Maggie Gyllenhaal | Rotten Tomatoes (2024)

In only a few short years, Maggie Gyllenhaal built a solid reputation as a talented, cerebral actress in independent films. With her non-conformist flair and penchant for examining social issues, Gyllenhaal offered a different voice of young Hollywood at the start of the millennium. Though a Hollywood native who grew up with filmmaking parents - not to mention entered performing alongside her brother, actor Jake Gyllenhaal - the actress was raised in a household that valued education, intellect and liberal politics. Thanks to her director father, Stephen Gyllenhaal, she gained valuable experience with her first three films, "Waterland" (1992), "A Dangerous Woman" (1993) and "Homegrown" (1998). After co-starring with her brother in the indie hit, "Donnie Darko" (2001), Gyllenhaal came into her own with a daring breakout performance as a woman with a strange addiction to sadomasochism in the independent dark comedy, "Secretary" (2002), which earned the actress her first Golden Globe nomination. Settling into a career that consisted of exemplary performances in such varied films as "Happy Endings" (2005), "Stranger Than Fiction" (2006) and as Rachel Dawes in "The Dark Knight" (2008), Gyllenhaal reached new heights after her Oscar-caliber performance in "Crazy Heart" (2009), which promised even greater things from the talented young actress.