Heath Ledger was born on April 4th, 1979 in Western Australia. He attended normal school in Gooseberry Hill, then he attended Guilford Grammar School, where he had his first acting experience as Peter Pan in a school play. His parents soon divorced when he was 11 years old.
Heath was an avid chess player. As an adult, he played with other chess enthusiasts at the Washington Square Park. If he had survived long enough, he would have been able to make a film of the novel The Queen's Gambit, which would have been his first directed film.
After sitting for early graduation exams, he left school to begin his acting career. His role was a small role in the two-part series Clowning Around (1992). He also had parts in Ship to Shore (1993). The first movie he was in was called Blackrock (1997). He continued to have small parts here and there in the 1990's.
In the movie The Patriot (2000), Heath played an eldest son in the Revolutionary War. Again he continued to play more and more important roles as time passed. Then, in 2005 he won Best Actor from both the New York Film Critic Circle and the San Fransisco Film Critics Circle for his performance in Brokeback Mountain. He won lots of other awards for this role also, but there's so many I can't list them all.
But what may be his most amazing performance of his entire career is his role as The Joker in The Dark Knight, the sequel to the 2005 movie Batman Begins.
Unfortunately on January 22nd 2008, Heath Ledger was found dead in his bed. He had died of drug overdose, which were used to reduce pain and lower anxiety. Unfortunately he had taken too many, which had caused his death.
Heath Ledger has been one of the best actors for the Batman movies. He will be an example to all actors for a long time.
Signed,
Cheesy McPheasy
