Heath Ledger

**Heath Andrew Ledger** (April 4, 1979 – January 22, 2008) was an Australian Oscar-winning actor.

Ledger started acting on television in the 1990s and then began acting in Hollywood movies. He was an important actor in many movies, including _The Patriot_, _Monster's Ball_, and _Brokeback Mountain_. He acted as The Joker in _The Dark Knight_.

Ledger died in New York City on January 22, 2008. His last movie, _The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus_, came out in 2009.

## Early life and family

Heath Ledger was born in Perth, Western Australia. Heath and his sister Katherine were named after the two main characters in the book _Wuthering Heights_ by Emily Brontë. Ledger went to Guildford Grammar School, where he started acting. When he was 10 years old, he acted in a school play as Peter Pan.

### Early career

When he was sixteen years old, Ledger graduated school early to become an actor. With his best friend, Trevor DiCarlo, Ledger drove across Australia to Sydney. He came back to Perth in to act in the television series _Sweat_ which was on television in 1996. In this series, he played a gay bicycle rider.

In 1996, Ledger acted in the fantasy-drama television series _Roar_. In 1999, Ledger had the main role in the teen comedy movie _10 Things I Hate About You_. He also had the main role in the Australian movie _Two Hands_, directed by Gregor Jordan.

### 2000–2008

From 2000 to 2005, Ledger had main acting roles in many movies, like _The Patriot_, _Monster's Ball_, _A Knight's Tale_, _The Four Feathers_, _Ned Kelly_, _The Order_, and _The Brothers Grimm_. In 2001, he won a prize called the ShoWest Award for the "Male Star of Tomorrow" for his acting in _The Patriot_ and _A Knight's Tale_. In 2003, he was named one of Australian GQ's "Men of the Year" for acting.

Ledger was given the "Best Actor of 2005" award from both the New York Film Critics Circle and the San Francisco Film Critics Circle for his acting in _Brokeback Mountain_. In this movie, he plays a worker on a ranch in Wyoming named Ennis Del Mar, who is in love with a rodeo performer named Jack Twist, who is played by Jake Gyllenhaal. He also was nominated to win a Golden Globe award "Best Actor in a Drama" and the Academy Award for Best Actor for this acting, but he did not win either prize.

Also in 2005, Ledger acted as the character Giacomo Casanova in the romantic comedy movie called _Casanova_. This movie also included actress Sienna Miller.

In 2006, Ledger was asked to join the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. In 2007, he was one of six actors to act as different sides of singer Bob Dylan in the movie _I'm Not There_.

Ledger acted in the role of the comic book villain The Joker in the movie _The Dark Knight_. This movie follows the 2005 movie _Batman Begins_. The movie was released on July 18, 2008. He was given respect and many awards for how well he acted in this movie, even though he died six months before it was shown in movie theaters. Some of these awards were the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor and the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor.

Also after he died, the movie _The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus_ was first shown in movie theaters in 2009. Ledger was supposed to act as the main role of Doctor Parnassus, but he only filmed about half of the scenes before he died. The director for this movie, Terry Gilliam, decided that the movie would be changed so that three other actors would also act as this character in some parts of the movie. The other actors were Johnny Depp, Colin Farrell, and Jude Law, who were all friends with Heath Ledger before he died.

### Music

Ledger started a record company with a singer named Ben Harper. In 2006, Ledger was the director of three music videos. The songs for these music videos were "Cause an Effect" and "Seduction Is Evil (She's Hot)" by Australian hip-hop musician N'fa, and "Morning Yearning" by Ben Harper.

### Press reception

Ledger had problems with paparazzi. It is said that he spat at and assaulted a photographer in Sydney in 2004. His relative is also said to have spat on a photographer in 2005. Ledger said this was not true.

Ledger caused problems after he was quoted in January 2006 in Australia's _Herald Sun_ saying that West Virginia had banned _Brokeback Mountain_ when it had not. He also said the state had lynchings as recently as the 1980s. These statements have been said to not be true by historians, who said that the last illegal public hanging in West Virginia happened in 1931.

### Personal life

From August 2002 to April 2004, Ledger had a relationship with actress Naomi Watts. They met when they both acted in the movie _Ned Kelly_. Before that, he dated the actresses Lisa Zane and Heather Graham.

Ledger was engaged to actress Michelle Williams, whom he met while making the movie _Brokeback Mountain_. They had one daughter, Matilda Rose, was born on October 28, 2005 in New York City.

In August 2007, the magazine _Us Weekly_ said that Ledger and Williams ended their relationship. Ledger and Williams both said that the rumor was not true at that time. In September 2007, Williams' father, Larry, told the _Sydney Daily Telegraph_ that Ledger and Williams had separated.

## Death

Ledger was found dead in his apartment  in the SoHo neighborhood of New York City on January 22, 2008. Ledger's body was found by a housekeeper and a massage therapist, who entered the bedroom to find him face down on the floor with sleeping pills on a nearby table. The police said that it did not look like the death was suicide. They also did not think his death was caused by someone else.

On January 23, 2008, Ledger's parents and sister appeared outside Ledger's mother's house in Applecross, Western Australia and read a short statement to news reporters:

The Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd released a statement saying, "It was with great sadness that I have learned of the passing of Heath Ledger... It is tragic that we have lost one of our nation's finest actors in the prime of his life."

