Heath Andrew Ledger was an Academy Award nominated Australian movie actor. He was born in Perth, Western Australia by parents Sally Ledger Bell and Kim Ledger. At age 10, he had his first taste of acting as Peter Pan at Guildford Grammar School. He is also an avid chess player, aside from being an actor.

He was 16 years old when he tested the waters of TV acting and made the cross country drive to Sydney. He was then casted into Australia's most successful television shows: "Roar" and "Home and Away." In 1999, he starred in the the teen comedy "10 Things I Hate About You."

The first half of the decade has been very good for Heath, having been starred in the following films: The Patriot, Monster's Ball, A Knight's Tale, The Four Fathers, Ned Kelly, The Order and The Brothers Grimm.

It was his role as Ennis, a gay cowboy in the 2005 film, Brokeback Mountain, that put him into the limelight. He received rave reviews for his performance, gaining citations and awards from different award giving bodies such as The Academy Awards, Golden Globe and BAFTA and a number of critic circles. He became one of the youngest performers ever nominated for the Best Actor Award, at age 26.

Ledger met and began dating actress Michelle Williams on the set of Brokeback Mountain, and their daughter, Matilda Rose, was born on October 28, 2005 in New York City, only to be separated on 2007.

Ledger will then play the villain Joker, in The Dark Knight, the sequel to the 2005 film Batman Begins. The film was set to debut in July 18, 2008. The film is currently in its post production when the world has been shocked for his early death.

Ledger was found unconscious, 2:45 PM, on January 22, 2008, at his fourth floor loft apartment at New York City. An initial autopsy announced that he died as a result of acute intoxication which concludes that the manner of death is accident, resulting from abuse of prescription medications. Reports say that his recently completed roles in Dark Knight and I'm Not There has affected Ledger's sleeping habits.


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