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First Heath Ledger Scholarship Winner Announced
May 04, 2009
In recognition of Heath Ledger’s acting legacy, his family (with the help of Hugh Jackman, Nicole Kidman, Naomi Watts, and Michelle Williams) has created the Australians in Film Heath Ledger Scholarship for rising Australian actors. The scholarship gives rising Australian actors the chance to head to Hollywood for international acting opportunities.
Oliver Ackland was the first-ever recipient of the Heath Ledger Scholarship in the amount of $10,000. He was presented the award at an Oscar party for Australian nominees in February at Hollywood’s Chateau Marmont Hotel. Of the honor, Ackland said, “The fact that it is in his name means the world. I admired Heath and I admired the work that he chose, the path he created for himself. It shows a lot of integrity on his behalf.”
Ackland was one of 150 who had applied for the award. Judges for the award included Australian actress Rachel Griffiths and Australian director Gregor Jordan. “Ackland is a great actor and he’s really likeable,” Jordan told PEOPLE. “He’s got a sort of Jude Law look. Maybe he’s an Aussie Jude Law, who knows?”
Applications for the Heath Ledger Scholarship 2010 will become available in the Fall of 2009.
Amanda1980
about 1 year ago
We understand that the United States is a country of immigrants, so we have to give opportunity people abroad, from every country to glorify our art and people. I will write some small custom essay in order to announce this question to everybody!
CourtneyN70
over 2 years ago
@TitusC16 ...because Heath wasn't African...seems simple enough to me
JadeL93
over 2 years ago
I wonder if there is another film actors scholarship other then at Australia
cbomb2020
over 2 years ago
very good, i like it alot
JONNYCAGE
over 2 years ago
WELL BATMAN HAD MONEY AND TIME AND SCHOLARSHIP TAKE TIME AND AND MONEY TO PRODUCE ONE HAD GREEN ONE TAKES GREEN
SequoiaC5
over 2 years ago
Heath was ban amazing artist that we all lost way to soon.
SkyM14
over 2 years ago
This is a great scholarship and i think that heaths family made a great descion when deciding to do this and congrats to Oliver Ackland! RIP HEATH LEDGER
milesh9191
over 2 years ago
@aleliena If at all, you're causing more problems than solving them with the sudden outburst of anger (over the Internet even. Come on...) at someone you'll most likely never meet in real life. No one asked you to give a sudden outburst at someone else's comment.Chris has some good points; I'm sure a person of African origin who has citizenship for and lives in Australia could apply for this scholarship as well. It would be unfair if that wasn't the case.
Back on topic, this does give Australians a great opportunity to make a name for themselves out in the world. Besides, there aren't many Australian prodigies or legends that people hear about (save for the Crocodile Hunter, Steve Irwin).
pinoy_1991
over 2 years ago
wow. Fascinating!
MugdhaS2
over 2 years ago
@aleliena Pot. Kettle. Black. :)
aleliena
over 2 years ago
@ChristianeH
You are a very annoying person. No one asked you for your opinion on other people's comments! Nobody likes a suck up! Besides it is not like anyone is gonna give you a scholorship simply based on the fact that you suck up to FastWeb. So, why don't you just shut up.
Account Removed
over 2 years ago
This is awesome, I want to see where it goes !
PaulineH2
over 2 years ago
i would have to say that this is a very great opportunity for heath ledger's on the acting of his legacy. i hope whoever gets next year uses it for the right reasons. i hope oliver uses it for the right reasons also.
ChristianeH
over 2 years ago
@KshitijN
There may be more fans of Heath around the world than strictly within Australia, but Heath was FROM Australia and his family chose to offer scholarships to people who are similar to Heath in that respect, regardless of how much they admire him.
@TitusC16
I suppose Africans can apply for this scholarship if they are African in origin but possess Australian citizenship and live in Australia. The reason most Africans aren't allowed to win this scholarship is because his family chose to only offer scholarships to people who, like Heath, are Australian actors. This limits the applicants they would have to consider and makes choosing winners much less tedious.
There are scholarships for things as varied as simply being left-handed, but a common characteristic of scholarships is that eligibility is restricted. I'm not going to complain that Scholarship X isn't available to graduate students, because there are other scholarships that are. Thanks, Fastweb, for making it easy to find scholarships each of us is eligible for.
PadeeH3
over 2 years ago
I like a picture of this Aussie Jude Law guy named Ackland...sounds very....intriguing. haha..seriously, this is quite interesting.