Hey, Summer Campers!
Like so many other Hollywood stars, athletes, musicians, and other artists, guess who else among our Hollywood favorites attended summer camp when he was around your age! One of my personal favorites too—Jake Gyllenhaal! He went to the same summer camp as his equally famous, older sister, Maggie Gyllenhaal, at Camp Walt Whitman in New Hampshire.
Camp Walt Whitman met Jake as it did his sister as a warm and inviting summer 
camp community that strives year after year to give kids a wonderful summer experience, introducing them to close friends and a picture of their own self-worth. This camp was obviously nothing but a positive influence for the Gyllenhaal kids.
Born in New York City, Jake is the son of Stephen Gyllenhaal—a film director—and Naomi Gyllenhaal—a film producer and screenwriter. At an early age his family moved to Los Angeles, California. By age 11, Jake was already making his movie debut in the film ‘City Slickers’ and not too long after that, he played major roles in movies like ‘October Sky’ and the lead, title role in ‘Donnie Darko’ which really solidified the future of his acting career.
Following in his sister’s footsteps, Jake attended Harvard-Westlake prep school and graduated in 1998. He then went to Columbia University while his sister was a senior there—also the school his mother graduated from. He took a couple years there, but eventually decided to concentrate on acting alone. But even with his wild success, he’s shown interest in returning to school to complete his degree.
Since then, Jake has taken on roles that have skyrocketed him to superstardom like ‘Proof’, and thrillers like ‘The Day After Tomorrow’ and ‘Source Code’. Summer camp clearly did Jake some good as it did for his sister. It was a great influence on him and Maggie, what will it do for you? As always, thanks for reading.
- John