Date of Birth
4 April 1979, Perth, Western Australia, AustraliaDate of Death
22 January 2008, Manhattan, New York City, New York, USABirth Name
Heath Andrew LedgerNickname
HeathyHeight
6' 1" (1.85 m)Here are some facts you might wanna know about the late Heath Ledger:
He and his sister are named after the two main romantic characters of the Emily Brontë novel, "Wuthering Heights" which i have to read(in wikipedia, it looks like a 'gone in the wind' kind of plot).
He 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"(i love this show!) (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.
He had three sisters: Catherine (Kate) Ledger, married to Nathan Buckey, and half sisters Olivia Ledger and Ashleigh Bell. 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.
Dated Heather Graham. [October 2000 - June 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.
Dated Naomi Watts from August 2002 to May 2004. He and Naomi Watts broke up for the 2nd time in April 2004. Worked with Orlando Bloom in Ned Kelly (2003). Ledger worked with Scottish actor James Cosmo in The Four Feathers (2002). Both Bloom and Cosmo worked together in the movie Troy (2004). 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).
Former fiancée Michelle Williams gave birth to daughter Matilda Rose Ledger on 28 October 2005, who weighed in at 6 lb, 5 oz. Met Michelle Williams on the set of Brokeback Mountain (2005).
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.Jake Gyllenhaal is the godfather of his daughter Matilda.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).Michelle Williams' "Dawson's Creek" (1998) Busy Philipps and his Brokeback Mountain (2005) co-star Jake Gyllenhaal 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.Called off his engagement to Michelle Williams in September 2007.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 at the foot of his bed with sleeping pills on a nearby table (22 January 2008).
Directed three music videos for Australian artist N'fa and Ben Harper.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.First and final movies focused on the Everyman protagonist, set against an unforgiving public; to be accepted as a "true" knight.
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 of Scottish/Irish ancestry.Favorite food was risotto.
Here's Heath talking about the Joker:
Interviewed in ellen:
Okay, '10 things i hate about you' from 1999:
Here is a video from youtube of the Dark Knight where Heath starred as the Joker:
Personal Quotes
"I only do this because I'm having fun. The day I stop having fun, I'll just walk away. I wasn't going to have fun doing a teen movie again.... I don't want to do this for the rest of my life....I don't want to spend the rest of my youth doing this in this industry. There's so much I want to discover." - Vanity Fair (August 2000)
I prefer to date older women because they don't try to act older like younger girls but because they try to act younger.
"It's a little uncomfortable doing love scenes in armor, but, you know, when the heat's on, the heat's on." - "Access Hollywood" (1996), August 2000.
[about the paparazzi] "Most of the time you don't even know they're there. Now, that's the scary thing. It's really strange and invading, but I'm still working it all out. I try to not let it bother me. I really try and find the humour in all of it. And if I want to swim naked in my pool, I'm still going to do it. I certainly don't want to feel that I have to change everything in my life that I do to cater to them. I just won't let it happen." - National Post, May 2001
"I don't have a technique. I've never been a believer in having one set technique on how to act. There are no rules and there is no rulebook. At the end of the day, it all comes down to my instincts. That's the one thing that guides me through every decision professionally. Socially, also. That's my technique. Yeah, you read through the script 100 times. I guess I have little characteristics about myself. Sometimes, most often than not, once we start shooting I won't look at the script at all until we finished shooting. It's kind of like it's been imprinted in my head during rehearsals. You just let it go." - Reel.com, May 2001
"I'm the worst auditioner, really, really bad. I mean, you're being judged and I'm just so aware of it that it consumes me. I can't relax, I'm tied in knots, so the voice is very taut and tense. You're so aware that you're acting 'cause you're sitting across from this lady with a piece of paper who's going, ''I'm. Going. To. Shoot. You. If. You. Don't. Blah, blah, blah,'' in this emotionless voice. It's foul. I hate it." - EW.com, May 2001
People just love to bash LA. People say it's so pretentious, so arrogant, so this and that. But it's truly a wonderful place. You don't have to go to the places where that stuff goes on. You don't have to go to Beverly Hills, you don't have to go to the parties. You can live up in the Lower Canyon and live such a perfectly healthy, beautiful, fun life with all your friends. You can drive two hours one way and be at the Joshua Tree desert, two hours one way you're skiing at Big Bear. Sure, it can get full-on and that's why it's good to get out. But it's too easy just to say, "Nup, I hate it. I'm not living there anymore. - NW Magazine, March 2000
[about growing up with his mom and his sisters] I learned respect for women, and patience. You grow up with all those women around you...you learn to wait your turn. - Cosmopolitan, June 1998
I never studied acting in Australia. I never had an empty stage and black pajamas to run around and express myself.
"The challenge was to capture the stillness of him. I have kind of semi-frantic, nervous energy. Harnassing that was something I thought I'd have to work out. Shooting in the wilderness, the stillness became like this innate quality." -on his character "Ennis" in Brokeback Mountain (2005).
Brooklyn seems to me the closest thing in America to Europe. The neighbors and locals are beautiful people. It's like a village.
