Jake Gyllenhaal is an American actor who has appeared in over 35 motion pictures (including some yet to be released), three television programs, one commercial, and four music videos. He made his film debut in 1991 with a minor role in the comedy-drama City Slickers. In 1993, he appeared in A Dangerous Woman, a motion picture adaptation directed by Gyllenhaal's father Stephen Gyllenhaal and co-written by his mother Naomi Foner that was based on the novel of the same name by Mary McGarry Morris.