Heath Ledger has the lopsided grin and tousled hair of the boy next door (hey, his nickname’s “Heathy”), but this Australian kid’s all grown up and he’s all man. Even A Knight’s Tale director Brian Helgeland recognized it, telling Vanity Fair that “once every 50 years a guy like that comes along. For his age, Heath has an incredible manliness about him.”
Yup, last year’s ShoWest “Male Star of Tomorrow” has come into his own, and the soon-to-be 23-year-old is a sexy star today, taking 10.1 percent of your votes to become the fifth sexiest male star in Hollywood.
Heath’s so sexy, in fact, that he’s been compared to Mel Gibson, who’s had nothing but good things to say about this new, younger version of himself ever since Ledger played his son in The Patriot.
“Heath possesses an unlikely combination,” Gibson said. “He has incredible presence, yet he has no f***ing pretensions.”
Yeah. All that, and he jousts, too. In armor.
Heath’s name alone is enough to set hearts pounding–the literate ones anyway. He’s named after the darkly romantic Heathcliff in Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights.
It seems romance is just in his blood. Before he took up the sword and armor in A Knight’s Tale, Heath wore a loincloth and cavorted with Keri Russell when he played a Celtic prince in TV’s Roar, which aired on Fox in 1996 and 1997.
Ledger‘s done some cavorting in real life, too, though he seems to be unattached since his romance with go-go-girl Heather Graham ended in July 2001.
How He Did in Our Poll Last Year:
Ledger didn’t make the editors’ cut last year, but we hadn’t seen him joust then.
Sexiest Role:
No matter what the critics did or didn’t say about A Knight’s Tale and Ledger‘s part in it (remember, this was the film with the scandalous fake reviewer last year who called Ledger “this year’s hottest new star!”), that boy can ride a horse like no other–and he’s got quite a way with a sword, too. It doesn’t get any hotter than that.
Best Quote:
When Hollywood.com asked Ledger what made him decide to star in A Knight’s Tale, he said, “it was just the journey that I fell in love with.” Now that’s romantic.
Sexiest Scene:
You saw A Knight’s Tale. Pick one.
Physical Feature We Love:
That hair. It’s like a roll in the hay.
In His Future:
Ledger is currently appearing in Monster’s Ball with hottie Halle Berry and Billy Bob Thornton, who’s not a hottie, but is married to one. He’d also signed onto the late Ted Demme‘s sea-based thriller, Nautica co-starring Ewan McGregor (phew), but that project has been shelved. Look for him in 2002 in Four Feathers, with Kate Hudson and Wes Bentley. We’ve also heard a rumor about a film called Sunshine, which tells the story of Australian outlaw Ned Kelly. You may see Gibson and Ledger on screen together again if Mad Max 4 ever makes it out of development.
