List of the Best Jake Gyllenhaal Movies

Jacob Benjamin Gyllenhall who was born December 19, 1980, having his 40th birthday in December, is an American actor and producer of Hollywood movies. Hollywood industry is in his genetics as he is the son of director Stephen Gyllenhaal and screenwriter Naomi Foner. Jack starts his acting as a child star, in his debut movie City Clickers in 1991. He also appeared in his father’s films “A Dangerous Woman” and “Homegrown” as a child star and his last appearance in the movies was in Spiderman.

Jack Gyllenhall also appeared on the stages of New York twice in past two years and perform in “Sunday in the Park with George” as well as the new play “Sea Wall”/”A Life”, and continues to accept roles that are challenging and unexpected.

Jake Gyllenhaal Awards

Jake Gyllenhall has received and nominated for various awards including Oscar throughout his acting career including Academy Awards, golden globe Awards, Screen Actors Guild Awards, and British Academy Awards.

Gyllenhaal was recommended for an Academy Award for his outstanding performance in Brokeback Mountain. He was also recommended for two SAG Awards for his acting as a Best Supporting Actor. Gyllenhaal was also nominated for a third Screen Actors Guild Award for his performance in films like “Nightcrawler” and “Spiderman” which is also nominated for Sundance Film Festival besides much more awards from different platforms.

Gyllenhal is also famous for his work in the “Day after tomorrow” in 2004 and the Good Girl in 2014 which are regularly telecast on television.

List of the Top 10 Movies of Jake Gyllenhaal

We have created a list of 10 Jake Gyllenhaal Movies, which in our point of view are the best but don’t forget it is just our opinion and you may not agree with our list.

BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN – 2005

Director & Producer: Ang Lee. Writers: Larry McMurtry & Diana Ossana. David Jordan.

Jake played the character of his life as Jack Twist, in his most famous film Brokeback Mountain. Jack Twist is hired to wrangle sheep in Wyoming in 1963. Jack is involved more with his colleague Ennis Deal Mar which leads to a long-term sexual and emotional relationship. The sensitive performances of all the stars lead to Gyllenhaal’s first-time nomination for an Oscar Award, Golden Globe, and Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Supporting Actor. The work in the movie has made Gyllenhall a true superstar with no one at his competition.

PRISONERS – 2013

Director: Denis Villeneuve. Writer: Aaron Guzikowski, David Jordan

It was Gyllenhall’s first collaboration with director Denis Villeneuve, the film Prisoners focuses on the Thanksgiving Day kidnapping of two little girls from Los Angeles California USA, and the brink of madness of their parents. Gyllenhall played the character of an Investigative Officer as Loki, who brought into the case to find the kidnappers and deal with the crazed family who seems determined to torture a confession of their own suspect (Paul Dano), who is a young man with an IQ level of 10 years old. Gyllenhall shines in the film, bringing new color to a standard detective role. The script of the film is more like the movie Donnie Darko 2001 .

NIGHTCRAWLER – 2014

Writer/Producer: Dan Gilroy. Starring Rene Russo, Jake Gyllenhall, Riz Ahmed, Bill Paxton.  

Jake played the character of Louis Bloom, a petty thief who comes from a grisly accident and sees freelance journalists around the violent later. Lous survives and later gets into a new career as a cameraman and armed with a camcorder and police scanner. Begins nocturnal forays across the city in search of shocking and grisly crimes. Gyllenhaal’s feral role was rewarded with a Best Actor nomination from both the Golden Globes and the Screen Actors Guild.

Jake Gyllenhaal was also nominated for two Golden Globe Awards “Nightcrawler”) in 2014.

ZODIAC – 2007

Director/Executive Producer: David Fincher. Writer: James Vanderbilt. Starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Mark Ruffalo, Robert Downey Jr., Anthony Edwards. 

Gyllenhaal played the role of real-life political cartoonist Robert Grasmith of San Francisco who develops an interest in a local murder when the killer sends taunting notes to the newspaper. In the late 60s and 70s, there was a fear in the city of San Francisco as a serial killer called Zodiac stalks its residents. Zodiac taunts the authorities by claiming victim after victim. Graysmith’s role is one of Gyllenhall’s great strengths i.e. the ability to appear to be native, but when it comes down to it, he becomes tough and determined. The success of Zodiac is a true example of his strength.

