The Oscars are a really strange concept to me, that films and acting can be competing against each other. We're not running the same race. It's like we're all doing different sports in fact.
Heath LedgerI'm shy. People get confused. They think as an actor you can get up and be confident on the screen. Why aren't you like this in normal life? Why can't you act in your social life? 'Because I can't!'
Heath LedgerI'm just not one of those naturally funny, relaxed actors who enjoy the spotlight and are so good at it.
Heath LedgerWant know how I got these scars? My father was a drinker and a fiend. And one night he goes off crazier than usual. Mommy gets the kitchen knife to defend herself. He doesn't like that. Not one bit. So, me watching, he takes the knife to her, laughing while he does it. He turns to me, and he says, 'why so serious?' He comes at me with the knife. 'Why so serious?!'. He sticks the blade in my mouth. 'Let's put a smile on that face!' And why so serious?
Heath LedgerMy mom and my dad never pushed me into performing. They never prohibited me from trying anything, or being anything. They never restricted me in any way. For which I'll be forever grateful.
Heath LedgerI only do this because I'm having fun. The day I stop having fun, I'll just walk away. I wasn't going to have fun doing a teen movie again. I don't want to do this for the rest of my life. I don't. I don't even want to spend the rest of my youth doing this in this industry. There's so much more I want to discover.
Heath LedgerThe first memory I have, anyway, I guess - I think it was my second birthday and the cake came out with the candles and I was very excited and I was, like, "Oh! A cake!" and then my cousin blew out the candles. I was so disappointed. It just broke my heart. And so that's stamped in my brain.
Heath LedgerIntroduce a little anarchy, upset the established order, and everything becomes chaos. Iām an agent of chaos, and you know the thing about chaos? It's fair.
Heath LedgerWhen anything is blocking my head or there's worry in my life, I just go sit on Mars or something and look back here at Earth. All you can see is this tiny speck. You don't see the fear. You don't see the pain. You don't see thought. It's just one solid speck. Then nothing really matters. It just doesn't.
Heath LedgerIf you make decisions based upon people's reactions or judgments then you make really boring choices.
Heath LedgerIn the birthing process, you come out just realizing how stupid and weak men are! I mean, I might as well not have been in there, we're useless!
Heath LedgerI have never had great expectations of my performance or of a film. I try not to think about the outcome. If you look that far ahead, it sort of taints your choices as an actor. I try as hard as I can to believe that no one is ever going to see it and that it's not even a movie. Then you can allow yourself to bare more. Then, once a project is done, I tend to forget about it until it comes out.
Heath LedgerI'm very comfortable with horses. I love horses and I have grown up around farm-hands. There's something very universal about anyone who's on horseback night and day. When you get off that horse, you are still walking as if there's still a horse between your legs.
Heath LedgerGrowing up in Australia, you never feel like you're going to live beyond that place. You wake up and you go to the beach, and you do your homework. You're just a kid.
Heath LedgerI do think that drugs and alcohol have been glorified and exoticized in such a way that it gets into the art world.
Heath LedgerI've never had high expectations of my work and I certainly am not going to let that plague my thoughts. I'm just going to continue to choose what feels right for me at the time and go with it.
Heath Ledger