After performing roles in Australian television and film during the 1990s, Ledger left for the United States in 1998 to develop his film career. For his portrayal of Ennis Del Mar in Brokeback Mountain, Ledger won the 2005 New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor and the 2006 Best International Actor award from the Australian Film Institute, and was nominated for the 2005 Academy Award for Best Actor and the 2006 BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role. He had English and Scottish ancestry. His parents separated when he was 10 and divorced when he was 11. From 2000 to 2005, he starred in supporting roles as Gabriel Martin, the eldest son of Benjamin Martin (Mel Gibson), in The Patriot (2000), and as Sonny Grotowski, the son of Hank Grotowski (Billy Bob Thornton), in Monster’s Ball (2000); and in leading or title roles in A Knight’s Tale (2001), The Four Feathers (2002), The Order (2003), Ned Kelly (2003), Casanova (2005), The Brothers Grimm (2005), and Lords of Dogtown (2005). Ledger received “Best Actor of 2005″ awards from both the New York Film Critics Circle and the San Francisco Film Critics Circle for his performance in Brokeback Mountain, in which he plays Wyoming ranch hand Ennis Del Mar, who has a love affair with aspiring rodeo rider Jack Twist, played by Jake Gyllenhaal. Mr. Ledger magically and mysteriously disappears beneath the skin of his lean, sinewy character.
