Before he won a posthumous Oscar for his portrayal of Joker in The Dark Knight, Heath Ledger was just a wide-eyed young actor trying to make it big in Hollywood.
Born in Perth, Australia, in April 1979, Ledger appeared in a handful of Australian TV shows and movies before becoming a household name for his role as Patrick Verona in 1999’s 10 Things I Hate About You. He went on to star in a number of memorable projects, such as The Patriot, Monster’s Ball, A Knight’s Tale and Brokeback Mountain, the latter of which scored him a 2006 Oscar nomination for Best Actor.
Ledger met actress Michelle Williams while filming Brokeback Mountain, and the two went on to date for several months, welcoming their daughter, Matilda, in 2005. The pair eventually called it quits in September 2007, less than one year before Ledger died of an accidental overdose in January 2008.
Despite their split, Williams — who was married to Phil Elverum from 2018 to 2019 before tying the knot with Thomas Kail in 2020 — continues to keep Ledger’s memory alive for their daughter.
“I always say to Matilda, ‘Your dad loved me before anybody thought I was talented, or pretty, or had nice clothes,’” she told Vanity Fair in July 2018.
Keep scrolling to see highlights from Ledger’s early life, career, family and more:
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