Best top 10 Jake Gyllenhaal roles in a Hollywood family. His sister has a career as an actor, as in his parents, who are screenwriters and directors. His first significant role was as Homer Hickam in October Sky, and he has appeared in numerous mainstream and cult classics.
Who could forget his essential part in Donnie Darko or Jack Twist from Brokeback Mountain? But, you’d be surprised, Gyllenhaal has had many less memorable roles in his professional career.
#10 Jake Gyllenhaal Roles
1: DANNY ROBBINS – CITY SLICKERS
As the on-screen son to Billy Crystal’s role, Jake’s debut on the screen was an instant, and you’ll miss it. At just 11 years old, he was able to be a Macaulay Culkin-looking.
As his first character as a child, this role is unimportant to the story. The story. The story takes place in Pamplona, Spain; Mitch Robbins, a radio advertising executive, is a part of an annual San Fermin festival along with his friends Ed Furillo and Phil Berquist.
After returning to New York City, Mitch is 39 and has realized that his trips are a way to escape the realities of the midlife crisis.
2: PILOT – HIGHWAY
Because of his friend’s error, Gyllenhaal is a drug-driven teenager who lacks reason and motivation.
Due to poor scriptwriting, Gyllenhaal cannot gain the support of his love-struck, stoned character.
The pilot’s misplaced devotion to his alcoholic companion and his inexplicably enthralling obsession with a half-lizard/half-boy are only a few of the many issues that plague the film.
Although Gyllenhaal’s rapport with his co-star Jared Leto is endearing, the On the Road-Esque movie is a bit confusing and snarky at best.
3: HAROLD ‘HAL’ DOBBS – PROOF
In this tangled drama, Gyllenhaal’s portrayal of driven but nerdy Hal Dobbs is pretty forgettable compared to the lead actors in the film, Anthony Hopkins and Gwyneth Paltrow.
Cheerful and optimistic, this sensible and rational character is among the very few Gyllenhaal has played before and is, at a minimum, evidence that he can play these roles.
The story alternates between the moments immediately following the demise of Robert, a genius mathematician. His talent was destroyed by a debilitating mental illness and flashbacks of the lives he led alongside his child Catherine.
4: Brothers
There is a legend that Gyllenhaal was initially considered an alternative to Tobey Maguire (who suffered from back injuries) to be the lead in Spider-Man 2. Though that didn’t occur, they would eventually be paired in this dramatic drama.
In the remake of an old Danish movie, Maguire is portrayed as a Marine who disappears in action. Gyllenhaal portrays his troubled brother, who takes over to help care of Maguire’s family.
Things become tense after Maguire comes home and is severely affected by his experiences. Together with Natalie Portman and Maguire, Gyllenhaal makes this an entertaining acting showcase.
5: JAMIE RANDALL – LOVE & OTHER DRUGS
The script in this romantic comedy is mediocre, and Gyllenhaal does a great job of salvaging it. Gyllenhaal delivers his part by portraying the selfish and hesitant to love Jamie Randall but offers only an actual performance of a character who is not original.
But, his charisma is a beautiful and hypnotic character that will keep his fans and the audience’s admiration. I believe most people don’t realize that he was a character in Love & Other Drugs with Anne Hathaway!
6: DAVIS MITCHELL – DEMOLITION
As a recently widowed investment banker, Davis Mitchell, Gyllenhaal is caught in a confusing and unconsidered script. Inability to grieve appropriately over the loss of his wife, Gyllenhaal’s character is instructed to tear his life into pieces to discover who he is, which he takes literally.
In tearing down his leaky refrigerator and later destroying his entire home, His character is dull and colder than the calm and numbness that is possible to conclude was intended.
In essence, it demonstrates Gyllenhaal’s ability to slash his sledgehammer on various items and objects; this is the most dreadful one in his otherwise positive trajectory.
7: HOWARD BIRDWELL – ACCIDENTAL LOVE
Unintentional Love might be the worst 100 minutes of audio and moving images that have ever tried to declare itself a film. Even at his highest, Gyllenhaal could do nothing to save the movie.
But, Gyllenhaal as the scatter-brained but well-intentioned politician Howard Birdwell is intolerably painful.
The portrayal of a woman suffering from an unintentional nail stuck to her head, the character’s unpredictable behavior is not justified, and every move he makes raises an array of questions, not answers. It’s a definite mistake, but this character in Gyllenhaal’s credits should be erased.
8: Rendition
In the aftermath of the terror attacks of September 11, 2001, there were several high-profile “war on terror”-themed films that addressed both threats of today and the difficulties of fighting them.
Gyllenhaal was the lead in one of the films, Rendition, which dealt with the controversial abductions and the intense interrogation tactics employed by the CIA.
Gyllenhaal is a CIA analyst assigned to manage one of these cases, which is the interrogation of a person who he believes is innocent. Even with co-starring Oscar winners such as Reese Witherspoon, Alan Arkin, and Meryl Streep, the movie was a commercial and critical disappointment.
9: The Day After Tomorrow
Roland Emeriti is responsible for films like worldwide disaster blockbusters such as Independence Day, 2012 and 2002’s hit. The film takes the threat of climate change and turns the stakes to eleven. As tsunamis and tornadoes threaten to take over the world, those who are left must fight to survive in the new Ice Age.
The film features Dennis Quaid as a climatologist, and Gyllenhaal is his son, the leader of a group of residents living in New York City. This isn’t exactly a character for which he had to work his muscles as an actor. However, it was his first venture into filmmaking for blockbusters.
10: Everest
While Gyllenhaal is usually the main character in his films, he’s not afraid to play some supporting roles every now and now. In the movie Everest, Gyllenhaal was only one of the actors in an all-star cast comprised of Jason Clarke, Josh Brolin and Keira Knightley.
It tells the tale of a 1996 Everest expedition, which witnessed climbers trapped in a blizzard at the top of the mountain. Gyllenhaal portrays the actual climbing legend Scott Fischer, who was one of the people who failed to climb.
It’s intriguing to see a superstar of Gyllenhaal’s caliber in a lesser role but part of a more considerable ensemble in this harrowing survival tale.