All About Jake and Maggie Gyllenhaal’s Parents, Stephen and Naomi Gyllenhaal

Jake Gyllenhaal and Maggie Gyllenhaal come from a filmmaking family.

Their parents, Stephen and Naomi Gyllenhaal, both have careers in the industry; Naomi is a screenwriter and producer, while Stephen is a director. The pair tied the knot in 1977 and were married for over 30 years before their divorce in 2009.

During an interview with the Los Angeles Times in 2005, Naomi said she found it hard to be a working mother because of the “pull between the selflessness required for real parenting and the selfishness you need to have in this work.”

“I made a lot of mistakes,” she said. “Believe me, I was not a perfect mother, as they will tell you. But I do think that a gift I can give them is the idea that it’s never too late to do the work. Because life doesn’t only go in one direction.”

Naomi and Stephen raised their children in Los Angeles, but after the divorce, she relocated to New York, where Jake and Maggie also live. Despite the split, the siblings have maintained good relationships with both of their parents.

“As you get older, you get to a place where you see yourself as you saw your parents when you were a child. And that’s a really beautiful perspective,” Jake told Esquire in February 2022. “I’ve been on this earth with my parents for forty-one years, and it’s a really deep, really complex relationship.”

So, who are Jake and Maggie Gyllenhaal’s parents? Here’s everything to know about Stephen and Naomi Gyllenhaal.

Naomi and Stephen married in 1977

Naomi Foner and Stephen Gyllenhaal at the Mann Regent Theatre in 1993.

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The duo tied the knot in 1977 and moved from New York to Los Angeles the following year. In a December 2005 interview with the Los Angeles Times, Naomi said she was reluctant to relocate but grew to love the city.

“When we moved here, we knew nothing,” she told the publication. “We bought a house near the old Bullocks Wilshire in MacArthur Park. It was a beautiful house; we thought we’d found heaven.”

The pair eventually had to move to the Hancock Park neighborhood, where Naomi said they worked on multiple fixer-upper residences. “We’ve probably made more money in real estate than from the entertainment industry,” she shared.

Initially, Naomi didn’t use Gyllenhaal in her professional name but decided to adopt it in 2002 as a 25th-anniversary present for Stephen. “People think I did it because of the kids, but I did it for Stephen,” she told the Los Angeles Times.

They welcomed Maggie in 1977 and Jake in 1980

Maggie Gyllenhaal, Naomi Foner Gyllenhaal, Stephen Gyllenhaal, and Jake Gyllenhaal at the ACLU Torch of Liberty Awards in 2003.

Francis Specker / Alamy

Naomi and Stephen welcomed their first child together, daughter Maggie, on Nov. 16, 1977. Three years later, they expanded their family with the arrival of son Jake on Dec. 19, 1980.

In an interview with ABC News in August 2014, Naomi said she loves how her relationship with her children has changed as they’ve grown older.

“I can’t say that there’s anything that gives me more pleasure than to get to the point where my children are my friends. I adore my kids. They are spectacular,” she said. “Nothing is more important than family.”

In addition to being proud parents, Naomi and Stephen are grandparents to Maggie’s two daughters, Ramona and Gloria Ray, who she shares with husband Peter Sarsgaard.

They divorced in 2009

Naomi Foner and Stephen Gyllenhaal in 2005.

J. Vespa/WireImage

Naomi and Stephen finalized their divorce in 2009 after more than 30 years of marriage. Speaking with PEOPLE in July 2015, Jake said his parents splitting up had a profound impact on him.

“It allowed me to be more honest with myself,” he said. “There was a sense of two people who said, ‘What is our truth?’ It was painful for a lot of people in our family, but that honesty was inspiring.”

Maggie also eventually made peace with their parent’s divorce. At the National Board of Review Awards in January 2010, the actress presented an award to the cast of It’s Complicated and said she related to the movie about separated parents.

“I’m kind of in the thick of all that, and it’s nice to laugh about it a little,” she said.

Naomi is a screenwriter and producer

Naomi Foner Gyllenhaal and Maggie Gyllenhaal at the “Very Good Girl” premiere in 2014.

Andrew Toth/FilmMagic

In the early days of her career, Naomi worked on the production staff for Sesame Street and The Electric Company. She later moved on to screenwriting and penned the screenplay for the 1986 film Violets Are Blue, which was her first feature film to be made.

“I had been making a lot of money, writing for big stars — Barbra Streisand, Dustin Hoffman — but nothing ever got made. I thought my job was to throw scripts down a big hole somewhere,” Naomi told the Los Angeles Times.

Naomi’s next project, Running On Empty, earned her an Oscar nomination for Best Original Screenplay in 1988. She also worked on two films with Stephen, A Dangerous Woman and Losing Isaiah, which she told the Los Angeles Times was “a mistake” because they would often have creative differences. This experience caused her to take a step back from her career.

“I had to repair some damage,” she told the publication. “I let my career fall apart because I had to make a lot of choices about marriage and family. It was hard for me and I went through a very dry spell.”

In 2013, Naomi made her directorial debut with Very Good Girls, which starred Dakota Fanning and Elizabeth Olsen. She told Interview Magazine that she had written the screenplay for the film 20 years beforehand and knew she couldn’t let anyone else direct the project.

