Heath Andrew Ledger (4 April 1979 – 22 January 2008) was an Australian television and film actor. After performing roles in Australian television and film during the 1990s, Ledger left his homeland for the United States in 1998 to develop his film career.
Ledger died on 22 January 2008, from an accidental \"toxic combination of prescription drugs\". A few months before his death, Ledger had finished filming his penultimate performance, as the Joker in The Dark Knight, his death coming during editing of the film and casting a shadow over the subsequent promotion of the $180 million production. At the time of his death, he had completed about half of his work performing the role of Tony in Terry Gilliam\'s film The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus.