Born in Perth, Heath Ledger began his career in Australia, most notably in the TV series Sweat as Snowy Bowles, a young gay cyclist. In 1999, his role as Patrick Verona in the modern adaptation of Shakespeare’s The Taming Of The Shrew, 10 Things I Hate About You, launched his Hollywood career.
Not interested in being typecast as a young heartthrob, Ledger took on more meaty roles: Gabriel Martin in The Patriot alongside fellow Aussie Mel Gibson, Sonny Grotowski in the critically acclaimed Monster’s Ball, and later as Robbie one of the portrayals of Bob Dylan in Todd Haynes' biopic I'm Not There.
What Heath continually brought to his roles was a unique sense of pathos, his own window on the world. His performance in Brokeback Mountain made his character Enis one of the latest icons of cinema, not unlike that of James Dean in Rebel Without A Cause. It is, however, his inspired role as The Joker in The Dark Knight which Heath Ledger was most proud of. Sadly, his career was cut short on 22nd January 2008, he was 29. --Jennifer Kilchenmann
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