Stephen Gyllenhaal

Stephen Roark Gyllenhaal (; born October 4, 1949) is an American film director and poet. He is the father of actors Jake and Maggie Gyllenhaal. Personal life Gyllenhaal was born in Cleveland, Ohio, to Virginia Lowrie (née Childs) and Hugh Anders Gyllenhaal. He is of Swedish and English descent; through his father, he is a member of the Gyllenhaal family, and a descendant of the cavalry officer Nils Gunnesson Haal, who was ennobled in 1652 when Queen Christina of Sweden conferred upon him the crest and family name, "Gyllenhaal". He grew up in Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania, a suburb of Philadelphia in a close-knit Swedenborgian family. He graduated from Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut in 1972, with a degree in English. His mentor at Trinity was the poet Hugh Ogden. He was married to screenwriter Naomi Foner Gyllenhaal for 32 years, from 1977 until their divorce was finalized in 2009. From that marriage, he and Naomi are the parents of actors Maggie and Jake Gyllenhaal.