DONNIE DARKO – 2001

Writer/Director: Richard Kelly. Starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Jene Malone, Mary McDonnell, Patrick Swayze, Jerry Brinson

This film was a psychological drama and Gyllenhall took a huge risk in taking the role, as he was only 21 at the film, which might have hit his career. The teenager in the film Donnie Darko sleepwalks in his house and sees a giant, demonic rabbit named Frank. The drama in the film is about Donnie who is living in a parallel universe. Is Donnie suffering from mental illness or will the world really end in 28 days? Even at the age of 21, Gyllenhall handles the story of a disturbed young man who leads to commit destructive acts and waiting for the imminent end of the world.

END OF WATCH – 2012 BASED ON CRIMES IN LOS ANGELES CALIFORNIA USA:

Writer/Director: David Ayer. Starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Michael Peña, Anna Kendrick, America Ferrara, Jerry Brinson

This is the story of two Police Officers works for Los Angeles Police Department and covers the patrolling in the dangerous areas of Los Angeles. Their honor and dedication to their job are unquestioned. Advice from Robert Graysmith was also taken for making of this film. Both were trained for five months for this crime movie. The training includes a 12-hour ride-along with real cops and training in police tactics and weaponry. The film is about dealing with gang violence in South Central Los Angeles. The film gives Gyllenhaal’s work an extra layer of grit that neither actor had ever achieved before.

OKJA – 2017:

Writer/Director: Jeff Bauman, Bong Joon-ho. Writers: Bong Joon-ho, Jon Ronson. Starring Ahn Seo-hyun, Tilda Swinton, Jake Gyllenhaal, Paul Dano, Steven Yuen, Giancarlo Esposito.  

It was the nuttiest performance by Gyllenhaal in Bong Joon-ho’s Netflix film “Okja” for the alternative food sources, such as breeding so-called super pigs. The young girl named Mija of South Korea has raised her 26 pigs with a super pig named Okja as her best friend. Young Mija was a faithful friendto Okja at her home in the hills of South Korea. Special tips were taken from Scott Fischer for the film. But the climax of the film starts when a Multinational conglomerate Mirando Corporation takes Okja to New York and Mija sets out a rescue mission for Okja and Gyllenhaal helps her out in the rescue mission.

NOCTURNAL ANIMALS – 2016:

Writer/Director: Tom Ford. Starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Amy Adams, Adam Bell, Michael Shannon, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, John Morris.

Gyllenhaal played the dual roles of Tony Hastings and Edward Sheffield. Edward is an author who gave his ex-wife his latest novel to read and she realizes that the characters could be actually based on them. The lady was re-married to a successful Los Angeles art gallery owner and feel alone due to the regular traveling of her handsome second husband. While the second husband was away, she read one novel given by her first husband. The ex-wife imagines that the main of the story Tony is a man whose family is brutally murdered in Texas, as her ex-husband Edward. On his magical performance, Gyllenhall received a BAFA nomination.

ENEMY – 2013:

Director: Denis Villeneuve. Writer: Javier Gullon. Starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Melanie Laurent, Sam Hall, Joe Nast, Sarah Gadon, Isabella Rossellini.  

An excellent-mannered college teacher (Jake Gyllenhaal) finds a look-alike actor and explore into the other man’s private affairs. Gyllenhall continues his successful artistic collaboration with director Denis Villeneuve in this psychological thriller movie based on the novel “The Double” written by Jose Saramago. Advice from Robert Graysmith was also taken on the making of the film. Gyllenhaal discovers the challenge of playing two identical roles but are different men who come into one another’s lives. The two men blend into each other’s affairs until the film’s last scene, which is one of the most shocking that you would have ever seen. With his ironic performance in Enemy, Gyllenhall set himself as an acting conquered challenge.

THE SISTERS BROTHERS – 2018:

Writer/Director: Jeff Bauman, Jacques Audiard. Writers: Jacques Audiard, Thomas Bidegain. Starring Joaquin Phoenix, John C. Reilly, Jake Gyllenhaal, Sam Hall, Joe Nast, Riz Ahmed. 

Charlie and Eli Sisters are both brothers and murders, boys grown to men in a savage and hostile world. The sister’s brothers discover themselves on a trip through the Northwest which takes them to the mountains of Oregon which is a terrible brothel in the land of California. Jake Gyllenhaal plays John Morris, which is a private detective who was hired to track down a man named Hermann Kermit Warm (Riz Ahmed) as the co-star who is pushed by notorious outlaws. Once he captures him, Morris becomes convinced that Warm is innocent and close partnership with him in his search to find gold. Gyllenhall has a wonderful relaxed performance and his interactions with Ahmed are among the film highlights. The film is also nominated for Sundance Film Festival.