Heath Andrew Ledger (4 April 1979 – 22 January 2008) was an Australian actor born in Perth, Western Australia. The son of a French teacher and a racing car driver/mining engineer, Heath had his first acting gig in his school play "Peter Pan" at aged 10. He was an avid Chess player and loved Photography. He aspired to be a film director. From 1995-2008 he had been in 20 movies.

In 2004, whilst filming "Brokeback Mountain" he met and started dating actress Michelle Williams and in 2005 they had a daughter Matilda Rose. Heath moved permanently to the United States and set up house with Michelle but by the September of 2007 they had ended their relationship.

In the last 2 years of his life Heath was reported as having health problems and struggled with substance abuse. He was discovered unconscious in his Manhattan apartment at around 3pm on 22nd January, 2008 and within 15 minutes had stopped breathing. Although CPR was administered by Paramedics, Heath was unable to be revived. The autopsy result was that he had died by accident of the abuse of prescribed medications.

More Info: en.wikipedia.org