Heath Ledger
1979 – 2008 · Australia
Known for: His Joker redefined what acting could be
“I like to be surprised, and to surprise people.”
Biography
A heartthrob from Perth who refused to coast on his looks, Heath Ledger chased the hardest roles he could find, the aching cowboy of Brokeback Mountain, and then the Joker, a performance so total and so dark it seemed to consume him. He locked himself away for weeks, keeping a diary in the character's voice, to build the most terrifying villain in film history.
He died at 28, before the film was released, of an accidental overdose. When The Dark Knight opened, audiences watched a ghost give the greatest supervillain performance ever committed to screen. He won the Academy Award posthumously, his young daughter accepting on his behalf, for a role that changed acting forever.