History Creator / HeathLedger

He was a method actor who really got into the heads of his characters; in an interview with ''Empire Magazine'' on his role as the Joker he revealed: "I sat around in a hotel room in London for about a month, locked myself away, formed a little diary and experimented with voices ... it was important to try to find a somewhat iconic voice and laugh. I ended up landing more in the realm of a psychopath ... someone with very little to no conscience towards his acts." He also said that director ChristopherNolan gave him absolute freedom with his interpretation of the character. Despite his methods, Ledger was never really twisted by this role; during filming of ''Film/TheDarkKnight'', he could be seen skateboarding, and having regular conversations with cast and crew in his Joker ensemble. Needless to say, Heath was considered very friendly, and ''Film/TheDarkKnight'' co-stars such as Creator/ChristianBale had nothing but nice things to say about him.

An Australian actor, Heath Andrew Ledger (1979-2008) was a phenomenal, humble talent who was taken from us far too soon.

* Dan, ''Candy'' (2006)

He was a method actor who really got into the heads of his characters; in an interview with ''Empire Magazine'' on his role as the Joker he revealed: "I sat around in a hotel room in London for about a month, locked myself away, formed a little diary and experimented with voices ... it was important to try to find a somewhat iconic voice and laugh. I ended up landing more in the realm of a psychopath ... someone with very little to no conscience towards his acts." He also said that director ChristopherNolan gave him absolute freedom with his interpretation of the character. Despite his methods, Ledger was never really twisted by this role; during filming of ''Film/TheDarkKnight'', he could be seen skateboarding, and having regular conversations with cast and crew in his Joker ensemble. Needless to say, Heath was considered very friendly, and ''Film/TheDarkKnight'' co-stars such as ChristianBale had nothing but nice things to say about him.

* ShrinkingVioket: Was known to be a very big in real life.

* ChuckCunninghamSyndrome: Out of respect for Ledger, Creator/ChristopherNolan decided against having any glimpses or mentions of The Joker in ''Film/TheDarkKnightRises'', even though the film makes reference to almost every aspect of the two movies that came before.

* CelebrityIsOverrated: Believed this and even said he didn't plan on acting forever despite his success.

He also dabbled in directing music videos, however his only major video, an animated one for the song "King Rat" by indie rock band Modest Mouse, was not released until a year and a half after his death.

* EvenTheGuysWantHim - ''10 Things'' director Gil Junger, after Ledger finished the reading and left, declared that if he had to have sex with a man, that Ledger would be that man.

* FakeBrit - For ''AKnightsTale''.

* RealLife/MeanCharacterNiceActor - Who knew a [[Film/TheDarkKnight sinister merrymaker]] could be portrayed so devilishly by such a nice guy?

To compensate for Ledger's death, Tony would also be portrayed by JohnnyDepp, Jude Law, and Colin Farrel, playing the character one at a time as he changes appearance in his bizarre, fantastical journey; [[CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming all three donated their salaries to Ledger's daughter Matilda]].

* MethodActing: According to Aaron Eckhart, Heath was ''always'' in character during the filming of ''TheDarkKnight'', and would walk around the set for hours talking to himself like a madman.

* NedKelly ''Ned Kelly'' (2003)

* Sir William Thatcher, ''AKnightsTale'' (2001)
* Harry Faversham ''TheFourFeathers'' (2002)

* Father Alex ''The Order'' (2003)

* MeanCharacterNiceActor - Who knew a [[Film/TheDarkKnight sinister merrymaker]] could be portrayed so devilishly by such a nice guy?

An Australian actor, Heath Ledger (1979-2008) was a phenomenal, humble talent who was taken from us far too soon.

An Australian actor, HeathLedger (1979-2008) was a phenomenal, humble talent who was taken from us far too soon.

* ChuckCunninghamSyndrome: Out of respect for Ledger, ChristopherNolan decided against having any glimpses or mentions of The Joker in ''Film/TheDarkKnightRises'', even though the film makes reference to almost every aspect of the two movies that came before.

