Earned a B.A. in English from Columbia University (1999)
Studied briefly at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts in London
The first six movies she made (Waterland (1992); A Dangerous Woman (1993); Shattered Mind (1996) (TV); The Patron Saint of Liars (1998) (TV); Homegrown (1998); Resurrection (1999/II) (TV)) were all directed by her father.
Attended the Louis Vuitton 150th Anniversary Celebration.
Attended the Dazed and Confused and Svedka Vodka Fashion Week Party.
Attended the Olympus Fashion Week Fall 2004
Attended the Bradley Bayou / Halston Fall 2003 Collection.
During the 2003 Academy Awards, she wore a peace sign pin in support of the organization Artists United to Win Without War.
She co-hosted the Sundance Awards 2003.
Played sister to real-life brother Jake Gyllenhaal in the movie Donnie Darko (2001).
Broke up with her artist boyfriend of five years during the filming of Secretary (2002).
Has been in three movies with her brother Jake Gyllenhaal: A Dangerous Woman (1993) (which was directed by their father), Homegrown (1998) (which was directed by their father), and Donnie Darko (2001).
Attended Cosabella at the Cabana Beauty Buffet Presented with Allure Magazine
Attended Lions Gate Films Pre-Oscar Party 2004
Attended Lotus Throws Itself a 2nd Anniversary Bash
Attended the 10th Annual Premiere Women In Hollywood Luncheon
Attended the 61st Annual Golden Globe Awards - InStyle/ Warner Bros Golden Globe Party
Attended the 61st Annual Golden Globe Awards HBO Party
Attended the Bradley Bayou / Halston Fall 2003 Collection - LA Launch
Attended the Cirque Du Soleil Presents its Latest Touring Production Varekai party
Attended the Costume Institute Dance: "Party of the Year"
Attended the Focus Features Golden Globes After Party
Attended the Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Fall 2003 Collections - Marc Jacobs - Front Row and Backstage
Attended the opening of Pradas New York Flagship Store
Attended the opening of Reaction Kenneth Cole's flagship store
Attended the Opening of the 1st Los Angeles Equinox Fitness Club
Attended the Proenza Schouler Maurice Villency Holiday Party
Attended the Vanity Fair "In Concert" Series Launch Party
Attended the Vanity Fair Oscar Party 2004
Attended the opening night of "Jumpers" April 25, 2004
Was born in New York City but grew up in Los Angeles where she and her brother attended the prestigious Harvard-Westlake prep school.
Her mother is a Golden Globe-winning, Oscar-nominated scriptwriter. Her father is an Emmy-nominated director, her grandmother is a doctor and her uncle is an acclaimed historian at Columbia, the college she attended.
Niece of Eric Foner.
Was invited to join the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) after the 2004 Academy Awards.
To promote her film, Secretary (2002), she posed for Playboy.
Her mother is good friends, and was once the mentor of, Laurie Collyer who wrote _Shall Not Want (2005)_ , in which Maggie stars.
After playing several smaller roles in motion pictures, Maggie Gyllenhaal made her debut as a full-fledged, first-billed star in Secretary in 2002. Her sweet looks and demeanor are given complicated depth onscreen with a subtle style that enhances the characters she plays, large part or small. With the exception of a few television-movie roles, Gyllenhaal has established herself as a big-screen player, and early in her career already showed her presence taking shape. While born in Los Angeles (on November 16, 1977), Gyllenhaal resides in New York City where she settled after attending Columbia University. She earned her B.A. in English, although she had much theater experience while in college in addition to her literary focus. She also studied briefly at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London.
While she focused on English academically, her stage experience would lead her back to acting after graduation. In fact, the limelight is in her blood, as she is the daughter of screenwriter Naomi Foner and director Stephen Gyllenhaal, and also the sister of actor Jake Gyllenhaal. In the early '90s she made small appearances in Waterland and A Dangerous Woman, getting her feet wet in the business in which her family had established experience. Additionally, she appeared on-stage both in New York City and in London. More than a kid sister or a daddy's girl, Maggie Gyllenhaal has become a Hollywood star in her own right.
With an interesting role in Cecil B. Demented -- a strange dramatic commentary on an artist's visions and psychoses, starring Stephen Dorff and Melanie Griffith -- Gyllenhaal was an intelligent performer whose beguiling looks brought all the more depth to the character she played. Continuing in the genre of bizarre and mysterious dramas, she appeared in Donnie Darko (2001), starring her brother, Jake Gyllenhaal, along with Drew Barrymore and Patrick Swayze. Maggie Gyllenhaal developed an early niche of appearing in films elating an artist's tale of woe, with notably self-reflective movies that deal with making movies. While Cecil B. Demented told a director's twisted story, Adaptation (2002) presented a screenwriter's struggle to adapt a novel into a film version. Directed by Spike Jonze, Adaptation features Gyllenhaal in support of stars Nicholas Cage and Meryl Streep. Also in 2002, Gyllenhaal's first major starring role came with Secretary, a film by Steven Shainberg. In it, she brings her signature depth and charming warmth to the role of Lee, a young woman who takes a job as a secretary and winds up discovering her own sexuality through a relationship that develops in the office.
