A friend is a gift you give yourself, and so is a good Jake Gyllenhaal flick
The movies have always been in Jake Gyllenhaal's blood. Born to a film director father and screenwriter mother, Jake Gyllenhaal has enjoyed a prolific and consistent career in Hollywood. But for all the years and movies he's appeared in, which of them deserve the accolade as his greatest ever?
More specifically, Jake was born to film director Stephen Gyllenhaal and screenwriter Naomi Foner, and got his early start in movies playing Billy Crystal's son in the 1991 hit City Slickers. But while Gyllenhaal enjoyed a handful of movie and TV roles in his teen years, his family insisted he work non-acting summer jobs to support himself, which led to jobs as a lifeguard and a restaurant busboy. While Gyllenhaal enrolled in Columbia University, he dropped out to pursue acting full time. In 1999, he landed his first leading role in a movie, which slowly but surely gave him the momentum for a career that's never slowed down.
In celebration of his career, here are some of Jake Gyllenhaal's greatest movies.