She's my soul mate and we couldn't love each other any more than we do already. We're like two peas in a pod. [On his girlfriend and the mother of his daughter, Michelle Williams].
"Matilda is adorable, and beautifully observant and wise. Michelle an I love her so much. Becoming a father exceeds all my expectations. It's the most remarkable experience I've ever had - it's marvelous." [On daughter Matilda and being a father]
My life right now is, I wouldn't say reduced to food, but my duties in life are that I wake up, cook breakfast, clean the dishes, prepare lunch, clean those dishes, go to the market, get fresh produce, cook dinner, clean those dishes and then sleep if I can. And I love it. I actually adore it.
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.
[On playing "The Joker" in The Dark Knight (2008)] The Joker, so far, is definitely the most fun I've had with any character. He's just out of control -- no empathy, he's a sociopath, uh, a psychotic, mass-murdering clown. And, uh, I'm just thoroughly, thoroughly enjoying it. It's just exceeded any expectations I had of what the experience would be like.
[On his choice of film projects] I feel like I'm wasting time if I repeat myself. I can't say I'm proud of my work. It's the same with everything I do: the day I say 'It's good' is the day I should start doing something else.
[On walking down the red carpet] Like diving into an Olympic pool, swimming the length underwater, then emerging gasping for breath. It's so noisy that it's quiet, you can't hear; the flashlights are so blinding that it's dark, you can't see.
I start to get bored, not with the choices I was making, because I didn't really have a choice. The choices were being made for me -- I was being thrown into projects. So I kind of put the brakes on that. In a sense, I destroyed my career to rebuild it again.
I like to do something I fear. I like to set up obstacles and defeat them. I like to be afraid of the project. I always am. When I get cast in something, I always believe I shouldn't have been cast. I fooled them again. I can't do it. I don't know how to do it. There's a huge amount of anxiety that drowns out any excitement I have toward the project.
Okay, how i wish i had this kind of salary:
| Ned Kelly (2003) | $50,000 |
| The Four Feathers (2002) | $2,000,000 |
| A Knight's Tale (2001) | $3,000,000 |
| 10 Things I Hate About You (1999) | $100,000 |
| . | Paws | Oberon | UK£1,778,391 | ||
| 2. | Blackrock | Toby | AUD$1,100,000 | ||
| 3. | 10 Things I Hate About You | Patrick Verona | $53,478,166[63] | ||
| 4. | Two Hands | Jimmy | AFI Award nominee (Best Actor in a Leading Role) | ||
| 5. | The Patriot | Gabriel Martin | $215,294,342[64] | ||
| 6. | Monster's Ball | Sonny Grotowski | $44,909,486[65] | ||
| 7. | A Knight's Tale | Sir William Thatcher/Sir Ulrich von Lichtenstein of Gelderland | $117,487,473[66] | ||
| 8. | The Four Feathers | Harry Faversham | $29,882,645[67] | ||
| 9. | The Order | Alex Bernier | $11,560,806[68] | ||
| 10. | Ned Kelly | Ned Kelly | AFI Award nominee (Best Actor in a Leading Role) | $6,585,516[69] | |
| 11. | Casanova | Giacomo Casanova | $37,691,629[70] | ||
| 12. | 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) | $178,054,751[71] | |
| 13. | The Brothers Grimm | Jacob Grimm | $105,316,267[72] | ||
| 14. | Lords of Dogtown | Skip Engblom | $13,411,957[73] | ||
| 15. | Candy | Dan | AFI Award nominee (Best Actor in a Leading Role) IF Award nominee (Best Actor) FCCA Award nominee (Best Actor) | $2,077,763[74] | |
| 16. | I'm Not There | Robbie Clark | $7,376,506 [75] | ||
| 17. | Black Eyed Dog | Short film directed by and featuring Ledger. Set to 1974 song about depression written by Nick Drake | |||
| 18. | The Dark Knight | The Joker | post-production | ||
| 19. | The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus | Tony[76] | production suspended due to death of Heath Ledger |
Awards and nominations
- Academy Awards
- 2006 - Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role, Brokeback Mountain (Nominated)
- Australian Film Institute Awards
- 1999 - Best Lead Actor, Two Hands (Nominated)
- 2003 - Best Lead Actor, Ned Kelly (Nominated)
- 2006 - Best Lead Actor, Candy (Nominated)
- BAFTA
- 2006 - Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role, Brokeback Mountain (Nominated)
- Golden Globe Awards
- 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) *shared w/ cast and crew.
- 2006 - Best Male Lead, Brokeback Mountain (Nominated)
- MTV Movie Awards
- 2006 - Best Kiss, Brokeback Mountain (Won) *shared w/ Jake Gyllenhaal
- 2002 - Best Kiss, A Knight's Tale (Nominated) *shared w/ Shannyn Sossamon
- 2002 - Best Musical Sequence A Knight's Tale (Nominated) *shared w/ Shannyn Sossamon
- 2000 - Best Musical Sequence 10 Things I Hate About You (Nominated)
- Screen Actors Guild Awards
- 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)
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