Jake Gyllenhaal's 'Jarhead'

Actor Discusses His Experience With War Film

(CBS) 
"We went nuts," Gyllenhaal says. "Not necessarily in terms of physical stuff, but hanging out with your sister's boyfriend for five months will definitely drive you nuts. It was a life-changing thing for both of us. I consider it a kind of test for my sister's hand. If he wants it, he can have it now."

Next for Jake Gyllenhaal is the film "Brokeback Mountain."

"It's a love story between two ranch hands in Wyoming and it spans from the 1960s to the 1980s and, to me, it's sort of a redefining of your typical love story," Gyllenhaal says.

The son of director Stephen Gyllenhaal and screenwriter Naomi Foner, Jake Gyllenhaal was already a well respected young actor before the $500 million worldwide gross of "The Day After Tomorrow" made him one of Hollywood's hottest stars. He acted with his sister in the film "Donnie Darko."

Fast Facts About Jake Gyllenhaal:

• Born in California on Dec. 19, 1980
  
• Attended Columbia University in New York and majored in Eastern religion.
  
  
• In 1991, he made his film debut in "City Slickers" with a brief turn that earned acclaim from screen dad Billy Crystal.
  
  
• In 1993, he appeared in the little-seen children's adventure "Josh and S.A.M." playing a mean stepbrother to the title characters. He was also featured in two of his father's films, "A Dangerous Woman" (1993, also scripted by his mom) and "Homegrown" (1998).
  
  
• In 1999, Gyllenhaal took the starring role in the feel-good favorite "October Sky." The film was based on the life story of NASA engineer Homer Hickham Jr. The young actor played Hickham, a boy interested in rocket science whose brilliant mind and staunch dedication, even in the face of a discouraging father, wrote him a ticket out of his dead-end mining town.
  
  
• In 2001, he starred in the fantasy film "Donnie Darko." He also starred in the offbeat comedy "Bubble Boy" as well as the drama "Highway" with Jared Leto and Selma Blair.
  
  
• In 2002, Gyllenhaal starred opposite Jennifer Aniston in "The Good Girl." He also appeared in the Nicole Holofcener directed independent film "Lovely and Amazing." And he starred with Dustin Hoffman, Holly Hunter and Susan Sarandon in "Moonlight Mile."
  
  
• In 2004, Gyllenhaal was nearly cast as the superhero Spider-Man for the sequel "Spider-Man 2" when a dispute between the role's originator, Tobey Maguire, and the studio almost resulted in recasting. (Gyllenhaal was also romantically involved with the franchise's female lead, Kirsten Dunst.) Instead, he was cast in another big-budget summer film that went head-to-head against the "Spider-Man" sequel. He starred in director Roland Emmerich's disaster film "The Day After Tomorrow." Gyllenhaal played the son of a climatologist (Dennis Quaid) who is trapped in New York City as a new ice age descends on the planet.
  
  
• In addition to "Jarhead," Gyllenhaal will also be seen starring in Focus Features' adaptation of "Brokeback Mountain," playing the coveted role of Jack opposite Heath Ledger. The film, which chronicles an intense relationship between two Wyoming stockmen, is directed by Ang Lee and will be released on Dec. 9, 2005.
  
  
• Most recently, Gyllenhaal was seen starring opposite Gwyneth Paltrow and Anthony Hopkins in Miramax's screen adaptation of the Pulitzer Prize-winning play "Proof," directed by John Madden.
  
  
• In August 2005, Gyllenhaal began production on "Zodiac," the Paramount and Warner Bros.' serial-killer thriller directed by David Fincher. Gyllenhaal will portray Graysmith, a San Francisco Chronicle cartoonist who began tracking the mystery of the serial killer, The Zodiac, who terrorized the San Francisco area from 1966 through 1978 committing at least 37 murders and documenting his exploits in taunting letters sent to the Chronicle.