Style Icon: Jake Gyllenhaal

You always get the impression that Jake Gyllenhaal marches by the beat of his own drum. Whether it be his movie choices, his dating choices or how he holds himself in the public eye, you just can’t picture his agent or publicist dictating what role he should pick, or what type of outfit he should wear.

By Mike Sheridan

Gyllenhaal is a quirky sort, and his roles reflect that; finding fame with cult flicks like Donnie Darko and edgy fare such as Jarhead. Steadily moving away from arthouse films to more mainstream efforts, his physique has evolved as much as his talent.

He’s no longer the skinny kid from The Day After Tomorrow; anyone that has seen the talented thespian in Prince of Persia will attest to his impressive physical presence in that film – and he was by far the best thing about it.

As you might expect, his style is overtly blokey and minimalist. If Gyllenhaal is papped in public, he’s generally in a t-shirt, a check shirt and some casual jeans. On the red carpet he’s rocking a classic fit tux, complementing an athlete's body underneath. While very few movie stars rock anything other than a sculpted-by-a-personal trainer torso, they don’t all have the unconventional good looks of the Zodiac star.

While very much coming across as a guy’s guy, striking that balance along with a boyish quality that bleeds into his work from time-to-time, it’s no wonder he’s been sitting atop the movie star hierarchy for the best part of a decade.

True movie stars have a vicarious quality to them; the fact that the ladies will fancy them should pretty much be a given if their level of fame is at even a relatively lofty level. But guys wanting to wear what they wear, look how they look and in more fanboyish cases, be them, is the difference between someone like Jake Gyllenhaal and Ashton Kutcher.

The latter is probably more conventionally handsome, but he’s never come close to true movie stardom because men simply have never bought into his brand.

Gyllenhaal went and spent a couple of days in the Icelandic wilderness with Bear Grylls and didn’t moan once – instead looking like he enjoyed himself and the challenge immensely.

The cerebral movie star and a damn good actor to boot; Jake, JOE salutes you.