Jake Gyllenhaal and Maggie Gyllenhaal: All About Their Brother-Sister Relationship

Celebrity siblings Maggie Gyllenhaal and Jake Gyllenhaal are both Oscar-nominated actors

Hollywood sibling duo Maggie Gyllenhaal and Jake Gyllenhaal are each other's biggest fans.

The brother-and-sister duo, who are three years apart, often sing each other's praises — and have both expressed a desire to work together.

Following Maggie's directorial debut with The Lost Daughter in 2021, Jake admired his big sister. "She's an incredible writer, and she's an incredible filmmaker, and I've known that for a long time," he said in May 2022. "I would love to work with her. I'd love to act in one of her films or wherever she needs me."

The feeling is mutual for Maggie, too. "I do want to direct Jake," she told the Los Angeles Times. "Partially because it is really one of the most pleasurable things there is for me to offer freedom to an actor and love and then watch them. I would love to do that with my brother … I would love to create that space and offer the love."

As they each forged successful paths in Hollywood — with both of them earning their own Academy Award nominations — Maggie and Jake have supported each other through their individual endeavors. The duo have been by each other's side at premieres and red carpets, and Jake has even babysat Maggie's daughters.

"[I feel] closer to him than I ever have," Maggie told Esquire. "I'm so grateful for him. He seems so great lately — generous and loving and really solidly there for me and my family."

From their family life to their successes in Hollywood, here's everything to know about Maggie Gyllenhaal and Jake Gyllenhaal's sweet sibling relationship.

They grew up in Los Angeles

Maggie and Jake were born into the entertainment industry: their father, Stephen Gyllenhaal, is a director who worked in film and television; their mother, Naomi Foner, is a screenwriter who earned an Academy Award nomination for her adaptation of Running on Empty. The brother-sister duo were raised in Los Angeles and attended Harvard-Westlake School, which counts Jamie Lee Curtis, Ben Platt and Jason Segel among its alumni.

While the celebrity siblings have nothing but supportive words to share with each other now, that wasn't always the case. In a 2022 interview with Esquire, Jake revealed that while he and his sister are now close, "I can't say that about every step of our relationship." According to Esquire, Jake and Maggie fought as kids and competed as young actors.

They appeared in their parents' films when they were young

Both Maggie and Jake got their start in the entertainment industry as kids. Maggie made her film debut at 15 in her father's 1992 movie Waterland, which tells the story of a troubled high school teacher reevaluating his past. The following year, the entire family worked on the film A Dangerous Woman: Stephen directed, Foner wrote the screenplay, and Maggie and Jake had minor roles as children.

"I have, like, one line in both of those movies," Maggie told Vanity Fair about her first credited roles. "[It] was just an excuse, really, to go and visit my dad."

Jake's first acting job came at 10 years old, after he offered Billy Crystal a dining room chair as a parting gift during a dinner party at his house, according to Esquire. Crystal found Jake funny and casted him as his son in the 1991 film City Slickers.

"There's a lot from my childhood that I don't remember, and I remember everything from that," Jake told PEOPLE about filming City Slickers. "It was an interesting, very complicated time … I think there was something about being able to express it, and feeling comfortable expressing myself that was always there and I always love."

Jake continued to work as a teenager, landing his first starring role in the 1999 film October Sky, which he filmed during his senior year of high school.

"I remember coming back to school and being like, 'What's going on? Where am I? How do I fit in?' " Jake told Esquire. "All these people had done so much together over the time I was gone. I was back and ready to assimilate, and I definitely was not fully able to."

Jake and Maggie both attended Columbia University

Following high school graduation, Maggie put acting on hold to attend Columbia University in New York. After receiving her bachelor's degree from Columbia in 1999, Maggie began to pursue acting as a career — first rising to fame with her appearance in 2001's Donnie Darko, opposite her little brother Jake.

Just like his big sister, Jake attended Columbia University in New York after high school. He majored in Eastern religion and philosophy (even studying Buddhism with Uma Thurman's father, scholar Robert A.F. Thurman), but left after two years to pursue acting, according to Columbia Magazine.

They played siblings in 2001's Donnie Darko

While Jake landed the titular role in the 2001 psychological thriller Donnie Darko, Maggie was ultimately cast to play his on-screen sister.

"I was doing a lot of auditioning and my brother was doing Donnie Darko, and I went and auditioned for it," Maggie recalled to Vanity Fair. "I wasn't sure if I wanted to go play a little part in the movie that my brother was starring in, but I did it. It was really cool."

She continued, "To play brother and sister came really easily. There were a lot of feelings that come along with that, and they're all in the movie. And Jake is so great in that movie — it's one of my favorite movies of his, I think, so it was nice to be a part of it and support him."

They've both been nominated for Academy Awards

Ever since their early roles, Maggie and Jake have both enjoyed successful careers in Hollywood.

