Meet Jake Gyllenhaal's Famous Family: From Peter Sarsgaard to Jamie Lee Curtis

Jake Gyllenhaal’s family includes a slew of famous actors from his sister Maggie Gyllenhaal to his godmother Jamie Lee Curtis

Jake Gyllenhaal has built up an impressive acting résumé of his own, and he’s had a whole extended family of acclaimed actors to learn and get support from.

The Presumed Innocent star was born to Stephen and Naomi Gyllenhaal in 1980 after they welcomed his sister, Maggie Gyllenhaal, three years earlier in 1977. Though Stephen and Naomi aren’t actors, both work in the entertainment industry — Stephen is a director and Naomi is a screenwriter and producer.

Related: All About Jake and Maggie Gyllenhaal's Parents, Stephen and Naomi Gyllenhaal

Maggie is also an actress, known for 2002’s Secretary and 2001’s Donnie Darko. However, Jake’s immediate family aren’t the only entertainment influences in his life — his brother-in-law, Peter Sarsgaard, is an actor, while 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.”

From picking up tricks from Paul Newman to living next door to Jamie Lee Curtis, 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 of which earned her an Oscar nomination for best original screenplay. She also worked with Stephen on two movies, A Dangerous Woman and Losing Isaiah, though she later told the Los Angeles Times in 2005 that was “a mistake” as they had creative differences.

Naomi made her directorial debut with Very Good Girls, which starred Dakota Fanning and Elizabeth Olsen, in 2013. She had written the screenplay for it 20 years earlier and knew she couldn’t let anyone else helm the project, 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 mom raising her children alongside another creative in Hollywood, Naomi told the Los Angeles Times that she often found it hard to balance the “selflessness” required to be a mother and the “selfishness” her work called for.

“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 on both TV and film. His work has included episodes of Blue Bloods, Twin Peaks and Rectify and the movies Paris Trout, Family of Spies, Waterland and Girl Fight.

In 1990, he was nominated for a Primetime Emmy for his work on A Killing in a Small Town. The following year, he won a Director’s Guild Award for Paris Trout.

Stephen has also worked with Jake, directing him in a 1994 episode of Homicide: Life on the Streets when he was 14 years old. However, above working together, Stephen’s support of Jake’s career means the most to him, he told Entertainment Tonight in April 2022 at the premiere of his movie, Ambulance.

"I think if we've all learned one thing, no matter what we do and how blessed we are in our lives, the only thing that really matters is family and the people that we love," he said. "And to me, of course it's incredible to be here and it's like, so amazing to be in this big movie and to be a part of it, but seeing my dad on this carpet, like, seeing my dad anywhere, but like here, just his support means everything to me."

Jake Gyllenhaal’s sister Maggie Gyllenhaal

Like her brother, Maggie is also an Oscar-nominated actress, having earned a nod for her performance in 2010’s Crazy Heart. Jake has been open up about how watching his older sister act inspired him to pursue the craft as well, telling The Hollywood Reporter in June 2024 that seeing Maggie star in a school production of South Pacific was one of his first inspirations.

“My sister has always been brilliant," he said. "What it did was present something to me that I inevitably would always be chasing. She takes a step and does something and I’m like, ‘Whoa, holy shit. All right, I’m going to try this.’ ”

The two even starred together in 2001’s Donnie Darko as siblings, a part which Jake went on to earn an Oscar nomination for.

"To play brother and sister came really easily. There were a lot of feelings that come along with that, and they're all in the movie,” Maggie told Vanity Fair in September 2019. “And Jake is so great in that movie — it's one of my favorite movies of his, I think, so it was nice to be a part of it and support him."

Jake Gyllenhaal’s brother-in-law Peter Sarsgaard

In addition to working with his immediate family, Jake has also collaborated with Maggie’s husband, whom the actress wed in 2009. Sarsgaard is best known for his acting work in 2003’s Shattered Glass and 2013’s Blue Jasmine.

He and Jake star together in Apple TV+’s Presumed Innocent, which premiered in June 2024, and both spoke about how being like brothers in real life helped inform their dynamic working together even as they played foes.

“I love working with Peter,” Jake shared on Today ahead of the series’ release. “He demands an honesty not only as a brother, but also particularly as an actor. You just know you're working with someone who is up for anything and it's like joy."

"For two characters also that have an antagonistic relationship, it's nice that underneath — I think what you feel is people only argue like that if they care about each other on some level,” Sarsgaard added. “And that just existed the entire [time].”

Jake Gyllenhaal’s godmother Jamie Lee Curtis

Another member close to the Gyllenhaal family is Oscar-winning actress Jamie Lee Curtis, who is known for her work in 2022’s Everything Everywhere All at Once and 1978’s Halloween. Jake grew up close to Curtis, even living next door to her as an adult during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Like his parents, Curtis has offered Jake tidbits of advice throughout the years, encouraging him to lean on her when he was just starting out, she told PEOPLE in April 2023.

"I sort of looked at him and said, 'I've done this for a long time. You're just starting. There may be things your parents don't have the experience, strength and hope that I do. Please use that if you need to,’ ” she said.

In June 2024, Jake opened up to E! News about how impactful Curtis has been throughout his career, adding it would be an “honor” to work with her.

“She gives me strength and gives me love at times [that] I’ve definitely needed it, and I hope I can be the same for her," he said.

Jake Gyllenhaal’s godfather Paul Newman

Jake’s godfather also had a wildly successful career before his death in September 2008. He starred in a number of hits, including 1961’s The Hustler and 1994’s Nobody’s Fool. Newman was a five-time Oscar nominee, winning the award for Best Actor in 1987 for The Color of Money.

Newman and Jake also had a close relationship growing up, with the actor teaching Jake to drive — in a race car — when he was 15, he told Interview Magazine in 2002.

“He was driving the car and he threw me in the passenger’s seat and with his glasses dangling from his ear, he started driving on the track towards a brick wall,” he said. “We’re 100 feet from a wall, going 60 miles-per-hour, and he hits the brake and turns the wheel and the car spins three times.  So then he turns to me and goes, ‘That’s what you don’t do.’ ”

Newman’s glasses frequently dangling off his ears stuck with Jake, as he told The Hollywood Reporter in June 2024 that he took inspiration from that habit for his character in Presumed Innocent.

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