{"id":541326,"date":"2026-03-15T05:02:17","date_gmt":"2026-03-15T05:02:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/541326\/"},"modified":"2026-03-15T05:02:17","modified_gmt":"2026-03-15T05:02:17","slug":"how-perth-born-oscar-winner-heath-ledger-almost-got-fired-from-a-chicken-treat-commercial-as-a-teenager","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/541326\/","title":{"rendered":"How Perth-born Oscar winner Heath Ledger almost got fired from a Chicken Treat commercial as a teenager"},"content":{"rendered":"

He\u2019s best known for his roles in The Dark Knight or 10 Things I Hate About You, but before Heath Ledger became a Hollywood star he was grilling chicken on camera.<\/p>\n

The Perth-raised actor was first discovered by former talent agent Viv Poulton at a Guildford Grammar school production of Hamlet, and was quickly landing TV roles as a teen.<\/p>\n

One of his first parts saw a fresh-faced Ledger appear alongside The Castle\u2019s Michael Caton on a Chicken Treat commercial that was \u201cquite well paid\u201d.<\/p>\n

However, as a talented athlete and well-rounded kid with many hobbies, the high school student made a critical error that almost cost him his acting career before it had a chance to launch.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe did a Rock Eisteddfod at Guildford the night or so before this shoot date, which was all signed, sealed and delivered. And he turned up to the office the day before with blue hair, purple hair,\u201d Ms Poulton told PerthNow.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought, you can\u2019t go to Chicken Treat with purple hair, so I had to run him down to my hairdresser. He didn\u2019t have 10 cents, of course, to get it out. It was horrific. I thought, \u2018I\u2019m gonna get sued\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ms Poulton was the former director of Artist Management Australia, previously known as Frog Management, which is based in Osborne Park.<\/p>\n

She said the company\u2019s earlier headquarters in Northbridge are what saved her, and her client\u2019s fleeting career.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe certainly would have been sent home,\u201d she continued.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo luckily, the hairdresser wasn\u2019t far, Lake Street. The office was in Lake Street. She was just around the corner, so she quickly did it for me, dyed it and bleached it to get it back to blonde.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat was a funny start, it didn\u2019t even occur to him not to do it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"HeathCamera IconHeath Ledger approx 15. Credit: Andrew Ritchie\/The West Australian<\/p>\n

Ledger soon caught the eye of American studios, appearing in films such as 10 Things I Hate About You, A Knight\u2019s Tale \u2014 and later, winning a posthumous Oscar for his role as the Joker in The Dark Knight.<\/p>\n

Ironically, his unhinged character\u2019s dyed hairdo was critical to its success.<\/p>\n

\"HEATHCamera IconHEATH LEDGER AS THE JOKER IN THE DARK KNIGHT. Credit: Ben O’Shea\/supplied<\/p>\n

No male Aussie has won an Academy award for acting since Ledger achieved the feat in 2009.<\/p>\n

However, Frankenstein star Jacob Elordi will be hoping to match his compatriot\u2019s victory in the Best Supporting Actor category for his role as The Creature when the awards take place on Monday morning local time.<\/p>\n

\"JacobCamera IconJacob Elordi in Frankenstein (2025) Credit: Unknown\/Netflix<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"He\u2019s best known for his roles in The Dark Knight or 10 Things I Hate About You, but…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":541327,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[64,63,134,45],"class_list":["post-541326","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-entertainment","tag-wa-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/541326","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=541326"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/541326\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/541327"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=541326"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=541326"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=541326"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}