The death of the actor we know as the "Joker" of "The Dark Knight" affected everyone deeply: Who is Heath Ledger?

His full name is Heath Andrew Ledger, he was born on April 4, 1979 in Perth, Western Australia. He was born to his mother, French teacher Sally Ramshaw, and father, race car driver and mining engineer Kim Ledger. Ledger also has English, Irish and Scottish roots. Ledger has an older sister named Kate, who is an actress and later a publicist. Ledger attended Mary's Mount Elementary School in Gooseberry Hill and later attended Guildford Grammar School. It was here that he had his first acting experiences at the age of ten, playing the role of "Peter Pan" in a school production. His parents divorced when Ledger was eleven. Inspired by his older sister to act, Ledger won at a drama competition when his love for Gene Kelly and inspiring his successful choreography led to the "first all-male victory" of Guildford Grammar's 60-man team. Due to his parents' remarriage, Ledger has two half-sisters.

At the age of 16, Ledger dropped out of school to pursue an acting career and later had a small role in "Clowning Around" (1992), the first episode of a two-part television series, with his best friend Trevor DiCarlo. Later, he appeared in the drama TV series "Sweat" (1996), where he played a cyclist. From 1993 to 1997, Ledger starred in the Perth children's television series "Ship to Shore" (1993). He also appeared in the short-lived Fox Broadcasting Company fantasy drama TV series "Roar" (1997). In the same year, he appeared in "Home and Away" (1997), one of Australia's most successful television shows. Later, he made her feature film debut in the Australian movie "Blackrock" (1997).

In 1999, he appeared in the teen comedy "10 Things I Hate About You" and the Australian detective film "Two Hands" directed and acclaimed by Gregor Jordan. In the early 2000s, he appeared as Benjamin Martin's eldest son, Gabriel Martin, in the epic historical war movie "The Patriot" (2000), directed by Roland Emmerich. The film received both positive reviews and successful box office receipts. The following year, he starred as Sonny Grotowski, Hank Grotowski's son, in the romantic drama film "Monster's Ball" (2001), directed by Marc Forster. Likewise, it did well both at the box office and critically. He also won the ShoWest Award in 2001 as the "Male Star of Tomorrow".

Later that year, he played the lead role in the adventure comedy "A Knight's Tale" (2001), written and directed by Brian Helgeland. The film, which received mixed reviews from critics, was able to make a healthy financial profit at the box office. The following year, he appeared in the war drama film "The Four Feathers" (2002), directed by Shekhar Kapur, with Wes Bentley and Kate Hudson. He then starred in the horror movie "The Order" (2003), written and directed by Brian Helgeland.

In the same year, he starred in the movie "Ned Kelly" (2003), based on a novel, as one of the leading roles with Orlando Bloom, Naomi Watts and Geoffrey Rush. The film was a moderate success at the box office, receiving mixed reviews from critics. In 2005, he played the lead role in the romantic movie "Casanova" (2005), directed by Lasse Hallström. The film was met with both mixed reviews and box office failures. That same year, he co-starred with Matt Damon in the fantasy adventure movie "The Brothers Grimm" (2005), directed by Terry Gilliam. The film, which was released to mixed reviews, achieved average box office success. Later that year, he appeared in the biographical drama film "Lords of Dogtown" directed by Catherine Hardwicke.

In the months that followed, Ledger co-starred with Jake Gyllenhaal, Anne Hathaway, and Michelle Williams in Ang Lee's western romantic drama film "Brokeback Mountain." The film received critical acclaim and was also a commercial success at the box office. He won "2005 Best Actor" Awards by both the New York Film Critics Circle and the San Francisco Film Critics Circle for his performance. He also earned a Golden Globe Award nomination for Best Actor. Additionally, he has received a Screen Actors Guild Award, a BAFTA Award, and an Academy Award. With this performance, he was nominated for Best Actor at the age of 26, the youngest of eight.

Later, Ledger played the role of young heroin addicts in love with their mentor, Geoffrey Rush, in the Australian romantic drama film "Candy" (2006), based on a novel. He was nominated for three "Best Actor" Awards for his performance. Some time after the film's release, Ledger was invited to participate in the "Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences."

He played 'Robbie [Clark], one of six actors who embodied different aspects of Bob Dylan's life, in the 2007 musical drama film "I'm Not There" directed by Todd Haynes. The film, which was praised for Ledger's performance, received positive both at the box office and critically. After Ledger's death on February 23, 2008, he shared the 2007 Independent Spirit Robert Altman Award for Ledger with the film's other cast and director.

His penultimate film role was as the Joker in Christopher Nolan's 2008 film "The Dark Knight," which was released nearly six months after Ledger's death. He won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance, which his family accepted on his behalf posthumously. This feat made him the fourth youngest winner to receive the award. Additionally, he has received many other posthumous awards, including the Golden Globe Award.

When he died on January 22, 2008, Ledger was starring alongside Johnny Depp, Jude Law, and Colin Farrell in the role of Tony in the Terry Gilliam-directed fantasy film "The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus" and was only halfway through his work. After his death, the director chose to adapt the film so that Ledger's final performance could be watched in theaters, with his fellow actors playing the transformations of his character. The film, which was successful at the box office after its release, was also critically acclaimed.

Private life

In 2004, Ledger had an affair with actress Michelle Williams. The couple had a daughter, Matilda Rose, who was born on October 28, 2005. The couple announced their separation in September 2007. In November 2007, Ledger began a relationship with supermodel Gemma Ward and they spent Christmas together that year.

Ledger had a dream of becoming a film director. In 2006, Ledger directed the music videos for "Seduction Is Evil (She's Hot)" and the title track of Australian hip hop artist N'fa's first solo album, "Cause An Effect". Later that year, he directed the launch of his new record label "The Masses Music" with singer Ben Harper and a music video for Harper's song "Morning Yearning".

An avid chess player, Ledger participated in many tournaments as a teenager. He was also a big fan of the "West Coast Eagles", an Australian football team. Ledger's hobbies included photography, and he became an "obsessed" photographer who liked to draw on them with paint, felt-tip pens or nail polish.

On January 22, 2008, Ledger was found unconscious in the attic of his Manhattan home. Despite all the interventions, Ledger could not be brought back to life and his death was announced in the afternoon. The cause of death was stated to be as a result of acute poisoning.