8 Things You Didn’t Know About Heath Ledger

➡ Heath Ledger Biography

It’s been 13 years since Heath Ledger died, and we’ve never stopped wondering what he could have accomplished. Heath Ledger was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor for his heartbreaking performance as Ennis Del Mar in Brokeback Mountain, and after his death, he won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor in The Dark Knight. There were many stories or facts about Heath that the public was unaware of. Let’s take a look at some of them down below.

8 Things You Didn’t Know About Heath Ledger

1. Chess Player

Heath Ledger’s talents extended beyond acting; chess was one of his favorite pastimes as a child and occasionally as an adult. Heath Ledger’s childhood interest was chess tournaments, and as an adult, he enjoyed playing against strangers in New York’s Washington Square Park.

2. Aspired To Play “Batman”

Heath aspired to be Batman. Heath Ledger may have played the greatest Joker of all time, but he aspired to be Batman just like everyone else. He wanted to play the Dark Knight when auditions for that role opened, but he ended up playing the Joker.

3. Obsessed With Nick Drake

Nick Drake was a British singer/songwriter who died in 1974 at the age of 26 from an antidepressant overdose. One of his final artistic statements was a music video he directed and starred in for Drake’s song “Black Eyed Dog.” With Nick Drake. ^[1]

4. True Deterministic Actor

Heath locked himself in his hotel room for 43 days during the filming of Dark Knight to get into character. To perfect the lunatic Joker, he wanted to feel isolated and alone with his thoughts. He was completely immersed in this role, preparing himself with zeal. In his solitude, he frequently experimented with different voices to suit the Joker’s character. We also heard the iconic laugh with that voice. ^[2]

5. Named After A Novel’s Character

Heath Andrew Ledger, the unusual first name inspired by a character in Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights, was Heath Ledger’s birth name. While Heath was named after the novel’s antihero, Heathcliff, his sister was named Catherine after the novel’s heroine, Catherine.

6. Choreographed a 60-Person Dance Routine

Heath Ledger’s charisma shone through as a teen in Australia, when he persuaded 60 fellow students from his all-boys school to compete in a nationwide high school dance competition. Ledger, who also served as choreographer, claimed he only suggested entering the competition to get out of school and meet girls, but his troupe ended up winning.

7. First And Final Role Was As A Clown

His first and final roles in the film industry were both as clowns. His first film role was as an uncredited clown in the 1992 film Clowning Around. ^[3]

8. His Directorial Debut Was About To Start Before Death

Just before his death, the Dark Knight star was working on a project that would combine two of his lesser-known hobbies: filmmaking and chess. The Queen’s Gambit, based on Walter Tevis’ novel about a drug-addicted chess prodigy, was to be Ledger’s directorial debut.