. Jake grew up close to Curtis and even lived next door to her during the COVID‑19 pandemic. She has offered him guidance throughout his career, telling PEOPLE in April 2023 that she encouraged him to lean on her when he was starting out.
Jake has spoken about how impactful Curtis has been, telling E! News in June 2024 that it would be an “honor” to work with her. After the opening night of Jake and Denzel Washington’s 2025 Broadway production of Othello, Curtis praised her godson’s “breathtaking” performance on Instagram.
Jake Gyllenhaal’s godfather Paul Newman
Jake’s godfather, Paul Newman, also had a legendary career before his death in 2008. Newman starred in classics such as 1961’s The Hustler and 1994’s Nobody’s Fool, and won the Oscar for Best Actor in 1987 for The Color of Money. Jake recalled that Newman once taught him to drive — in a race car — when he was 15, telling Interview Magazine in 2002 that Newman sped toward a brick wall before spinning the car and saying, “That’s what you don’t do.”
Jake later told The Hollywood Reporter in June 2024 that Newman’s habit of letting his glasses dangle from his ears inspired a character choice in Presumed Innocent.
