Before They Were Stars: 10-Year Old Jake Gyllenhaal in “City Slickers”

It seems that Jake and Maggie Gyllenhaal were both destined for stardom, having grown up in a family where their father was a successful director and their mother was an Academy Award-nominated screenwriter. Apparently, Jake’s parents did not want him to have too much success too soon as he was regularly allowed to audition for roles when he was young in order to gain experience, but if he happened to win the part, they would usually forbid him from accepting it. However, when he was 10, they did allow him to make his film debut by taking the role of Billy Crystal’s young son in the hit comedy, City Slickers. Since Bart Simpson-mania was still running wild in 1991, I’ll assume this explains the rationale behind Jake’s haircut.