Maggie Gyllenhaal net worth is $25 million combined with her husband, fellow actor Peter Sarsgaard, whom she married in 2009. Gyllenhaal first attracted widespread attention for her fearless performance opposite James Spader in the 2002 film “Secretary,” established herself as a leading actress in independent films and major studio productions — earning an Academy Award nomination for “Crazy Heart” and appearing in the blockbuster “The Dark Knight” — won a Golden Globe for the political thriller “The Honourable Woman,” and starred in HBO’s “The Deuce,” where she also served as a producer. Her career then took another turn behind the camera, writing, directing and producing the 2021 psychological drama “The Lost Daughter” and the much larger Warner Bros. production “The Bride!” in 2026.
Quick Facts
| Full name | Margalit Ruth Gyllenhaal |
| Born | November 16, 1977, New York City |
| Occupation | Actress, screenwriter, director, producer |
| Known for | “Secretary,” “The Dark Knight,” “The Lost Daughter” |
| Net worth | $25 million combined with Peter Sarsgaard (Celebrity Net Worth estimate) |
Early Life
Maggie Gyllenhaal was born Margalit Ruth Gyllenhaal on November 16, 1977, in New York City. Her father, Stephen Gyllenhaal, is a film director and poet, and her mother, Naomi Foner, is a screenwriter whose credits include “Running on Empty.” Her younger brother is actor Jake Gyllenhaal. The family moved to Los Angeles during Maggie’s childhood, and both children grew up familiar with the film industry through their parents’ work.
Gyllenhaal attended Harvard-Westlake School in Los Angeles before enrolling at Columbia University, where she studied literature and graduated in 1999. She also studied acting at London’s Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. Although she had appeared on screen as a child and teenager, she pursued an education outside Hollywood before committing herself fully to acting.
Early Career and “Secretary”
Some of Gyllenhaal’s earliest screen appearances were in movies directed by her father, including “Waterland” (1992), “A Dangerous Woman” (1993) and “Homegrown” (1998). Her first widely recognized adult role came in Richard Kelly’s “Donnie Darko” (2001), in which she played the older sister of the troubled teenager portrayed by her real-life brother Jake. The film initially attracted a limited audience but became a cult favorite, bringing both siblings considerable attention.
Her breakthrough came the following year in Steven Shainberg’s “Secretary,” a dark romantic comedy about a young woman whose relationship with her employer challenges conventional ideas about intimacy and control. Gyllenhaal starred opposite James Spader and received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy. The performance established her reputation for choosing demanding, sometimes provocative characters rather than conventional leading-lady parts.
She subsequently appeared in “Mona Lisa Smile” (2003), “Happy Endings” (2005) and “Sherrybaby” (2006). In “Sherrybaby,” Gyllenhaal played a woman trying to rebuild her life and reconnect with her daughter after prison and drug addiction. The performance brought another Golden Globe nomination and further demonstrated her range. She also played a baker who becomes romantically involved with Will Ferrell’s character in the acclaimed fantasy comedy “Stranger Than Fiction” (2006).
“The Dark Knight,” “Crazy Heart” and Film Success
Gyllenhaal reached an enormous international audience in Christopher Nolan’s “The Dark Knight” (2008), taking over the role of assistant district attorney Rachel Dawes from Katie Holmes. As Bruce Wayne’s former girlfriend and a central figure in the film’s conflict, she appeared alongside Christian Bale, Heath Ledger and Aaron Eckhart. The superhero sequel earned more than $1 billion worldwide and became one of the defining commercial successes of her acting career.
In 2009, Gyllenhaal starred with Jeff Bridges in “Crazy Heart,” playing journalist Jean Craddock, whose relationship with a troubled country singer provides the film’s emotional center. Bridges won the Academy Award for Best Actor, while Gyllenhaal received her first Oscar nomination, for Best Supporting Actress. Her other credits during this period included Oliver Stone’s “World Trade Center” (2006), “Nanny McPhee Returns” (2010), “Hysteria” (2011), “Won’t Back Down” (2012) and the action thriller “White House Down” (2013). She joined the ensemble of the offbeat musical comedy “Frank” (2014) and later starred in “The Kindergarten Teacher” (2018), portraying an educator whose fascination with a young student’s poetry becomes increasingly disturbing. The latter film premiered at Sundance and was released by Netflix.
Television: “The Honourable Woman” and “The Deuce”
One of Gyllenhaal’s most celebrated performances came in the 2014 political thriller miniseries “The Honourable Woman.” She played Nessa Stein, a British-Israeli businesswoman navigating a complicated family history and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The series, written and directed by Hugo Blick, earned Gyllenhaal the 2015 Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Miniseries or Television Film and a Primetime Emmy nomination.
