Jake Gyllenhaal

Age 24

Mustworthiness And the 2005 Jude Law Award goes to. . .that actor whose name you still have trouble spelling. But unlike Law, who overextended himself in six films last year (most of them less than critically acclaimed), Gyllenhaal showcases his well-regarded range this fall in three roles that are as disparate as they are daring: Gwyneth Paltrow's boyfriend in Proof (Sept. 16), a battle-weary Marine in the Gulf War drama Jarhead(Nov. 11), and Heath Ledger's on-the-down-low lover in the frontier romance Brokeback Mountain (Dec. 9).

Bombs Away Despite the unintentional laughs provided by his first blockbuster (2004's global-warming disaster The Day After Tomorrow), Gyllenhaal won't apologize for taking the role: ''Choices are choices. I had done five movies in a row that asked a lot of me, and just wanted to run around. It wasn't necessarily realistic, but I liked that it said something relevant.''

'Mountain' Men Gyllenhaal seems mystified by the hoopla surrounding his controversial role in Mountain: ''I really did approach it like I would any love story. No matter how weird people might think it is or how f---ed up they might consider a certain relationship to be, if there is love there, then that's all that matters.'' Asked about rumors that the film's love scenes break explicit new ground, he laughs coyly. ''I mean. . .I don't know. . .Um, all I can say is that they're there.'' Another mischievous laugh.

Next He'll add to this year's hat trick in September, when he begins filming Zodiac, a thriller about the notorious unsolved San Francisco serial-killer case.