Stephen Roark Gyllenhaal (/ˈdʒɪlənhɔːl/; born October 4, 1949) is an American film director and poet. He is the father of actors Jake Gyllenhaal and Maggie Gyllenhaal.
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". Stephen grew up in Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania, a suburb of Philadelphia in a close-knit Swedenborgian family and 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 is the father of actress Maggie Gyllenhaal and actor Jake Gyllenhaal. He is also the brother of Anders Gyllenhaal, executive editor of the Miami Herald.

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