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Heath Ledger: A Life in Pictures

19 photos

Apr 04, 2015 8:26 PM

Pin It — Heath was born April 4, 1979, in Perth, Australia. The 28-year-old actor was found dead at a SoHo apartment on Jan. 22, 2008, by a housekeeper who had gone in to tell him his masseuse had arrived.

Get all the details in our news story…

Heath Ledger — Heath was born April 4, 1979, in Perth, Australia. The 28-year-old actor was found dead at a SoHo apartment on Jan. 22, 2008, by a housekeeper who had gone in to tell him his masseuse had arrived.

Get all the details in our news story…

Pin It — Flowers, cards and other tributes were placed outside Heath's apartment building following the news of his death.

Pin It — NYPD officers removed Heath's body from a SoHo apartment building Tuesday evening. The preliminary autopsy results are inconclusive.
Get details in our news story.

Pin It — As news of Heath's death was reported, reporters and photographers set up camp outside the building where his body was found.

Pin It — One of the last photos of Ledger, taken on the set of Terry Gilliam's 2009 fantasy flick about a traveling theater group, Satan and a magic mirror.

Pin It — As the villainous Joker, Heath's character is scheduled to face off against Christian Bale's Batman this summer. No word on how this might affect the movie, which is said to be in postproduction.

Pin It — As Robbie Clark, Heath is one of six actors playing Bob Dylan doppelgängers in a biopic of the legendary singer.

Pin It — In this deeply metaphorical romance, Ledger's a poet who, along with Abbie Cornish, explores love, sex and, especially, heroin.

Pin It — Heath escorted his partner and Brokeback Mountain costar Michelle to the Oscars, where she was nominated for Best Supporting Actress and he earned a nod for Best Actor. The two met on the set of the gay-cowboy love story.

Pin It — Jake Gyllenhaal, Heath's costar in Brokeback Mountain, here with his good buddy at the Venice Film Festival, is the godfather of his daughter, Matilda. (Actress Busy Philipps is Matilda's godmother and Michelle's best friend.)

Pin It — With his role as heartbroken cowboy Ennis Del Mar, Ledger cemented his place as a household name.

Pin It — Matt Damon and Ledger celebrate the premiere of their Terry Gilliam pic, The Brothers Grimm, at an after-party in L.A.

Pin It — In this ensemble flick, Ledger plays an elder statesman of the early Venice, California, skate scene, mentoring punks like Emile Hirsch.

Pin It — Heath, here at the Toronto Film Festival, was one of People magazine's Most Beautiful People in 2001 and, in 2007, named one of the 100 Sexiest Movie Stars in the world by Empire magazine.

Pin It — In a leap forward for Ledger's acting career, he brings plenty of pain to the death-row drama, with Billy Bob Thornton and Sean Combs.

Pin It — Dancer turned actress turned DJ Shannyn Sossamon became friends with Heath on the set of this 2001 film.

Pin It — As Mel Gibson's son in the Revolutionary War epic, Ledger went from whodat to mainstream.

Pin It — Heath first registered on the pop-culture radar opposite Julia Stiles in this high school take on Shakespeare's Taming of the Shrew, which featured this iconic scene in which his character, Patrick, sings "Can't Take My Eyes off You" to hers, Kat.

Pin It — The Aussie actor relocated to the States to chase the Hollywood dream in the late '90s, first coming to the attention of American audiences as a teen heartthrob in 10 Things I Hate About You.

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