Heath Ledger was captain of the drama team in high school - but Ledger also won several awards for hockey and he even coordinated a group of guys to compete in a dance competition - and won. This Aussie hottie decided to take up acting as his main profession. After graduating high school a year early (at age 16) Heath Ledger and his best bud, Tony DiCarlo, drove 2600 miles from Perth, Australia to Sydney. Ledger began his acting career in his hometown of Perth, enrolling in a local theater company at age ten. He soon began to appear on several Australian television series. He continued his stage work as a member of both the Globe Shakespeare Company and the Midnight Youth Acting Company. He subsequently completed co-starring roles in several independent films, including "Black Rock," "Paws" and "Two Hands," which screened at the Sundance Film Festival.

Heath Ledger got his first break with the Australian teen flick Blackrock in 1997. The role gained him a lot of positive attention and Ledger soon snagged the part of an olympic hopeful on the Australian TV show Sweat. For the show, Heath Ledger had the option of playing either the straight swimmer or the gay bicyclist and he chose the gay role because it would require more "acting" and probably give him more recognition. It was a smart move that led to Heath Ledger's fist US gig, as a Celtic Prince in the Fox drama Roar. Still, Heath Ledger was a relative unknown until he finally landed the male lead inTen Things I Hate About You costarring Julia Stiles. More than a year later Heath Ledger landed the role of Gabriel, Mel Gibson's oldest son in The Patriot. Heath Ledger went on to star in movies like A Knight's Tale and Monster's Ball.