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Birth place: Perth, Western Australia, Australia
Birth date: April 4, 1979
Death: January 22, 2008
Parents: Sally Ramshaw & Kim Ledger
Siblings: Catherine (Kate) Ledger, Olivia Ledger, Ashleigh Bell
Children: Matilda Ledger
Height: 6' 1" (1.85 m) )
Hair color: Blond
Eye color: Brown
Profession: Actor
He and his older sister, Kate Ledger, are named after the two main romantic characters of the Emily Brontë novel, "Wuthering Heights".
Concentrated on drama and sports in school. When asked to choose between the two, he picked drama. Attended a private all-boys school called Guildford Grammar.
Auditioned for the part of Max on the TV show "Roswell" (1999). However, the show was originally developed for Fox and since he had already starred in "Roar" (1997), which was unsuccessful for Fox, they did not want to hire him.
Had three sisters: Catherine (Kate) Ledger, married to Nathan Buckey, and half sisters Olivia Ledger (b. 1997) and Ashleigh Bell (b. 1989).
Mother was Sally Ramshaw (daughter of John and Jackie Ramshaw) and father was Kim Ledger (son of Colin and Es Ledger). Stepfather was Roger Bell and stepmother was Emma Brown. His great-grandfather was Sir Frank Ledger, son of Edson Leger.
Named one of People Magazine's 50 Most Beautiful People in 2001.
Was a part of the 1990 Kalamunda Field Hockey team, whose president his father Kim was from 1990 to 1992.
Was a men's-fashion judge at the Melbourne Cup Carnival in November 2001.
Was originally set to star in Oliver Stone's Alexander (2004) before Colin Farrell took over the role.
Was considered for the role of Kar in Bulletproof Monk (2003) but eventually turned it down. The role later went to Seann William Scott.
Was named "the new Matt Damon" in Josie and the Pussycats (2001). They now act side by side in The Brothers Grimm (2005)
Most of his wardrobe was designed by his friend Shem.
Was of Irish and Scottish ancestry.
Starred in 3 films which screened at the 2005 Venice Film Festival. They included Brokeback Mountain (2005), The Brothers Grimm (2005) and the out-of-competition Casanova (2005).
His daughter Matilda Rose Ledger was born on 28 October 2005 and weighed in at 6 lb, 5 oz. Her mother is Michelle Williams.
Was selected in the State U17 squad in field hockey and was touted as one of the up and coming young stars, but chose to pack it in and try to make a career out of acting.
Was mentored by, lived with, and was very good friends with Martin Henderson.
Invited to join AMPAS in 2006.
Was the first non-American actor to portray the Joker.
Set to star in Baz Luhrmann's pre-WWII drama, but backed out to play The Joker in The Dark Knight (2008).
Jake Gyllenhaal and Busy Philipps are his daughter's godparents.
When he was cast as The Joker in The Dark Knight (2008), rumors circulated that his Brokeback Mountain (2005) cast mate Jake Gyllenhaal would be playing district attorney Harvey Dent. Instead, Jake's sister Maggie Gyllenhaal was cast as assistant D.A. Rachel Dawes.
Dropped out of Australia (2008) to do The Dark Knight (2008).
Was one of seven godparents of Elizabeth Hurley's son Damien.
Chosen by Empire Magazine as one of the 100 Sexiest Movie Stars in the world (#79) 2007.
Resided in Brooklyn, Los Angeles and Sydney.
Was found dead in his apartment at 421 Broome Street in the SoHo neighborhood in New York City at 3:26 p.m. EST by his housekeeper and a massage therapist, finding him face down and unconscious in his bed with sleeping pills on a nearby table. [22 January 2008]
Directed music videos for Ben Harper' song "Morning Yearning", N'fa Forster Jones' "Cause an Effect" and "Seduction is Evil", Modest Mouse' "King Rat".
Was painfully shy.
First acting role was as "Peter Pan", at age 10, at a local theater company.
Lived in Roman Way, Islington while filming his last movie ever in London in 2007.
Was very good friends with Russell Crowe.
Was considered for a role in Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (2003).
Actor Daniel Day-Lewis made a dedication to him at the SAG Awards 2008.
Owned a pet kangaroo that was found by his mother as a child.
Was good friends with Ben Harper.
He was the co-founder of record label Music Masses Co with singer Ben Harper, and directed Harper's video for the song 'Morning Yearning'.
The youngest actor to play the Joker in a Batman movie The Dark Knight (2008), as oppose to Jack Nicholson and Cesar Romero.
In 2006, took a year off from acting to raise his daughter Matilda Ledger while his girlfriend at the time, Michelle Williams, worked.
On February 9, 2008, a memorial service attended by several hundred invited guests was held at Penhros College in Perth, Western Australia followed by a private wake on Cottesloe Beach with his family and friends.
After his death his body was returned to Perth, Western Australia, where his body was cremated at Fremantle Cemetery, with his ashes to be "scattered in a family plot at Karrakatta Cemetery, next to two of his grandparents.
Before appearing with Christian Bale in The Dark Knight (2008), the two of them both played incarnations of Bob Dylan in I'm Not There. (2007). This makes Ledger the second Joker actor to share a role with a Batman actor. Previously, Cesar Romero shared the role of lawman John "Doc" Holliday with Adam West and Val Kilmer.
