1992–2001: Early work At the age of 15, she made a brief appearance in her father's film
Waterland (1992). Soon, she had supporting roles in
A Dangerous Woman (1993) and
Homegrown (1998), which were directed by her father and also featured her brother Jake. After graduating from college, she had supporting roles in films including
Cecil B. Demented (2000) and
Riding in Cars with Boys (2001). Gyllenhaal later achieved recognition in her own right playing her real brother's on-screen sister in the
indie cult favorite Donnie Darko (2001). She made her theatrical debut in the
Berkeley Repertory Theatre production of
Patrick Marber's
Closer, for which she received favorable reviews. Production started in May 2000 and ended in mid-July of that year. Gyllenhaal has performed in several other plays, including
The Tempest,
Antony and Cleopatra,
The Butterfly Project, and
No Exit.
2002–2005: Film breakthrough Gyllenhaal's breakout role was in the
black comedy,
Secretary (2002), a film about two people who embark on a mutually fulfilling
BDSM lifestyle.
Mick LaSalle of the
San Francisco Chronicle wrote: "Maggie Gyllenhaal, as the self-destructive secretary, is enigmatic and, at moments, sympathetic." The film received generally favorable reviews, and Gyllenhaal's performance earned her the Best Breakthrough Performance by an Actress award from the
National Board of Review of Motion Pictures, her first
Golden Globe nomination, and an
Independent Spirit Award nomination.
Secretary was Gyllenhaal's first film role which featured
full frontal nudity. Impressed with the script, she initially had reservations about doing the film, which she believed could deliver an
anti-feminist message. However, after carefully discussing the script with the film's director,
Steven Shainberg, she agreed to join the project. Although insisting Shainberg did not exploit her, Gyllenhaal has said she felt "scared when filming began" and that "in the wrong hands ... even in just slightly less intelligent hands, this movie could say something really weird." Since then, she is guarded about discussing her role in the film, saying only that "despite myself, sometimes the dynamic that you are exploring in your work spills over into your life." She later appeared in the
unauthorized biography Confessions of a Dangerous Mind (2002), part of an ensemble cast that included
Sam Rockwell,
Drew Barrymore,
George Clooney, and
Julia Roberts. The movie grossed US$33 million worldwide. That same year, she had a small role in the comedy
40 Days and 40 Nights. In 2003, she co-starred with Julia Roberts in
Mona Lisa Smile in the role of Giselle. In an interview with
The Daily Telegraph, she revealed the reason for accepting the role was "to play somebody who feels confident in herself as a sexy, beautiful woman". The film generated mostly mixed reviews, with
Manohla Dargis of the
Los Angeles Times describing it as "smug and reductive". Her next roles were in smaller independent films:
Casa de los Babys (2003), is a story about six American women impatiently waiting out their lengthy residency requirements in a South American country before picking up their adoptive babies, and
Criminal (2004), a remake of the Argentinian film
Nine Queens, with
John C. Reilly and
Diego Luna. She starred in the
HBO film
Strip Search (2004), in which she portrayed an American student in China suspected of terrorism. For her role, Gyllenhaal had to perform multiple scenes of
full-frontal nudity as the film tackled issues of
strip searches. In 2004, Gyllenhaal returned to theater in a Los Angeles production of
Tony Kushner's
Homebody/ Kabul as Priscilla, the Homebody's daughter, who spends most of the play searching for her elusive mother in
Kabul,
Afghanistan. Kushner gave her the role in
Homebody/ Kabul on the strength of her performance in
Closer.
Ben Brantley of
The New York Times wrote: "Ms. Gyllenhaal provides the essential bridge between the parts of the play's title."
John Heilpern of
The New York Observer noted that Gyllenhaal's performance was "compelling". Finally in 2004, Gyllenhaal was invited to join the
Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Viewed as a
sex symbol, she was ranked in the "Hot 100 List" by
Maxim magazine in 2004 and 2005. Gyllenhaal's next film role was in the 2005 comedy-drama
Happy Endings, in which she played an adventuress singer who seduces a young gay musician (
Jason Ritter) as well as his rich father (
Tom Arnold). She recorded songs for the film's soundtrack, calling the role the "roughest, scariest acting ever" and adding she is more natural when singing on screen than when acting.
