Jake Gyllenhaal likes to think of his visual impairment as ‘advantageous’

Jake Gyllenhaal has opened up on being legally blind and how it’s actually helped his career.

The Nightcrawler actor was born with a lazy eye that naturally resolved and has been wearing intensive corrective lenses since he was around six years old.

Despite that, he is still registered as legally blind.

In fact, Gyllenhaal admitted that he sometimes intentionally removes his lenses on a film set if he has to shoot a particularly difficult scene.

And while things may sometimes be difficult, the actor recently told The Hollywood Reporter that he likes to think of his visual impairment as ‘advantageous’ when it comes to his career.

He said: “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.”

Jake Gyllenhaal has opened up about being legally blind. (Cindy Ord/Getty Images for SiriusXM)

Back in 2015, Gyllenhaal starred alongside Forest Whitaker and Beau Knapp in the film Southpaw.

And to shoot a scene where a police officer tells his character that his wife has died, Gyllenhaal revealed that he removed his contacts so he could ‘listen more closely’.

It’s not the first time the actor has opened up on his disability, telling The Telegraph in 2017 how he was an ‘easy target’ for bullies as a kid because of his corrective glasses.

“I was always a sensitive kid,” the actor said of the teasing, admitting he would get into fights on the playground due to the unwanted attention.

The actor feels it’s been ‘advantageous’ for his career. (Todd Owyoung/NBC via Getty Images)

One thing that’s uncertain is whether Gyllenhaal removed his contacts to film sex scenes with Jennifer Aniston.

The pair starred in The Good Girl together in 2002. Aniston played Justine Last in the rom com, while Gyllenhaal portrayed the character of Holden Worther.

Nearly two decades on from the film’s release, Gyllenhaal reflected on what it was like filming raunchy scenes with the Friends star.

Speaking to Howard Stern on his radio show, the actor was asked if it was ‘torture’ filming those scenes with Aniston in the wake of his long-standing crush.

Gyllenhaal instantly replied: “Oh yeah, it was torture, yes it was. But it was also not torture. I mean, come on, it was like a mix of both.”

Stern went on to ask: “Did you say to Jennifer Aniston, ‘Listen Jennifer, I’m not trying to be rude here, if you’re feeling something – protrusion or whatever – I can’t control this?'”

Finding the word ‘protrusion’ awfully funny, Gyllenhaal said: “Yes, I said it just like that.”