Full name:
Heath Andrew Ledger
Date of birth: 4 April 1979
Place of birth: Perth, Australia
Nickname: Heathy
Height: 6' 4"
Facts about Heath Ledger:
He was the contender to play Christan in MOULIN
ROUGE.
Knocked out one of director Brian Helgeland's
front teeth with a broomstick when the two were demonstrating a jousting move.
It was several months before Helgeland's mouth had healed enough to repair the
damage. He says it was the only jousting injury during filming. (A KNIGHT'S
TALE (2001))
Performed his own stunts in THE PATRIOT.
The initial scene of the two knight's jousting
in the first scene of A KNIGHT'S TALE is actually footage of his stunt double
in an accident. During filming of a later scene in the movie, the lance of the
stunt double's opponent moved off target and hit him in the head. The double
fell to the ground unconscious. The entire footage was used for the introduction.
Filmmaker's were hoping that no one would notice that the knight that hit the
ground had the same shield crest as Sir Ulric (three phoenixes) used later in
the movie.
WHAT'S THE WORST THAT COULD HAPPEN? (2001) oringally
was a project for him.
First got his start in the Globe Shakespeare
Company in Perth, Australia.
His parents divorced when he was 10.
He suffered a major change when his aunt died
of lung cancer on april 13, 1992.
He is a self taught tap dancer.
His main passion in life apart from acting is
photography.
Was nominated MTV Movie Award for Best Musical
Performance in 2000 for 10 THINGS I HATE ABOUT YOU and AFI Award for Best Performance
by an Actor in a Leading Role in 1999 for TWO HANDS.
Heath Ledger and his sister are named after
the two main romantic characters of the Emily Brontė novel, Wuthering Heights.
Dated costar Lisa Zane while they were filming
"Roar" (1997).
Concentrated on Drama and sports in school and
when asked to choose between sports or drama, he picked drama.
Auditioned for the part of Max on the tv show
"Roswell." However, the show was originally developed for FOX and
since he had already starred in "Roar" which was unsuccessful for
FOX, they did not want to hire him.
Finished high school a year early at age 16.
Attended a private all boys school called Guildford
Grammer.
Has three sisters
Was set to star in a Miramax movie called "Calico"
when the movie's production was shut down by Miramax's co-chairman, Harvey
Weinstein, because he didn't like Heath. Heath later starred in Miramax's film,
"A Knight's Tale".
Miramax will also be co-producing Heath's next
film, "The Four Feathers" with Paramount
Named one of People Magazine's 50 Most Beautiful
People in 2001.
(October 2000 - June 2001) Dated Heather Graham.
Personal quotes:
"I only do this because I'm
having fun. The day I stop having fun, I'll just walk away. I wasn't going to
have fun doing a teen movie again.... I don't want to do this for the rest of
my life....I don't want to spend the rest of my youth doing this in this industry.
There's so much I want to discover."
Heath Ledger - Vanity Fair (August 2000)
