2008 Woodie Awards
Remembering late actor Heath Ledger
Kyle Thacker
Issue date: 2/12/08 Section: Entertainment
02/12/08 - Heath Ledger tragically passed away late this past January from what has now been deemed an accidental overdose of various prescription drugs. With his passing, Ledger, only 28, has sadly fallen into the ill-fated category of those celebrities who have died too young.
However, Ledger's passing came as a surprise to most. Ledger was an actor who strayed from the crude eye of the Hollywood spotlight. You never saw his name plastered onto the covers of supermarket tabloids. No drunken escapades or rants ever became must see YouTube.
Ledger possessed all the qualities needed to become a Hollywood leading man. Despite his easily marketable aesthetic graces, Ledger chose to shun the commercial image and took on a career of darker roles with more substance.
He was born in Perth, Australia and began to pursue an acting career at the age of 16. Ledger's first major film role in the United States was in "10 Things I Hate About You." In the film, a modern day retelling of Shakespeare's "Taming of the Shrew," he starred opposite Julia Stiles. Ledger was well received in the movie and showed promising skill as an actor.
With his charm and good looks he could easily have become typecast into more teen films- the kind that would have little more then monetary appeal for an actor. But, as Ledger told The New York Times in 2007 "I feel like I'm wasting time if I repeat myself." This is a great insight into Ledger's nature as an actor and the motivation behind his meticulous choice of film roles. These roles included an American soldier during the Revolutionary War in The Patriot, a troubled and suicidal prison guard in "Monster's Ball," a knight in "A Knight's Tale," an outlaw in "Ned Kelly" and a skate shop owner in "Lords of Dogtown."
In Ledger's most notable film role, he played a gay cowboy struggling with a secret love affair with Jake Gyllenhaal's character in the Academy Award nominated "Brokeback Mountain." This performance got him nominated for an Academy Award in the Best Actor category. It was a role that brought controversy and intense exposure to the actor.
However, Ledger's passing came as a surprise to most. Ledger was an actor who strayed from the crude eye of the Hollywood spotlight. You never saw his name plastered onto the covers of supermarket tabloids. No drunken escapades or rants ever became must see YouTube.
Ledger possessed all the qualities needed to become a Hollywood leading man. Despite his easily marketable aesthetic graces, Ledger chose to shun the commercial image and took on a career of darker roles with more substance.
He was born in Perth, Australia and began to pursue an acting career at the age of 16. Ledger's first major film role in the United States was in "10 Things I Hate About You." In the film, a modern day retelling of Shakespeare's "Taming of the Shrew," he starred opposite Julia Stiles. Ledger was well received in the movie and showed promising skill as an actor.
With his charm and good looks he could easily have become typecast into more teen films- the kind that would have little more then monetary appeal for an actor. But, as Ledger told The New York Times in 2007 "I feel like I'm wasting time if I repeat myself." This is a great insight into Ledger's nature as an actor and the motivation behind his meticulous choice of film roles. These roles included an American soldier during the Revolutionary War in The Patriot, a troubled and suicidal prison guard in "Monster's Ball," a knight in "A Knight's Tale," an outlaw in "Ned Kelly" and a skate shop owner in "Lords of Dogtown."
In Ledger's most notable film role, he played a gay cowboy struggling with a secret love affair with Jake Gyllenhaal's character in the Academy Award nominated "Brokeback Mountain." This performance got him nominated for an Academy Award in the Best Actor category. It was a role that brought controversy and intense exposure to the actor.