Rose Byrne Reveals the ‘Sweet’ Way Heath Ledger Helped Her in Her Early Career: ‘We Were Close’

Rose Byrne is crediting Heath Ledger with an early leg up in her career. 

On Dax Shepard’s Armchair Expert podcast, the If I Had Legs I’d Kick You star, 46, recalled making the jump from Australia to Hollywood with the help of the late Oscar winner. 

“I really wanted to work internationally and wanted to have those ambitions, but by no means knew how,” said Byrne, who worked in Australian soap operas before starring as Ledger’s love interest in 1999 film Two Hands.

“I had never been to L.A.,” she continued. “And then I did a film with Heath Ledger when we were 18. We were just kids.”

When hosts Shepard, 50, and Monica Padman asked Byrne if she fell in love with the 10 Things I Hate About You star, she said, “He was such a charmer. He was a generous guy and such a talent and could have gone so many ways. We were close when we were 18, 19.”

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Two Hands, which premiered at the 1999 Sundance Film Festival, served as Byrne’s introduction to the American entertainment industry, she explained, recalling that Ledger knew at that early age what he wanted out of Hollywood. “He was such a great example of an artist,” she said. 

“He was always getting offered these TV shows when we were starting out, and he was really like, ‘I don’t wanna do that. I don’t wanna just be a heartthrob,’” she added. 

“I didn’t have that confidence,” said Byrne, “to be like, ‘Okay, I’ll just not do TV.’ At 20?” In the years before her breakout role on legal drama Damages with Glenn Close, she received support from the Brokeback Mountain star. “I stayed with him a bunch of times, and he was so sweet. He’d get me into audition for his things.”

Later in the interview when discussing past costars, Byrne compared Ledger — who died in 2008 at age 28 — to Ethan Hawke, who she worked with in 2018 rom-com Juliet, Naked and who she said is close with her longtime partner Bobby Cannavale. “He could have gone so many ways,” she said of Hawke, 54. “He’s a true artist. That takes such drive and such belief — similar to Heath.”

Byrne is earning buzz for her lead role in A24’s Mary Bronstein movie If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, in theaters now and costarring Conan O’Brien, Danielle Macdonald and A$AP Rocky. Season two of Platonic, Byrne’s Apple TV+ comedy with Seth Rogen, began airing in August. Among her upcoming projects is drama series The Good Daughter.