Heath Ledger acted in an independent film.
The 14th Empire Awards ceremony ( officially known as the Jameson Empire Awards ) , presented by the British film magazine Empire , honored the best films of 2008 and took place on 29 March 2009 at the Grosvenor House Hotel in London , England . Heath Ledger . His work comprised nineteen films , including 10 Things I Hate About You ( 1999 ) , The Patriot ( 2000 ) , A Knight 's Tale ( 2001 ) , Monster 's Ball ( 2001 ) , Lords of Dogtown ( 2005 ) , Brokeback Mountain ( 2005 ) , The Dark Knight ( 2008 ) , and The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus ( 2009 ) , the latter two being posthumous releases . For his portrayal of Ennis Del Mar in Brokeback Mountain , Ledger won the New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor and Best International Actor from the Australian Film Institute , and was nominated for the BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role and for the Academy Award for Best Actor .