2006–2009: Comedies, dramas and theatre Following
Happy Endings, Gyllenhaal appeared in five films releases in 2006:
Trust the Man,
Stranger than Fiction,
Monster House,
World Trade Center, and
Sherrybaby. In
Trust the Man, featuring
Julianne Moore,
David Duchovny, and
Billy Crudup, she played Elaine, who has been dating Tobey, Crudup's character, for seven years and has begun to feel that it is time for her to settle down and start a family. The film was critically and financially unsuccessful. Ethan Alter of
Premiere felt that the performances by Gyllenhaal and Duchovny were "much more at ease" and concluded with "that's probably because they're played these characters many times before". In
Stranger than Fiction, Gyllenhaal played a love interest of Harold Crick, played by
Will Ferrell. Her performance in the film received favorable reviews;
Mike Straka of
Fox News wrote: "Gyllenhaal has never been sexier in any film before and her interplay with Ferrell will propel her to more
A-list films, leaving her indie-darling days behind, no doubt." She voiced Elizabeth "Zee" in the animated horror film
Monster House. Gyllenhaal played Allison Jimeno, the wife of
Port Authority officer
Will Jimeno, in
Oliver Stone's
World Trade Center, based on the
September 11 attacks in New York City. She regarded this as "one of the films she most enjoyed making". In
Sherrybaby, Gyllenhaal played a young drug-addicted thief trying to put her life in order after prison so she can reconcile with her daughter. During promotion of the film, she noted of her portrayal of the character: "I think she's in such dire straits that all she has are these kind of naive, fierce hopes. And while I was playing the part I was looking for pleasure and hope in everything, even in these really bleak things. And so it was really mostly after I finished the movie that I felt pain." Her performance in the film was well-received; David Germain of the
Associated Press wrote, "Gyllenhaal humanizes her so deeply and richly ... that Sherry elicits sympathy even in her darkest and weakest moments", and Dennis Harvey of
Variety magazine called her performance "naturalistic". For her performance, Gyllenhaal earned a second Golden Globe Best Actress nomination and won the Best Actress category award at the 2006
Stockholm International Film Festival. '' in New York City, July 14, 2008 She appeared in
The Dark Knight (2008), the sequel to
Batman Begins (2005), in which she replaced
Katie Holmes as
Gotham City's assistant district attorney
Rachel Dawes. Gyllenhaal acknowledged her character was a
damsel in distress to an extent, but said director
Christopher Nolan sought ways to empower her character, so "Rachel's really clear about what's important to her and unwilling to compromise her morals, which made a nice change" from the many conflicted characters she had previously portrayed.
The Dark Knight was a critical and commercial success, setting a new opening weekend
box office record for North America. With revenue of $1 billion worldwide, it became the
fourth-highest-grossing film of all time, and remains Gyllenhaal's most commercially successful feature to date. In a
Salon magazine review of the film,
Stephanie Zacharek called Gyllenhaal's character "a tough cookie in a
Stanwyck-style bias-cut gown" and stated that "the movie feels smarter and more supple when she's on-screen".
IGN film critic Todd Gilchrist wrote, "Gyllenhaal adds real depth and energy to Rachel Dawes". In addition to film, Gyllenhaal played Yelena Andreevna in the
Classic Stage Company's 2009
Off-Broadway production of
Anton Chekhov's
Uncle Vanya in New York City. The cast also included her husband Peter Sarsgaard. However, Malcolm Johnson of the
Hartford Courant was complimentary, noting that she "ultimately blossoms" as the character. Gyllenhaal agreed to star in the comedy
Away We Go (2009), in which she plays a bohemian college professor who is an old friend of
John Krasinski's character. The film generated broadly mixed reviews, with
Owen Gleiberman of
Entertainment Weekly describing Gyllenhaal's subplot as "over-the-top". However,
A. O. Scott of
The New York Times praised Gyllenhaal and co-star
Allison Janney for their performances, writing that "both [are] quite funny". Scott concluded with, "Ms. Gyllenhaal's line about sex roles in 'the seahorse community' is the screenplay's one clean satirical bull's-eye". The film was acclaimed, as was Gyllenhaal's performance.
Peter Travers of
Rolling Stone observed that Gyllenhaal was "funny, touching and vital as Jean" and that her part was "conventionally conceived, but Gyllenhaal plays it with a tough core of intelligence and feeling." Her performance earned her an
Academy Award nomination for
Best Supporting Actress.
2010–2020: Independent films and television , 2009|alt=Gyllenhaal at the 66th Golden Globe Awards, 2009 In addition to acting, she presented 13 episodes of the
PBS television series
Independent Lens between 2009 and 2010. The program presents
documentary films made by independent filmmakers. In 2010, Gyllenhaal appeared in
Nanny McPhee and the Big Bang with co-star
Emma Thompson, the sequel to the 2005's
Nanny McPhee. She played Isabel Green, which required her to speak with an English accent. The feature received generally positive reviews;
review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes gave the film an approval rating of 76% based on 119 critics.