From 2017 to 2019, she starred in HBO’s “The Deuce,” created by David Simon and George Pelecanos. Set against the rise of the pornography industry in 1970s and 1980s New York, the series followed Gyllenhaal’s character Eileen “Candy” Merrell as she moved from sex work into filmmaking. Her performance earned another Golden Globe nomination, and the experience had an important influence on her later career. Before accepting “The Deuce,” Gyllenhaal negotiated a producer credit so that she would have meaningful input into the portrayal of women and the show’s explicit material. She became increasingly involved in the creative decisions behind the scenes, an experience that helped prepare her to write and direct her own films. The series ended after three seasons in 2019.
Directorial Debut: “The Lost Daughter”
Gyllenhaal made her feature directorial debut with “The Lost Daughter” (2021), adapting the novel by Italian author Elena Ferrante. She also wrote the screenplay and served as a producer. Olivia Colman starred as Leda, a professor whose vacation in Greece forces her to confront difficult memories of motherhood, while Jessie Buckley played the character in flashbacks. The ensemble also included Dakota Johnson, Ed Harris, Paul Mescal and Peter Sarsgaard.
The project was a significant artistic and professional gamble. Rather than choosing a conventional commercial debut, Gyllenhaal developed an intimate, psychologically complicated story about maternal ambivalence and the expectations placed on women. After the film was completed, Netflix acquired distribution rights in numerous territories, including the United States, and released it to considerable critical acclaim.
“The Lost Daughter” earned three Academy Award nominations: Best Actress for Colman, Best Supporting Actress for Buckley, and Best Adapted Screenplay for Gyllenhaal. Maggie also received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Director, won the screenplay prize at the Venice Film Festival, and took home Independent Spirit Awards for Best Director and Best Screenplay. The film itself won Best Feature at the Spirit Awards, and Gyllenhaal received the Directors Guild of America’s award for outstanding first-time feature film direction. The success established her as a serious filmmaker rather than an actress making a one-off attempt at directing.
“The Bride!” and “Flesh Impact”
For her second feature as a director, Gyllenhaal moved from a relatively intimate drama to the large-scale studio film “The Bride!” (2026). Written, directed and produced by Gyllenhaal, the Warner Bros. movie reimagined the Frankenstein story in 1930s Chicago. Jessie Buckley played a murdered woman brought back to life as a companion for Frankenstein’s monster, portrayed by Christian Bale. The cast also included Penélope Cruz, Annette Bening, Jake Gyllenhaal and Peter Sarsgaard.
The film represented a dramatic expansion of Gyllenhaal’s responsibilities and budget. Its reported production cost was $80 million, compared with the much smaller scale of “The Lost Daughter.” Released theatrically in March 2026, “The Bride!” drew mixed reviews and earned just under $24 million at the worldwide box office, a disappointing theatrical result relative to its production budget. Those figures describe the studio film’s economics, however, not Gyllenhaal’s personal compensation; the terms of her writing, directing and producing agreements were not publicly disclosed.
Later in 2026, Gyllenhaal wrote and directed “Flesh Impact,” a short film honoring Marilyn Monroe on the centenary of her birth. Dakota Johnson portrayed Monroe at the height of her fame, while Ellen Burstyn played an imagined version of the star who had lived to be 100. The film, which also featured Peter Sarsgaard and Sepideh Moafi, premiered out of competition at the Venice International Film Festival in September.
Stage Career
Alongside her screen work, Gyllenhaal has maintained a career in theater. Her early stage performances included a production of Patrick Marber’s “Closer” at Berkeley Repertory Theatre in 2000 and Tony Kushner’s “Homebody/Kabul” in Los Angeles. She later appeared in off-Broadway productions of Anton Chekhov’s “Uncle Vanya” in 2009 and “Three Sisters” in 2011, both of which also featured her husband, Peter Sarsgaard. She made her Broadway debut in 2014 in a revival of Tom Stoppard’s “The Real Thing,” appearing with Ewan McGregor, Cynthia Nixon and Josh Hamilton.
Personal Life
Gyllenhaal began dating actor Peter Sarsgaard in 2002. The couple married on May 2, 2009, in Brindisi, Italy, in a ceremony attended by family and close friends. They have two daughters, Ramona and Gloria Ray. Their relationship has also included occasional professional collaborations, including “The Lost Daughter” and “The Bride!” Gyllenhaal has spoken publicly about women’s representation in film and the importance of creative control, and has supported human rights causes and organizations concerned with poverty and social justice. Although she comes from a family closely associated with Hollywood, she has spent much of her adult life living and raising her family in New York.
Real Estate
In 2006, Gyllenhaal and Sarsgaard paid $1.91 million for a townhouse in Brooklyn’s Park Slope neighborhood. The four-story, approximately 3,600-square-foot property dated to the 19th century and was originally configured as two residential units. The couple worked with architect Elizabeth Roberts to transform it into a single-family home with four bedrooms, a screening area, office space and a private garden. They listed the townhouse for $4.599 million in January 2019 and sold it in June of that year for $4 million — $2.09 million above their original purchase price, although that difference does not account for their substantial renovation costs, property taxes, selling expenses or other costs of ownership.
Net worth figures are estimates only, based on public sources.
Related: Taylor Swift, Dua Lipa, Shakira
