The news of Heath Ledger’s death has taken Hollywood by storm. The 28-year old actor was found dead in his apartment in Manhattan around 3:26 p.m. on Tuesday by his maid, probably caused by drugs.

He was an Academy Award-nominated actor for his controversial role as cowboy Ennis Del Mar in 2005 “Brokeback Mountain.”

Family members, actors, colleagues and persons from the movie industry declared that they are in shock.

His father said from Perth, Australia, that his death was “tragic, untimely and accidental."

“He was (a) down-to-earth, generous, kind-hearted, life-loving, unselfish individual, extremely inspirational to many," Kim Ledger said. "Heath has touched so many people on so many different levels during his short life," the Press Association reports.

Prime Minister of Australia, Kevin Rudd, declared that he is “deeply saddened” by his death “in the prime of his life” and wanted to point out that his work as well as his life was both “diverse and challenging.” He added that Ledger delivered “some of the greatest performances by an Australian actor.”

Many actors and directors that live in the Soho area of Manhattan expressed their feelings towards a promising actor. They’ve described him as “sweet” and “loving father.”

Mel Gibson, with whom Ledger has played along in “The Patriot”, said that his death is a “tragic loss”.

He added: "I had such great hope for him. He was just taking off and to lose his life at such a young age is a tragic loss."

Neil Armfield, an Australian director, declared that he was “incredibly saddened” by his death and said that Ledger “handled his career incredibly well.”

Heath Ledger was born as Heathcliff Andrew Ledger on April 4, 1979 in Perth, Australia to a mining engineer and a French teacher. He and his sister, Katherine, were named after the main characters’ in Emily Bronte’s “Wuthering Heights.”

He started his acting career at sixteen with a role in the TV series “Sweat” (1996) in which he played a gay cyclist. He did many appearances in Australian series like “Ship to Shore,” “Bush Patrol” and “Corrigan.”

Ledger began to be loved by the series audience.

In 1997 he made his American television debut in the fantasy-drama “Roar” from Fox.

He got a lead role in the acclaimed Australian movie “Two hands” in 1998 which was followed in 1999 by the modern version of Shakespeare’s “Taming of the Shrew”, “10 Things I hate about you” in which he co-starred along with Julia Stiles.

Heath rejected roles in teen movies and landed a role in “The Patriot”, a revolutionary theme movie, where he played the role of the oldest son of Mel Gibson. From here roles came pouring in.

In 2001 he played in the medieval rock comedy “A Knight’s Tale”, followed by “Monster’s Ball,” “The Four Feathers,” “Ned Kelly,” “The Order,” and “Brothers Grimm” in which he co starred along with Matt Damon.

For “Brokeback Mountain” he received the award for “Best Actor of 2005” from the New York Film Critics Circle and the San Francisco Film Critics Circle and a nomination for the Golden Globes and Academy Award for Best Actor in a drama.

In 2007 he was one of the six actors who portrayed Bob Dylan in the movie “I’m Not There.”

He has just finished working in the sequel of “Batman Begins”, “The Dark Night” in which he portrayed the Joker.

The movie is set to debut on July 18, 2008.