Family friend Paul Newman gave teenage Jake Gyllenhaal driving lessons on a racetrack.
Birthday: December 19, 1980
With a director father, screenwriter mother, actress sister and family friends like Paul Newman to give him driving lessons, it's hardly surprising that Jake Gyllenhaal chose to pursue a career in Hollywood.As a teen, the Oscar-nominated actor put his doe-eyed gaze to use portraying brooding adolescents in October Sky, Donnie Darko, The Good Girl and the global-warming blockbuster The Day After Tomorrow. But it was in 2005, when Gyllenhaal really had his career-cementing year: In Proof he starred opposite Gwyneth Paltrow; in Jarhead he was directed by Oscar-winner Sam Mendes; and in Ang Lee's Brokeback Mountain, his role as a cowboy in love with another man garnered rapturous critical praise and earned Gyllenhaal his first Oscar nod.
