JAKE GYLLENHAAL reveals how being legally blind has been ‘advantageous’ to his acting career

Thursday, June 6, 2024 - Jake Gyllenhaal has opened up about how being legally blind has helped him in his acting career.

The actor says he prefers to look at the disability as “advantageous.”

“I’ve never known anything else. When I can’t see in the morning, before I put on my glasses, it’s a place where I can be with myself,” he told the Hollywood Reporter in an interview published Wednesday, June 5.

The Oscar nominee, 43, relied on that practice during one of his pivotal scenes from 2015’s “Southpaw.”

He disclosed that when police tell his character that his wife died, he performed the scene without his contacts to listen better.

This isn’t the first time the “Spider-Man: Far From Home” star has discussed his vision issues.

In a 2017 interview with the Telegraph, he recalled being an “easy target” for bullies as a kid because of his corrective glasses.

“I was always a sensitive kid,” he said of the teasing, which led to some childhood fights.

But he said those same scuffles seem to have helped him deliver in his onscreen fight scenes.