Monday, February 16, 2009

Cinematic Crush: Heath Ledger

Crush object: Heath Ledger, actor.

- Long before Ennis Del Mar, he played a gay cyclist in the Australian television series Sweat. Also in his home country, he appeared on the TV shows Ship to Shore and Home and Away and made his film debut in Blackrock.

- Moving to America, he starred in the TV fantasy series Roar and the Hollywood teen comedy 10 Things I Hate About You. His star continued to rise with both lead roles (A Knight's Tale, The Four Feathers, Ned Kelly) and strong supporting parts (The Patriot, Monster's Ball, Lords of Dogtown).

- 2005 was his big year. In addition to the title roles in The Brothers Grimm and Casanova, he turned in what would become an iconic performance in Brokeback Mountain. The role won him Best Actor honors from the Australian Film Institute, the New York Film Critics Circle and several other critics groups, as well as nominations from the Academy Awards, the Screen Actors Guild, the Golden Globes, the Independent Spirit Awards, the BAFTA Film Awards and many more.

- He followed up Brokeback with acclaimed performances in the indie films Candy and I'm Not There, but his highest profile role to date would come with the blockbuster-in-the making The Dark Knight. His daring, mesmerizing performance of the classic Batman nemesis the Joker earned praise from all who saw it during filming, and went on to earn him universal acclaim and a slew of awards following its record-setting release last summer, including possibly (most likely) the Oscar this Sunday night.

- Tragically, as we all know, he did not live to see the phenomenal response or overwhelming success of The Dark Knight. His final screen performance, in The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, will be seen this fall.

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