JAKE GYLLENHAAL
The Nocturnal Animals actor, 36, is covering a lot of ground. He’s currently starring—and singing!—in his first Broadway musical, Sunday in the Park With
George, about painter Georges Seurat. And he’s about to blast off as astronaut David Jordan in Life, a sci-fi thriller about a crew that discovers extraterrestrial life on Mars. Life opens in theaters March 24. What about Life and David Jordan captured your interest? He had been defeated by things on Earth and thought escaping into space was going to solve some issues for him. [But] he’s in this small, zero-gravity space, floating around and not really “living” until [the discovery], and he’s forced to.
Do you believe there’s life on other planets?
I’ve always had a connection to the idea that there is something bigger than all of us. I feel it is inevitable that at some point we’ll find that there’s life on other planets. What kind of life has yet to be discovered, but I believe it.
How comfortable are you singing in your first Broadway musical?
I am entering—like astronauts do— a world that is not really truly my own. But somehow it does feel like home to me. I do love it onstage and I do love to sing. I’ve been singing my whole life. It’s just something I’ve never shared. Now I am.
What’s harder, getting into physical shape, like you did for the boxing movie Southpaw, or getting the emotional aspect of a role?
You can lose weight or put on muscle. You can transform the physical parts of yourself to look a certain way. But I think, inevitably, it’s what you feel from the heart that matters more than anything.
Does Julie Bowen have plans to branch out beyond Modern Family? —Jessica C., Port Angeles, Wash.
A: The two-time Emmy winner for Modern
Family, 47, will be providing the voice of Rapunzel’s mother, Queen Arianna, when Tangled:
The Series premieres March 24 on Disney Channel. As the series unfolds, Rapunzel (voiced by Mandy Moore, as in the film) will spend time getting to know her parents and the people of her kingdom. It was Bowen’s comic timing on Modern
Family that first convinced Disney producers to cast her as the voice of sassy air-tanker Lil’ Dipper in
Planes: Fire & Rescue, and now on the Tangled TV spinoff.
I read that Helen Hunt directed an episode of This Is Us. Has she moved away from acting? —Charlotte T., Glendale, Ariz.
A: The Oscar winner for As Good as It Gets, 53, has been spending time behind the camera directing TV shows, including the Christmas episode of This Is Us. But Hunt, who received four lead actress Emmys for the ’90s hit Mad About You, is still in front of the camera too. She’ll be playing fictional governor Patricia Eamons in Fox’s new series Shots Fired ,a serious drama premiering Wednesday night that examines the aftermath of racially charged shootings in a small North Carolina town.