## Filmography

|colspan="4"|Movies|||
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
|1997|_Paws_|Oberon||
|_Blackrock_|Toby|||
|1999|_10 Things I Hate About You_|Patrick Verona||
|_Two Hands_|Jimmy|AFI Award nominee (Best Actor in a Leading Role)||
|2000|_The Patriot_|Gabriel Martin||
|2001|_Monster's Ball_|Sonny Grotowski||
|_A Knight's Tale_|Sir William Thatcher/ Sir Ulrich von Lichtenstein of Gelderland |||||
|2002|_The Four Feathers_|Harry Faversham||
|2003|_The Order_|Alex Bernier||
|_Ned Kelly_|Ned Kelly|AFI Award nominee (Best Actor in a Leading Role)||
|2005|_Casanova_|Giacomo Casanova||
|_Brokeback Mountain_|Ennis del Mar|Academy Award nominee (Best Lead Actor) Golden Globe nominee (Best Lead Actor - Drama) BAFTA Award nominee (Best Lead Actor) SAG nominee (Best Lead Actor, Best Ensemble Cast) AFI Award (Best Lead Actor)||
|_The Brothers Grimm_|Jacob Grimm|||
|_Lords of Dogtown_|Skip Engblom|||
|2006|_Candy_|Dan|AFI Award nominee (Best Actor in a Leading Role) IF Award nominee (Best Actor) FCCA Award nominee (Best Actor)|
|2007|_I'm Not There._|Robbie Clark||
|2008|_The Dark Knight_|The Joker|Golden Globe Winner, (Best Supporting Actor) Academy Award Winner (Actor in a Leading Role)|
|_Tree of Life_||Incomplete||
|2009|_The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus_|Tony (sharing character with Johnny Depp, Colin Farrell and Jude Law)|Incomplete performance|
|1992|_Clowning Around_|||
|1997|_Home and Away_|Scott Irwin||
|_Roar_|Conor|||
|1996|_Sweat_|Snowy Bowles||

## Awards and nominations

If an award in this list is marked as "Nominated," it means that people were thinking about giving that award to Heath Ledger but chose to give it to someone else.

- **Academy Awards**
    - 2009 - Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role, _The Dark Knight_ **(Won)**
    - 2006 - Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role, _Brokeback Mountain_ (Nominated)
- **Australian Film Institute Awards**
    - 1999 - Best Actor in a Leading Role, _Two Hands_ (Nominated)
    - 2003 - Best Actor in a Leading Role, _Ned Kelly_ (Nominated)
    - 2006 - Best Actor in a Leading Role, _Candy_ (Nominated)
    - 2008 - Best Actor in a Supporting Role, _The Dark Knight_ **(Won)**
- **BAFTA**
    - 2009 - Best Actor in a Supporting Role, _The Dark Knight_ **(Won)**
    - 2006 - Best Actor in a Leading Role, _Brokeback Mountain_ (Nominated)
- **Golden Globe Awards**
    - 2009 - Best Performance by an Actor In A Supporting Role in a Motion Picture, _The Dark Knight_ **(Won)**
    - 2006 - Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Drama, _Brokeback Mountain_ (Nominated)
- **Independent Spirit Awards**
    - 2008 - Robert Altman Award, _I'm Not There._ **(Won)** <small>*shared w/ cast and crew.</small>
    - 2006 - Best Actor, _Brokeback Mountain_ (Nominated)
- **MTV Movie Awards**
    - 2008 - Best Villain, _The Dark Knight_ **(Won)**
    - 2008 - Best Fantasy Actor, _The Dark Knight_ **(Won)**
    - 2006 - Best Kiss, _Brokeback Mountain_ **(Won)** <small>*shared w/ Jake Gyllenhaal</small>
    - 2002 - Best Kiss, _A Knight's Tale_ (Nominated)<small> *shared w/ Shannyn Sossamon</small>
    - 2002 - Best Musical Sequence _A Knight's Tale_ (Nominated)<small> *shared w/ Shannyn Sossamon </small>
    - 2000 - Best Musical Sequence _10 Things I Hate About You_ (Nominated)
- **Screen Actors Guild Awards**
    - 2009 - Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role, _The Dark Knight_ **(Won)**
    - 2006 - Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture, _Brokeback Mountain_ (Nominated)
    - 2006 - Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role, _Brokeback Mountain_ (Nominated)

## Other websites

- Heath Ledger comprehensive profile
- Heath Ledger at Notable Names Database
- Heath Ledger comprehensive news & profile  at Daily Telegraph (Australia)
- www.gmanews.tv, Timeline of Heath Ledger's career

## Infobox (person)

- **name**: Heath Ledger
- **image**: Heath Ledger.jpg
- **caption**: Ledger at the 56th Berlin International Film Festival in 2006
- **birth name**: Heath Andrew Ledger
- **birth place**: Perth, Western Australia, Australia
- **death place**: New York City, New York (state), New York, U.S.
- **death cause**: Cardiac arrest caused by Combined drug intoxication, prescription drugs
- **body discovered**: New York City, New York, U.S.
- **resting place**: Karrakatta Cemetery
- **occupation**: Actor, music video director
- **relatives**: Ashleigh Bell (sister, born 1990)
Olivia Ledger (sister, born 1996)
- **years active**: 1993–2008
- **domesticpartner**: Michelle Williams (actress), Michelle Williams (2004–2007)
- **children**: 1
- **signature**: Heath Ledger's signature.svg