Heath Ledger April 4, 1979 – January 22, 2008 is an Australian actor and music video producer. After playing roles in several Australian television and film productions during the 1990s, Ledger moved to the United States in 1998 to further develop his film career. His work consisted of twenty films, including 10 Things I Hate About You (1999), The Patriot (2000), A Knight’s Tale (2001), Monster’s Ball (2001), Lords of Dogtown (2005), Brokeback Mountain (2005), Candy (2006), I’m Not There (2007), The Dark Knight (2008) and The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus (2009), the latter two being posthumous releases. He also produced and directed music videos and aspired to become a director.

For his portrayal of Ennis Del Mar in Brokeback Mountain, Ledger won the New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor and the Australian Film Institute for Best International Actor; he was the first actor to win the latter posthumously. He was nominated for the BAFTA Award, Screen Actors Guild Award, Golden Globe Award and Oscar for Best Actor, becoming the eighth youngest nominee in the category at the time.

Ledger died on January 22, 2008 from an accidental drug overdose. A few months before his death, Ledger had finished filming his role as the Joker in The Dark Knight. At the time of his death, The Dark Knight was in post-production, and The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus was in the middle of filming, in which he was playing his last role as Tony. His death affected the subsequent promotion of The Dark Knight.

The ledger’s performance as Joker in The Dark Knight has earned him universal fame and popularity from fans and critics alike. He has also received numerous posthumous awards for his work on The Dark Knight, including the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor, an International Best Actor Award at the 2008 Australian Film Institute Awards, the 2008 Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor of support, the 2009 Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Film and the 2009 BAFTA for Best Supporting Actor.

Ledger was an avid chess player, playing a few tournaments when he was young. As an adult, he often played with other chess enthusiasts in Washington Square Park. Ledger was a fan of the West Coast Eagles, an Australian football team that competes in the Australian Football League (AFL) and is based in his hometown of Perth. Besides being a chess player, Ledger was an avid photographer

In 2004, he began a relationship with actress Michelle Williams after a meeting on the set of Brokeback Mountain. Their daughter, Matilda Rose, was born on October 28, 2005, in New York City, where he shared a house with Williams in Boerum Hill, Brooklyn from 2005 to 2007. In September 2007, Williams’ father confirmed to the Daily Telegraph that Ledger and Williams had broken up.

Following her breakup with Williams, the tabloid press and other public media linked Ledger romantically with models Helena Christensen and Gemma Ward. In 2011, Ward said the couple started dating in November 2007 and their families spent Christmas that year together in their hometown of Perth.

Around 3:00 p.m. On January 22, 2008, Ledger was found unconscious in his bed by his housekeeper, Teresa Solomon, and masseuse, Diana Wolozin, in his loft at 421 Broome Street in Manhattan’s SoHo neighborhood.