Family and personal life

Heath was born in Perth, Western Australia the son of Sally Ledger Bell (nee Ramshaw), a french teacher, and Kim Ledger, a race car driver and mining engineer. Heath's father comes from a family known in Perth for its ownership of the Ledger Engineering Foundry. The Sir Frank Ledger Charitable Trust was named after his great-grandfather. Heath attended Mary's Mount Primary School, in GooseberryHill, and later Guilfford Grammer school, where he had his first acting experiences, starring in a school production as peter pan at age 10.

Heath had an older sister, Kate. Their names were based after the Wuthering Heights characters Heathcliff and Catherine Earnshaw, and their parents divorced when he was ten. Other siblings include two half-sisters, Ashleigh Bell (b. 1989), his mother's daughter with her second husband and his stepfather Roger Bell, and Olivia Ledger (b. 1997), his father's daughter with second wife and his stepmother Emma Brown.

Heath was an avid chess player, winning Western Australia's junior chess championship at the age of 10 As an adult, he often played with other chess enthusiasts at Washington Square Park.

Prior to 2002, Heath had dated actresses Lisa Zane and Heather Graham From August 2002 to April 2004, Heath had a relationship with actress Naomi Watts, whom he met during the filming of Ned Kelly.

Heath met and began dating actress Michelle Williams on the set of Brokeback Mountain, and their daughter, Matilda Rose, was born on October 28,2005 in New york city,  Matilda Rose's godparents are Heath's Brokeback co-star Jake Gyllenhaal, and Michelle's Dawson.s Creek castmate Busy Philipps. Problems with paparazzi in Australia prompted Heath to sell his residence in Bronte,New South Wales and move to the United States, where he shared an apartment with Michelle, in Boerun Hill,Brooklyn, from 2005 to 2007.

In September 2007, Williams' father, Larry Williams, confirmed to Sydney's Daily Telegraph that Heath and Michelle had ended their relationship.

After his break up with Williams, in late 2007 and early 2008, the tabloid press and other public media linked Heath romantically with supermodels Helena Christenson and Gemma Ward and with former child star,actress Mary- Kate Olsen 

1990s Early Career

At 16, Heath sat for early graduation exams and left school to pursue an acting career. With his best friend, Trevor DiCarlo, Ledger made the cross-country drive to Sydney. He returned to Perth for the TV series Sweat (1996), in which he played a gay cyclist.

In 1996, prior to his film debut in the 1997 Australian movie Blackrock, Heath was involved in the short-lived Fox Broadcasting Company fantasy-drama Roar. This was immediately followed by a part on Home and Away, one of Australia's most successful television shows. In 1999, Heath starred in the teen comedy 10 Things I Hate about you and also had the lead role in the acclaimed Australian movie Two Hands, directed by Gregor Jordan.