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Maggie Gyllenhaal
Occupation : Actress
Birth Date : November 16, 1977
Birth Place : Lower East Side, New York, New York, USA
Nationality : American
Height : 5' 9"
Sex : F
Education : London's Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts
Columbia University (graduated with a B.A. in English)
Relationship : Peter Sarsgaard (actor; born March 7, 1971; dating since 2003; engaged on April 11, 2006)
Father : Stephen Gyllenhaal (director; born on October 4, 1949)
Mother : Naomi Foner (writer)
Brother : Jake Gyllenhaal (actor; born on December 19, 1980)
Uncle : Eric Foner (actor)
Daughter : Ramona (born on October 3, 2006)
Claim to fame : Breakthrough performance as Lee Holloway in Secretary (2002)
Maggie Gyllenhaal (pronounced jill-un-holl, it means "Golden Hall" in Swedish) was born on November 16, 1977, in New York City's Lower East Side. Maggie hails from a Hollywood family -- her younger brother Jake has starred in movies like The Day After Tomorrow and Borkeback Mountain. Her mother, Naomi Foner, is a writer and producer, famous for her Running on Empty screenplay; and her father, Stephen Gyllenhaal, is a film director known for his work on TV shows like Wasteland and The $treet.
Maggie acquired the acting bug early on. As a child, she would perform at family events along with her brother, Jake. Fortunately for her, the Gyllenhaal family moved to Los Angeles while Maggie was still very young. Never one to follow trends, Maggie's days at the posh L.A. prep school Harvard-Westlake were rebellious, as she dyed her hair and took to wearing thrift-store clothing in order to buck the "prep school" scene.
Maggie Gyllenhaal began appearing in low-budget films (often directed by her father and/or written by her mother) like Waterland (1992) and A Dangerous Woman (1993), while in her teens.
After high school, Maggie returned to New York City to attend Columbia University where she earned her B.A. in English literature and Eastern religion. She complemented her education with studies at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London.
Both Maggie and Jake admit to a sibling rivalry throughout their careers, wanting to outdo each other's fame with some friendly competition. Though younger, Jake was involved in box office blockbusters such as City Slickers (1991) earlier than Maggie.
Though she and her brother both appeared -- as brother and sister, no less -- in 2001's cult hit, Donnie Darko, it was Jake who got the juicier role as the title character.
Maggie finally experienced her breakthrough moment with the 2002 release of Secretary. It was the role that put her face, body and acting skills on Hollywood's radar. Playing a troubled woman with a predilection for sadomasochism, Maggie received a lot of public acclaim and several awards, including the National Board of Review Award for Best Breakthrough Performance by an Actress and a Golden Globe nomination for Best Performance by an Actress in a Musical or Comedy.
Immediately afterward, Maggie was inundated with offers to play similar roles but she turned them down, not wanting to become typecast.
Still, her career took off and she appeared in successive hits, like 40 Days and 40 Nights (2002), Adaptation (2002), Confessions of a Dangerous Mind (2002), and Mona Lisa Smile(2003). Her more recent projects include Criminal (2004), opposite John C. Reilly, Happy Endings (2005) with Lisa Kudrow, and The Great New Wonderful (2005). In 2006 she acted alongside Nicolas Cage in The World Trade Center and she worked with Will Ferrell, Emma Thompson and Dustin Hoffman in Stranger than Fiction.
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