Ledger was known to some as a ladies' man, but in the end his heart belonged to Matilda Rose (above, with Dad in '07), his daughter with Michelle Williams. "He was absolutely in love with his daughter," says a friend. "He was playful and funny with her. She looks exactly likehim." Photo by: Flynet |
Named after Heathcliff in
Wuthering Heights ("Mum's a hopeless romantic," he told PEOPLE), Ledger was raised in Perth by his father, Kim, who designed race cars, and his mother, Sally, a French teacher. He followed his older sister into acting and snagged a part on an Aussie TV series,
Sweat, when he was 15. After that, Ledger turned down roles in teen movies and held out for
The Patriot, the Mel Gibson Revolutionary War blockbuster that marked him as one of Hollywood's young guns. Ledger's career soared even higher with
Brokeback Mountain, Ang Lee's controversial movie about the doomed love between two gay cowboys. Warned against taking the role, Ledger earned an Oscar nomination for Best Actor for his shattering portrayal of a tortured, lonely soul.
It was also on the set of
Brokeback that he fell in love with his movie wife,
Dawson's Creek alumna Michelle Williams. For all his successes on screen, it was the birth of their daughter that landed Ledger his favorite role: "I'm Mr. Mom!" he happily told
Rolling Stone in 2005. "I get [Michelle] granola and cook her an egg, I clean the dishes, and then I'm cooking lunch . . . and I love it!"
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