FACTBOX: Some facts about Heath Ledger

(Reuters) - Heath Ledger was found dead in his Manhattan apartment on Tuesday, possibly of a drug overdose, New York City police said.

Here are some facts about Ledger.

* Ledger, 28, was nominated for an Academy Award as best lead actor for his role as a gay cowboy in 2005's "Brokeback Mountain," but the Oscar went to Philip Seymour Hoffman for his role as Truman Capote. Ledger won a New York Film Critics Circle award for the role.

* Ledger said "Brokeback" was the first "proper" love story he had played. "I find there's not a lot of mystery left in stories between guys and girls; it's all been done or seen before," he said. Ledger also said the role gave him the opportunity to mature.

* In 2007 he broke up with his longtime companion, actress Michelle Williams, who played his wife in "Brokeback" and was the real-life mother of the actor's 2-year-old daughter, Matilda.

* He was due to appear this year as The Joker in the next Batman film, "The Dark Knight."

* Ledger was already well-known in his native Australia when he was introduced to U.S. audiences as the young star of the television series "Roar" in 1997 and quickly became one of Hollywood's more prominent leading men.

(Writing by Paul Grant, Washington Editorial Reference Unit)