Heath Ledger

From a time when all he had was 69 cents to his name and enough supplies to last him a trip across his home country to quickly becoming one of Hollywood's fastest rising stars Heath Ledger has a lot to be thankful for. One could successfully argue that a combination of innate intelligence, unmatchable talent, and extreme stubbornness has brought Heath where he is today. He has gained the respect and admiration of "Patriot" co-star and mentor Mel Gibson who states, "Heath possesses an unlikely combination: he has incredible presence, yet he has no f*cking pretensions."
Heath first got his start in the Globe Shakespeare Company in Perth, Australia. Catching the acting bug from his older sister Kate, Heath went on to star in the title role of "Peter Pan." He was smitten. "I just loved it," he says, "and kept doing it. I blinked my eyes and I was getting paid. Doors kept opening and I kept walking through them."
During his time at Guildford Grammar school, Heath maintained his interest in both drama and sports, obtaining numerous hockey awards as well as receiving honors in drama and being appointed the captain of the drama team in 1996. Heath also coordinated a team to take part in a nationwide high-school dance competition known as Rock Eisteddfod. "We were the first all-guys school to ever do it," states Heath. "I choreographed the whole thing. These kids had never danced and didn't think they could do it. By the end, when they won the competition, they were so blown away by it."
Heath's parents divorced when he was at age 10, yet he maintains that he was not devastated by the event. "The point I got to very quickly, after my parents' divorce, was to realize that they were just humans," he says. Heath still remains close with his father, saying that "our relationship went from being in each other's face to being best friends. I guess that comes from understanding him as an adult now that I'm an adult." His immediate family has extended with half sisters Olivia and Ashleigh, whom he wishes he could spend more quality time with. "I feel like I?m a stranger to them," Heath admits. "That?s why I try to get back as much as possible."
Finishing high school a year early at 16, he urged his friend Trevor DiCarlo (his best friend since he was 3 years old) to drive 2600 miles to Sydney in search of fame and fortune. "It was really about exploring life," says Heath. "I just wanted to get on that train that was flying past at 90 miles an hour. And my job was an excuse to get out and just do that."
Heath's movie debut was in a 1997 Australian teen drama "Blackrock" which led him to a breakthrough part as the first Australian television gay role on "Sweat," a show about young Olympic hopefuls. "He had the choice of two roles," recalls his father. "One was the swimmer and the other was the gay bicyclist. I was thinking to myself, Yeah, he'll choose the swimmer! I used to be a swimmer when I was younger. This'll be great! But then he told me he chose the gay role. I went, 'Oh, God . . . well, O.K.' But his response to that was 'Look, Dad, this is more of an acting role. So if I want to get some sort of recognition, that's the one I should be doing.' He wasn't fazed by any of the other stuff."
After holding out for a year, Heath beat out nearly 200 actors for his role "The Patriot," in which he stars as a zealous Revolutionary War rebel at odds with his battle-weary father, played Mel Gibson Heath revealed that after auditioning, he had to await a while, saying, "It was terrible. It was awful. For every day for three weeks they said: ?Tomorrow you're going to know, I promise you.?" He had also heard that Ryan Phillippe had been up for the role, saying, "Ryan did a really amazing screen test as well. The executives and everyone said: ?Fine, we'll leave it up to the director. If you pick this guy the movie's going to go this way and if you pick that guy the movie's going to go that way two different movies.?"
For now, Heath and his partner, actress Michelle Williams, along with their daughter Matilda will split their time between Brooklyn, Sydney, and Los Angeles.

Filmography

Candy (2006) .... Dan
Casanova (2005) .... Casanova
Brokeback Mountain (2005) .... Ennis Del Mar
The Brothers Grimm (2005) .... Jacob Grimm
Lords of Dogtown (2005) .... Skip
The Order (2003) .... Alex Bernier
Ned Kelly (2003) .... Ned Kelly
The Four Feathers (2002) .... Harry Faversham
Monster's Ball (2001) .... Sonny Grotowski
A Knight's Tale (2001) .... Sir William Thatcher/Sir Ulrich von Lichtenstein of Gelderland
The Patriot (2000) .... Gabriel Martin
Two Hands (1999) .... Jimmy
10 Things I Hate About You (1999) .... Patrick Verona
"Home and Away" (1988) TV Series .... Scott Irwin (unknown episodes, 1997)
Paws (1997) .... Oberon
"Roar" .... Conor (13 episodes, 1997) Blackrock (1997) .... Toby Ackland
"Sweat" (1996) TV Series .... Snowy Bowles (unknown episodes)
"Ship to Shore" (1993) TV Series .... Cyclist (unknown episodes)
Clowning Around (1992)