From a haunted teen on the brink of the end in Richard Kelly’s time-displacing Donnie Darko to the yearning ranch hand in Ang Lee’s Brokeback Mountain, the perverse and desperate freelancer in Dan Gilroy’s Nightcrawler to the deranged zoologist in Bong Joon-Ho’s morally reflective Okja and the puppy-eyed commitment-phobe in Edward Zwick’s Love & Other Drugs, Jake Gyllenhaal’s cinematic oeuvre is nothing if not diverse.
Good cop, bad cop, jarhead, ex-con, villainous anti-hero, brooding teenager, lover – the multi-award-nominated actor is a shapeshifter, a Jake of all trades. And, with his expansion into production through his genre-defying production company, Nine Lives (named after JD Salinger’s short story collection of the same name), he’s quite literally master of them all too.
Gyllenhaal is a household name. It turns out, he’s also a household kind of guy. The actor is an avid chef, a bon vivant. When he’s not on set, he’s likely in the kitchen. “I love reading cookbooks and experimenting with new recipes,” he tells us. Yossy Arefi, Claire Saffitz and Alison Roman are among his favourite culinary names. And, to the surprise of many, he spends a great deal of time baking cakes; to the dismay of many more, with his girlfriend.
Gyllenhaal has been an ambassador for the luxury Italian homeware brand Ginori 1735 for three years. He recently starred in the brand’s campaign, a short film capturing the famously private man’s private rituals: moments in the morning, in the kitchen, making breakfast, drinking coffee.
The upcoming year is a big one for Gyllenhaal, who will star in his sister Maggie’s latest feature, The Bride!, a Frankensteinian gothic horror, also featuring Jessie Buckley and Christian Bale, and a rom-com from M Night Shyamalan.
Below, Gyllenhaal answers 20 questions about cooking, acting and life off-screen.
1. Do you cook?
I love to cook. Collecting cookbooks is a passion of mine; I learn new things every day. My girlfriend and I love baking cakes – we love so many of the recipes from a baker named Yossy Arefi. She has a lemon cake recipe that is so good! I just bought a great book by Sharon Wee called Growing up in a Nonya Kitchen and another called The Secret of Cooking by Bee Wilson. I can’t wait to cook from those.
2. Coffee or tea? How do you take it?
Coffee. Black. And if I’m lucky enough … in a beautiful Ginori cup. I just found a great place for coffee beans called Rival Brothers.
3. What does an ideal Sunday look like to you?
Waking up to no alarm clock. Taking my dog for a walk and a beautiful lunch with friends and family, hopefully beside a warm fire.
4. What film would you recommend to a friend?
Ken Loach’s incredible film My Name is Joe, and Steven Zaillian’s Searching for Bobby Fischer.
5. When did you know you wanted to act?
I first got on stage at a place called A Young Actors Space in LA for an acting class when I was a kid. That’s when I realised bringing art and stories to life could bring people together and create joy.
“Earlier in my career, I was on a quest for approval, but that quest proved futile in the end” – Jake Gyllenhaal
6. What sort of character is your favourite to play?
As an actor, you’re in service of the story, so I’m just looking for a good story. I want to enjoy the process of creating and the people I’m doing that with. I am deeply lucky to be making art, but I want to have fun doing it as well. By fun, I don’t mean laughing all the time, I mean digging for truthful moments with the people I’m working with.
Earlier in my career, I was on a quest for approval, but that quest proved futile in the end. There is no such thing as excellence in art if you are not communicating your own truth and I’ve realised that one doesn’t have to prove anything to anyone but oneself.
7. What’s a fond memory from set?
I really enjoyed working on the stage this past winter in Othello, with the wonderful cast and director Kenny Leon. But most of all Denzel Washington – working with one of my acting idols is a memory I’ll never forget.
8. If you weren’t an actor, what would you be doing?
I’d be a cook.
9. Favourite song – or lyric?
I don’t have a favourite song but if I had to, maybe it would be Love Yourz by J Cole.
10. What is your earliest or fondest memory?
Building sandcastles with my Dad.
11. What scares you the most?
Losing curiosity.
12. What’s one thing nobody knows about you?
Ha, good try!
13. Have you ever been to a London pub? What’s your order?
Of course – a good draft Pilsner.
14. Do you have any hobbies?
I love tennis.
15. What were you like at school?
Younger than I am now.
16. What is your favourite book?
My go-to is JD Salinger’s Nine Stories – I named my production company after it.
17. Do you have any mantras?
Don’t forget to breathe.
18. You’ve been an ambassador for Ginori 1735 for three years now. What do you like about working with the brand?
It is a long-lasting, craft-centred company. They are obsessed with the details; each piece has been created by hand and thought through over many hours, sometimes years.
19. What are your festive traditions?
I used to order the stollen from the Big Sur Bakery and eat the whole thing on Christmas Day.
20. One piece of advice you’d give your younger self?
Be curious.