“This one I was saving,” she said. “It felt like the ground I had to stand on, and it was also the size and character driven piece that I thought I could manage as a director. For many years I thought, ‘Well, I need to know a lot more to direct.’ But I looked around and watched all the people I know directing and thought, ‘No. I just need to know what I want it to be.’ ”

Stephen is a director

Stephen Gyllenhaal and Jake Gyllenhaal at the premiere of “The Good Girl” in 2002.

Kevin Winter/Getty

Stephen has been a director since 1979 and works in both film and TV. He’s directed episodes of Blue Bloods, The Mentalist and Rectify. As for film, the director is most known for Paris Trout, Family of Spies, Waterland and Girl Fight.

During an interview with the Long Island Press in July 2012, Stephen said that he’s driven to make projects that feature more complex and unique characters.

“Usually characters that are a little outside, a little off the beaten path. I’m generally intrigued by people who don’t accept what’s going on, and the status quo,” he said. “You know, they’re either confused by it or driven nuts by it. And you know, just trying to battle with it. Those are the characters that intrigue me, and have always intrigued me.”

His accolades include a Primetime Emmy nomination for Outstanding Directing in a Miniseries or a Special for A Killing in a Small Town and a Directors Guild of America award for outstanding directorial achievement in dramatic specials for Paris Trout.

Naomi and Stephen made Jake turn down a role in The Mighty Ducks

Stephen Gyllenhaal, Naomi Foner, and Jake Gyllenhaal at the 2002 Sundance Film Festival.

Larry Busacca/WireImage

Though Naomi and Stephen worked in the film industry, they weren’t quick to let their children become actors at a young age. During an appearance on The Howard Stern Show in April 2023, Jake revealed that his parents made him turn down a role in The Mighty Ducks because they wanted him to focus on his education.

“I definitely remember like crying on the kitchen counter,” he said. “I was like, ‘What, you guys are crazy.’ ”

Jake continued, “My parents were like, ‘Look, you’re about to enter junior high school, you gotta get your education, that’s the most important thing. I promise you, you hate us now, but you know you’ll thank us later’ … And I do.”

The actor also shared that when he was in his senior year of high school, his parents allowed him to audition for a leading role in October Sky only because he had already been accepted to Columbia University.

Maggie and Jake worked with their parents as kids

Maggie Gyllenhaal and Steven Gyllenhaal.

Maggie Gyllenhaal Instagram

Despite their parents having a strict stance on accepting roles, Maggie and Jake were featured in some of their parents’ projects as kids. Maggie made her film debut at 15 in her father’s 1992 movie Waterland, while the whole family worked on the 1993 film A Dangerous Woman.

“I have, like, one line in both of those movies, which was just an excuse, really, to go and visit my dad,” Maggie told Vanity Fair about working on the films. “It was funny, actually, like I was 14. I felt like an actress, so it felt kind of weird to be doing this line in my dad’s movie.”

Speaking with The Guardian in December 2010, Jake said that growing up with parents who were in the film industry gave him and Maggie a respect for storytelling very early on.

“Home was like a circus, with writers and filmmakers coming in and out,” he said. “We had a room above the garage rented by Steven Soderbergh – before he was Steven Soderbergh. We were brought up with a great respect of storytelling.”

Naomi helped Maggie deal with being a working mom

Maggie Gyllenhaal and Naomi Foner attend the “Happy Endings” premiere after party in 2005.

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With her experience as a working mom, Naomi was able to help her daughter deal with the pressures of creating a work-life balance. Maggie told Working Mother in 2009 that her mom was an “absolute lifesaver” for helping her take care of her daughter, Ramona, while she worked on a film.

“She told me, ‘I want to give you something I never had,’ ” Maggie said of her mother. “‘I want to give you the luxury of knowing that your child is absolutely safe and being cared for and loved so that you can go do what you need to do and be totally free.’ ”

Maggie added, “She gave me that couple of weeks and I needed it so badly. I needed to go and do something for myself.”

Naomi has continued to support Maggie and often babysits her daughter’s children while she attends award shows for her films. In November 2021, while Ramona accompanied her to the Gotham Awards, Maggie told PEOPLE that her younger daughter, Gloria Ray, was “at home with my mom and brother and they’re making pasta and eating cake because it’s too late for her to be out.”

Maggie and Jake value their parents’ support

Stephen Gyllenhaal, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Jake Gyllenhaal , and Naomi Foner at the Lakota.

Larry Busacca/WireImage

Maggie and Jake are grateful to have parents who work in the industry and support all their endeavors. Speaking with Vulture in January 2018, Maggie said that her mother is the one who taught her to value her creativity as a filmmaker.

“She really did like lay down a groundwork for me that made me feel that my ideas were worth something, and I mean, that’s invaluable,” she said.

Similarly, Jake had high praise for his father at the premiere of Ambulance in April 2022. The actor told Entertainment Tonight that it meant “everything” to have his father in attendance.

“I think if we’ve all learned one thing, no matter what we do and how blessed we are in our lives, the only thing that really matters is family and the people that we love,” he said. “And to me, of course it’s incredible to be here and it’s like, so amazing to be in this big movie and to be a part of it, but seeing my dad on this carpet, like, seeing my dad anywhere, but like here, just his support means everything to me.”

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Source: HIS Education