Heath Ledger

Heath Ledger was an Australian actor whose career moved from Perth television to internationally recognized film performances before his death in 2008. Born in Perth, Western Australia, on 4 April 1979, he began acting as a teenager and appeared in the Australian television series Sweat in 1996. He later played Patrick McCarthey in the youth series Roar, which aired in 1997. Ledger relocated to the United States and won attention as rebellious son Gabriel Martin in the 1999 teen comedy 10 Things I Hate About You, opposite Julia Stiles. The film adapted Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew for modern audiences successfully.

In 2000, Ledger portrayed Mel Gibson's son, Gabriel Martin, in The Patriot, a Revolutionary War drama directed by Roland Emmerich. His roles then ranged from medieval adventurer William Thatcher in A Knight's Tale (2001) to Harry Faversham in Shekhar Kapur's The Four Feathers (2002). In 2005 he played Ennis Del Mar, a Wyoming ranch hand, in Ang Lee's Brokeback Mountain. The film follows Ennis and Jake Gyllenhaal's Jack Twist through a decades-long, constrained love affair. Ledger received Academy Award, BAFTA, Golden Globe, and Screen Actors Guild nominations for the performance. It was adapted from Annie Proulx's short story of 1997.

Ledger's most famous role was the Joker in Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight, released in July 2008. He played the criminal as an agent of chaos who targets Gotham City, confronting Christian Bale's Batman. Ledger developed a distinctive voice, posture, scarred smile, and improvised gestures; the character's clapping while jailed is notably in the film. His work earned him the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor posthumously, making him the first performer to receive that honor after death in the category. He also won posthumous BAFTA, Golden Globe, and Screen Actors Guild awards for the role in 2009 that year.

Outside acting, Ledger took roles in films including Lords of Dogtown (2005), Casanova (2005), Candy (2006), and Todd Haynes's I'm Not There (2007). In the latter, he portrayed Robbie Clark, one of several characters representing aspects of Bob Dylan. He directed the music video for Ben Harper's “Morning Yearning” and began a video for Modest Mouse's “King Rat,” completed after his death. Ledger died on 22 January 2008 at his Manhattan apartment. The New York City medical examiner ruled his death an accident caused by the combined effects of prescribed medications. He was cremated in Perth. He was 28 years old.