His favorite Australian bands and musicians were Spiderbait, Powderfinger, and Silverchair.
Was good friends with Joaquin Phoenix and Matt Damon.
Said in 1999 that his favorite actors and directors were Gene Kelly, Judy Garland, Bob Fosse, Stanley Kubrick, Katharine Hepburn, Jack Nicholson, Marcel Cann, Terrence Malick, Mel Gibson, and Meryl Streep. Later, he went on to co-star with Gibson; and play The Joker (previously portrayed by Nicholson) with his character was partly inspired by Kubrick's A Clockwork Orange (1971); and had almost been cast in Malick's The Tree of Life (2011).
In an interview shortly before his death, he stated that his favorite role so far in his career had been his role as The Joker in The Dark Knight (2008).
Swiss actor and filmmaker Philippe Vonlanthen worked as his Body-double and stand-in on "Roar" (1997). Filming took place in Queensland, Australia.
Played the character of Scott Irwin in the long-running Australian soap opera "Home and Away" (1988) for 10 episodes in 1997. Scott was a local bad boy who took advantage of Sally Fletcher. It is said that the producers wanted to extend his stay with the show but Heath opted not to.
His Golden Globe Award win for The Dark Knight (2008) came eleven days before the first anniversary of his death.
When actress Nell Campbell moved back to her homeland of Australia, she sold her house to Ledger in 2005.
Received his Oscar-nomination for The Dark Knight (2008) on the first anniversary of his death, January 22, 2009.
He is not only the first and only actor to be nominated for an Academy Award for his portrayal of the Joker, but the first and only actor to secure an acting nomination for a Batman film.
In both his first and final complete roles, he portrayed a clown.
The day after he died, he was supposed to meet with 'Steven Spielberg' to explore the idea of playing Tom Hayden in a movie about the Chicago 7.
Has co-starred with a Gyllenhaal sibling in his two most acclaimed roles: as Ennis Del Marr with Jake Gyllenhaal in Brokeback Mountain (2005), and as the Joker with Maggie Gyllenhaal in The Dark Knight (2008).
Was awarded the 2009 Academy Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role for his work as the Joker in The Dark Knight (2008). This made him the first person to win a posthumous acting Oscar in this category.
His daughter Matilda Ledger will be the recipient of his Oscar for The Dark Knight (2008) when she turns 18. Up until then the statuette will be in custody of his father Kim Ledger, mother Sally Bell and sister Kate Ledger, per Academy rules.
Very first performer to win an Oscar for acting in a comic movie-adaptation.
Was a great admirer of Johnny Depp's work. Like Depp, Ledger worked hard to avoid being typecast as a teen heartthrob early on, in the hopes of expanding his career options. Both actors enjoyed taking risky, physically unappealing roles that surprised audiences. Depp was one of the three actors who filled in for Ledger's last unfinished role after his death, in The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus (2009).
The second person to win a posthumous acting Oscar. The first was Peter Finch.
Won almost every award in which he was nominated for his performance as The Joker in The Dark Knight (2008) including the quintuple crown (a Golden Globe, BAFTA, SAG, Critics' Choice Award, and Oscar).
Is one of 9 actors to have won the Academy Award, BAFTA Award, Critics' Choice Award, Golden Globe Award and SAG Award for the same performance. The others in chronological order are Geoffrey Rush for Shine (1996), Jamie Foxx for Ray (2004/I), Philip Seymour Hoffman for Capote (2005), Forest Whitaker for The Last King of Scotland (2006), Javier Bardem for No Country for Old Men (2007), Daniel Day-Lewis for There Will Be Blood (2007), Christoph Waltz for Inglourious Basterds (2009) and 'Colin Firth' for The King's Speech (2010).
Son of Kim Ledger.
Appeared twice on the cover of GQ magazine: June '01 and February '06.
Among his hobbies were surfing, skateboarding, chess, photography, directing.
Pulled out of The Tree of Life (2011) before he died.
Did some of the stunts in his movies by himself; in The Four Feathers (2002) he leaps onto a horse at full gallop; in Brokeback Mountain (2005) he jumps off a high cliff into icy water.
Was planning to direct his first feature film based on the Walter Tevis 1983 novel "The Queen's Gambit".
Was offered the role of Peter Parker in Spider-Man (2002) which he turned down.
Was in talks to play the role of 'Llewelyn Moss' in No Country for Old Men (2007) but decided to take some time off instead.
Was encouraged by then girlfriend Naomi Watts to accept the role of Ennis Del Mar in Brokeback Mountain (2005).
Was very good friends with directors Terry Gilliam and Shekhar Kapur.
Had a relationship with: Lisa Zane; Julia Stiles; Christina Cauchi; Heather Graham; Naomi Watts; Michelle Williams; Gemma Ward.
Was a big fan of Nick Drake. Directed and starred in a music video for Nick Drake's "Black Eyed Dog".
Johnny Depp, Colin Farrell and Jude Law pledged to give the money they made from replacing Heath in the role of Dr Parnassus to his young daughter.
Was often confused with Joseph Gordon-Levitt, with whom he appeared in 10 Things I Hate About You (1999).
In an interview, he admitted that he disliked his portrayal of the titular character in Casanova (2005), saying he took the wrong approach to the role.
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