Jake Gyllenhaal has really big eyes. He lost a massive amount of weight to play Lou Bloom, the drifter antihero of director Dan Gilroy’s excellent thriller Nightcrawler. And above sunken cheeks, those eyes of his look positively enormous. Lou explains he’s “a quick learner” – and thanks to Gyllenhaal’s uncanny, mesmerising performance, you can just about see Lou’s brain whirring. I noticed what he notices. And Lou’s only moment of genuine emotion in the film comes when he breaks a mirror in rage, gazing at his own face.
Filmography
He appeared in two other successful movies in 2005. He played Andrew in the biographical drama war film ‘Jarhead’ which also starred Jamie Foxx and Chris Cooper. He appeared as Harold Dobbs in the drama film ‘Proof’ along with Anthony Hopkins and Gwyneth Paltrow. In 2007 he played the crime reporter Robert Graysmith in the mystery thriller ‘Zodiac’ which was based on the manhunt for the notorious serial killer known as ‘Zodiac’ who had killed several people around the San Francisco Bay Area. He acted in the 2009 thriller film ‘Brothers’ which also had Tobey Maguire and Natalie Portman in…
Acting Careers (1991-Present)
In his first leading role in ‘October Sky’ in 1999, he played Homer Hickam, a coal miner’s son who becomes a NASA engineer through his sheer perseverance and hard work. The film was a big hit and his role was hailed as his ‘breakout performance’. He appeared in his second major film ‘Donnie Darko’ in 2001. He portrayed a troubled teenager who after narrowly escaping death had recurring visions of a gigantic rabbit named Frank who tells him that the world is coming to an end. The movie became a cult hit.
Early Life
Born on December 19, 1980, in Los Angeles, California, Jake Gyllenhaal worked as a child actor in films like City Slickers and A Dangerous Woman before starring in the indie classic Donnie Darko in 2001. He later starred opposite Heath Ledger in Ang Lee’s Brokeback Mountain, for which Gyllenhaal received a supporting actor Oscar nomination. Other films on the Gyllenhaal roster include Proof, Jarhead, Prisoners and Nightcrawler as well as the Broadway production Constellations.