The Sydney Morning Herald complimented Gyllenhaal's realistic accent and ability to capture her English character with ease. It was a reasonable success at the box office, earning $93 million worldwide. For her next film, Gyllenhaal starred in the
biographical romance
Hysteria (2011), which focuses on the events that led to the creation of the
vibrator during the
Victorian era. The film received a mixed reception; writing for
The Guardian, David Cox noted the film's stereotypes and "yelps of delight", and praised Gyllenhaal's English accent. In February 2011, Gyllenhaal starred in another Anton Chekhov Off-Broadway production as the character Masha in Austin Pendleton's
Three Sisters at the Classic Stage Company. The play focused on the Prozorov sisters (Gyllenhaal,
Jessica Hecht, and
Juliet Rylance), who are "unlucky in love, unhappy in the provinces and longing to return to Moscow", as summarized by
Bloomberg's Jeremy Gerard. The production began preview performances on January 12, with a limited engagement through March 6. In 2012, she played mother Jaime Fitzpatrick in the drama ''
Won't Back Down,
about a group of parents involved in a parent trigger takeover of a failing school. Next, she appeared alongside Channing Tatum and Jamie Foxx, as a Secret Service agent in the action-thriller White House Down (2013). The film was met with mixed reviews and under-performed at the box office. A year later, she starred in the musical comedy Frank, about a man who joins an odd band with a group of bizarre musicians. Gyllenhaal, who also plays a musician, said she initially turned down the role because she did not understand it. However, she changed her mind after the story "stuck with her". The film premiered at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival to favorable opinions; Slant'' magazine's critic opined that Gyllenhaal has "passive and palpable screen presence". Also that year, she played Hathfertiti in
Matthew Barney and
Jonathan Bepler's River of Fundament, loosely based on the 1983 novel
Ancient Evenings by
Norman Mailer. Gyllenhaal played the lead role as Baroness Nessa Stein, a British-Israeli businesswoman heiress in the BBC political spy thriller television miniseries,
The Honourable Woman. The series was well received; Kevin Fallon wrote in the
Daily Beast: "Gyllenhaal delivers what might be the most towering, complex, best performance of her career in the miniseries."
Time magazine praised the series' pacing, themes, settings, and called Gyllenhaal's performance "remarkable". At the
72nd Golden Globe Awards, she won
Best Actress in a Miniseries or Television Film for her performance.
The Honourable Woman appeared in a list of
The Guardian critics' 30 best television shows of 2014. In 2016, Gyllenhaal narrated
Leo Tolstoy's novel
Anna Karenina; it was made available for purchase on
Amazon's
Audible store. In an interview, Gyllenhaal said "Making this, doing this, I feel like it's one of the major accomplishments of my work life." Returning to film in 2018, Gyllenhaal starred in
The Kindergarten Teacher, a drama in which her character becomes obsessed with a student whom she believes is a
child prodigy. The film premiered at the
2018 Sundance Film Festival, and was distributed via
Netflix. It is a remake of the 2014 Israeli
film of the same name. The feature opened to mainly popular reviews;
The Daily Telegraph critic gave the film 4 out of 5 stars, and thought Gyllenhaal was well-cast, writing "[her] earnest intensity as an actress, gift for fatigue and slightly holier-than-thou authority are key assets here." Although Dennis Harvey of
Variety magazine praised her performance, he thought the film lacked "psychological insight". She served as a producer and starred in the HBO drama series
The Deuce, which aired from 2017 to 2019. Gyllenhaal played Eileen "Candy" Merrell, a
sex worker during the
Golden Age of Porn.
The Deuce earned her a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actress.
2021–present: Filmmaking In 2021, Gyllenhaal made her feature directorial debut with the
psychological drama The Lost Daughter, which she also produced and adapted from a novella by Elena Ferrante. The film received critical acclaim, and had its premiere at the
78th Venice International Film Festival, where Gyllenhaal won the
Best Screenplay Award. It received four awards, including
Best Feature and
Breakthrough Director, as well as one further nomination at the
2021 Gotham Awards. At the
79th Golden Globe Awards, Gyllenhaal received a nomination for
Best Director. She then received a
Best Adapted Screenplay nomination at the
75th British Academy Film Awards, and the second
Academy Award nomination of her career also for
Best Adapted Screenplay at the
94th Academy Awards. Gyllenhaal directed
The Bride! (2026), a 1930s-set adaptation of
Frankenstein, starring
Christian Bale,
Jessie Buckley, her husband Peter, and her brother Jake. The movie bombed in the box office and received lukewarm reviews from the critics. ==Other activities==