REEL LIFE

Talented, dedicated and diverse, the finalists of the 10th-anniversary Heath Ledger Scholarship discuss dreams, representation and change with Sophie Tedmanson.

The finalists of the Heath Ledger Scholarship discuss dreams, representation and change.

When Heath Ledger passed away in 2008, he not only left behind a remarkable array of extraordinary characters on screen, but a legacy of community and support within the Australian screen industry through his eponymous scholarship.

The Heath Ledger Scholarship (HLS) – run by the Australians in Film Foundation in Los Angeles and the Ledger family – awards financial and career support to emerging filmmakers. This year the HLS celebrated 10 years with a talented group of finalists representing a remarkably diverse and creative new generation of Australian actors at a party presented by Bird in Hand winery and hosted by Vogue Australia at LA’s famed Chateau Marmont – a favourite hangout of Ledger’s.

“Heath was exceptionally generous with his friends and people who were trying to do what he had done – he was always there to give people a leg up in what they were trying to do,” says the late actor’s father, Kim Ledger. “This year’s bunch of young people are very skilled in their craft and are on a whole new level and from all spectrums across the industry. They capture the spirit of what this scholarship is all about.”

Here, meet the next generation carrying on the Ledger legacy.