Maggie starred in 2002's Secretary (which earned her her first Golden Globe nomination), appeared opposite Julia Roberts in 2003's Mona Lisa Smile and picked up her second Golden Globe nod for 2006's Sherrybaby. Maggie also had parts in the 2008 box office hit The Dark Knight and 2009's Crazy Heart — a role which landed her an Academy Award nomination.

"I did a lot of thinking about going to the Academy Awards," Maggie told Vanity Fair. "I thought, I want to have fun … I had no investment in winning, I just felt, this was just enough. I had a great time. I danced with Madonna at the after-party."

After a successful big screen run, Maggie's career began to include theater and television work. She appeared in the 2014 BBC miniseries The Honourable Woman, a role which earned her a Golden Globe Award for best actress in a mini-series and she said was "a real turning point," and both produced and starred in the HBO series The Deuce. Maggie added "director" to her résumé with 2021's award-winning film The Lost Daughter — an experience she said "totally changed" her life.

One person especially proud of her directorial debut? Her little brother Jake. "Someone asked me before my sister was nominated for an Academy Award [for Best Adapted Screenplay for The Lost Daughter] if I thought I would cry if she won. And as I said no, I started to tear up," Jake told PEOPLE.

"I was just amazed and beyond proud of the movie she made. And then the response to it, just extraordinary," he added. "She just did something so honest."

Jake has also compiled an impressive résumé since his days as Donnie Darko. One of Jake's most noteworthy acting appearances came in 2005 in Brokeback Mountain. Jake's performance resulted in his first Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor and a close relationship with his costar Heath Ledger. Jake eventually became the godfather of Ledger and Michelle William's daughter Matilda, and Ledger's death in 2008 affected him in ways he couldn't "necessarily put in words."

"None of the attention or synthesized love that comes from the success of a film really matters at all," Jake told PEOPLE about his experience filming Brokeback Mountain with Ledger. "What matters is the relationships you make when you make a film, and the people you learn from when you're preparing for a film. That changed a lot for me."

Jake continued to experience acting success, appearing in films like Zodiac, Prisoners, Nightcrawler, Spider-Man: Far From Home and Ambulance. He has also appeared on Broadway and lended his voice to the 2022 Disney movie Strange World. In 2023, he starred in Guy Ritchie's The Covenant.

Maggie is married to actor Peter Saarsgard and a mother of two

Maggie met her husband, actor Peter Sarsgaard in 2002. The pair starred in 2003's In God's Hands, a feature produced by Steven Soderbergh. They welcomed their first daughter, Ramona, in October 2006, and the couple wed in Brindisi, Italy, in May 2009. Maggie gave birth to their second child, daughter Gloria Ray, in April 2012.

"I never knew that I could work so hard," Maggie told PEOPLE about motherhood in 2008. "I never knew that I could love so much or be so patient or be so excited by the tiniest, tiniest little thing. Everything about it has surprised me."

The actress is also passionate about politics, and has been outspoken on several issues over the years, including climate change, equal pay and defending Planned Parenthood. More recently, Maggie's even involved her children in her activism, attending the Youth Climate Strike with her daughter Ramona in 2019.

"Being politically active is incredibly important to me," Maggie told The Guardian in 2014. "My parents have been politicized and radical throughout my life — they taught me that I'm a part of a global community and that it's partly my responsibility to fight for what's right."

Jake is a proud uncle

Jake says his career is no longer his main priority as he's grown older, rather its his family.

"It's my family, my friends, and the people I love who take priority," he told Esquire, "and not, I hate to say it, the career. And maybe that's me saying they didn't always."

Jake is an uncle to Maggie's two daughters, who he describes as "the most amazing girls." The experience of having nieces and being a "seasoned uncle" led him to pen his first children's book, The Secret Society of Aunts and Uncles, due to release in September 2023.

However, the book almost didn't happen. During an August 2023 interview with PEOPLE, Jake revealed that he wasn't sure if shining a light on his relationship with his nieces was the right choice. “I was a bit nervous because their privacy is so important to me,” he said of Maggie's kids. “But they were so excited that there was a book and really moved. And also my sister was too, which really meant a lot to me. I sent her drafts to read and she cried at all of them."

Jake also shared some of the things he's learned about being an uncle. He explained that “it's really about listening to them and what they want, and you're allowed to do it. If they want to stay up, we stay up. If they want ice cream before dinner, we do it. So that's the best part of the job."

Jake is currently dating model Jeanne Cadieu

Jake has been dating French model Jeanne Cadieu since 2018, with the couple making their red carpet debut three years later at the premiere of big sister Maggie's film The Lost Daughter. In 2022, he opened up to Esquire about his relationship with Cadieu.

"In a lot of ways, we're family. I'm in a relationship that is full of love and support. I feel so at ease," Jake said. "I'm not unaware that there's interest in my life. My life is wonderful. I have a relationship that is truly wonderful, and I have a family I love so much. And this whole period of time has made me realize that."

Prior to his relationship with Cadieu, the actor has had several high-profile romances over the years, including with Kirsten Dunst, Reese Witherspoon and Taylor Swift.

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