Interestingly, prior to ''Film/TheDarkKnight'', Ledger and Bale were also two of the actors who, alongside others, portrayed different public personas of BobDylan in the bio/musical-pic ''I'm Not There''.

Unfortunately, Ledger developed insomnia during and after the completion of his roles in ''I'm Not There'' and ''Film/TheDarkKnight''. He used sleeping pills to try and curb the insomnia, but when that didn't work, he combined the pills with alcohol, which sadly resulted in his death on January 22, 2008. He was only 28 at the time of his death, and completed only half of his work as the character Tony in ''TheImaginariumOfDoctorParnassus''.

Due the circumstances of his death and the films he had at various stages of development at the time, he is the first actor to be eligible for an Oscar in each three consecutive ceremonies after his death. (''I'm Not There'' in 2008, ''Film/TheDarkKnight'' in 2009, and ''TheImaginariumOfDoctorParnassus'' in 2010)

* Tony, ''TheImaginariumOfDoctorParnassus'' (2009)

* [[AuthorExistenceFailure Actor Existence Failure]]: A unique subversion with TheImaginariumOfDoctorParnassus. Ledger died suddenly while filming it. Since the film is set in a multiverse and Ledger had filmed all of his scenes in the real world before his death, JohnnyDepp, Colin Farrell and Jude Law portray him in alternate universes (they gave their paychecks to Ledger's daughter).

* Patrick Verona, ''[[TenThingsIHateAboutYou 10 Things I Hate About You]]'' (1999)

* IdenticalStranger - [[http://imgur.com/Akvau.png Joseph Gordon-Levitt]]. The creepiness of their similarity is exacerbated by the fact that they were both in TenThingsIHateAboutYou, and Joseph Gordon-Levitt was a major character in ''Film/TheDarkKnight'''s sequel, ''Film/TheDarkKnightRises''.

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* TheCharacterDiedWithHim: After Ledger's death, the producers of ''Film/TheDarkKnightSaga'' [[WordOfGod confirmed]] that SelfDemonstrating/TheJoker was given the death penalty.

To compensate for Ledger's death, Tony would also be portrayed by JohnnyDepp, Jude Law, and Colin Farrel, playing the character one at a time as he changes appearance in his bizaare, fantastical journey; [[CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming all three donated their salaries to Ledger's daughter Matilda]].

At the outset of his career, Ledger was cast in several roles as a handsome young heartthrob. But eventually he [[TookALevelInBadass broke out as a well-respected actor]], particularly for his performances as Ennis del Mar in ''BrokebackMountain'' and TheJoker in the ''Film/BatmanBegins'' [[Film/TheDarkKnightSaga sequel]] ''Film/TheDarkKnight''.

* Sir William Thatcher, ''[[AKnightsTale A Knight's Tale]]'' (2001)

* TheJoker, ''Film/TheDarkKnight'' (2008)

* AcademyAward: For his role as TheJoker in ''Film/TheDarkKnight''. He is the only actor to ever win for a performance in a comic book movie.

* TheCharacterDiedWithHim: After Ledger's death, the producers of ''Film/TheDarkKnightSaga'' [[WordOfGod confirmed]] that TheJoker was given the death penalty.
* ChuckCunninghamSyndrome: Out of respect for Ledger, ChristopherNolan decided against having any glimpses or mentions of The Joker in ''Film/TheDarkKnightRises'', even though the film makes reference to almost every aspect of the two movies that came before.

* FakeBrit - For ''[[AKnightsTale A Knight's Tale]]''.

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* SpringtimeForHitler: Supposedly, Heath overacted in ''Film/TheDarkKnight'' because he wanted to get fired because he thought he could not do the role justice. The result was an Oscar-winning performance of the Joker.

* DyeingForYourArt: Unfortunately, literally