Heath Ledger (1979-2008) portrayed the Joker in The Dark Knight, earning himself a posthumous Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.
Acclaim
While Ledger had been previously praised for his performance in Brokeback Mountain, he received even higher praise with his posthumous performance as the Joker. Jeff Labrecque writes that Ledger's "seething anarchist Joker makes Jack Nicholson's once-iconic dandy now seem as clownish as Cesar Romero's." He received multiple critical awards and a Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actor. He also won under the same category at the 81st Academy Awards, making him one of few to be nominated and/or win for a role posthumously and the first actor in a comic book movie to win an Academy Award.
