Heath Ledger

Nationality: Australian Born: 04 April 1979 Died: 23 January 2008 Height: 6' 1" Star sign: Aries Famous for: Acting Quirky Quote: “I only do this because I'm having fun. The day I stop having fun, I'll just walk away.”

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Heathcliff Andrew Ledger was born in Perth, Western Australia, on the 4 April 1979. Passing away at the tender age of 28, Ledger was found dead at his Manhattan apartment on 22 January, 2008, having overdosed on a lethal combination of six different types of prescription drugs, including painkillers Oxycontin and Ibuprofen, anti-anxiety drugs Valium and Xanax, and sleeping pills Restoril and Unisom.

Leaving his hometown when he was 16, Ledger moved to Sydney to break into acting, famously with only 69 cents in his pocket. His first big opportunity arrived with the lead in hit Australian drama Two Hands, which won Best Film at the Australian Film Institute in 2000. Lead roles in 10 Things I Hate About You (an update of The Taming of the Shrew) and TV series Roar proved to be Ledger’s making in Hollywood, capturing him a high-profile role in Mel Gibson’s feature film The Patriot. This appearance paved the way for a series of prominent roles after the turn of the century. An impressive performance in Oscar-winning film Monster’s Ball drew further interest, with Ledger also gaining the lead part in quirky medieval hit A Knight’s Tale.

Following this, Ledger built up a reputation for dependable performances with a series of movies, including Ned Kelly (in the title role), Lords of Dogtown, The Brothers Grimm and Casanova. However, it was with his Oscar-nominated role in 2005’s Brokeback Mountain that Ledger established himself as one of Hollywood’s most gifted talents. Maintaining an interest in challenging (rather than simply major) roles, Ledger continued to select independent, Arthouse pictures, such as I'm Not There (as one of a host of stars playing Bob Dylan) and Candy (an adaptation of Luke Davies’ heroin-focused novel).

Still, this textured acting method brought Ledger interest from big-budget movie directors wishing to add depth and quality to productions, and in 2006 he gained the coveted role of The Joker in moody Batman revival sequel The Dark Knight. Ledger claimed to have suffered trouble sleeping while filming the Batman Begins sequel, with his portrayal of The Joker causing particular stress. Ledger referred to the character as a, "psychopathic, mass-murdering, schizophrenic clown with zero empathy." Ledger is reported to have said about the period, "I probably slept an average of two hours a night. I couldn't stop thinking. My body was exhausted, and my mind was still going."

Of Irish and Scottish ancestry, Ledger claimed to have entered into acting by chance after only being given two choices for one compulsory subject at high school, in cooking and drama, with Ledger choosing the latter to avoid the former. Ledger was the son of a French teacher (mother Sally Ledger Bell) and a race car driver (father Kim Ledger), and Ledger and his sister, Kate, were named after the two lead characters in Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights (Heathcliff and Catherine). Ledger is survived by a daughter, Matilda (born 2005), from his relationship with actress Michelle Williams.

Ledger famously lived in the moment, saying, "I'm not good at future planning. I don't plan at all. I don't know what I'm doing tomorrow. I don't have a day planner and I don't have a diary. I completely live in the now, not in the past, not in the future.”