Heath Ledger Wins Golden Globe

The Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor was posthumously awarded to Heath Ledger for his portrayal of The Joker in The Dark Knight. Before his untimely death, Mr. Ledger was quoted as saying that playing The Joker with his makeup and maniacal laugh was the most fun he had ever had with a character. The Director of The Dark Knight, Christopher Nolan accept the award for Heath Ledger to a standing ovation from the Golden Globe audience.

Mr. Ledger considered The Joker Makeup to be a punked out clown. As he completed his Joker Makeup each day while filming The Dark Knight, Heath told acquaintances that the Makeup drove him deeper into the mind of The Joker Character. Although a spectacular Actor, Mr. Ledger's comments during the filming of The Dark Knight reminds audiences of the importance of Character Makeup even to the most accomplished Actors and Actresses in being able to immerse themselves in the Character that they are portraying.

Professional Performance Makeup is an important aspect of a Performers ability to immerse themselves in the feelings of their characters. Just as audiences come to believe in the characters they are seeing on Stage and Screen, the actors and actresses also are able to delve into the minds and feelings of their character. If you read the comments and interviews that Mr. Ledger made during the filming of The Dark Knight it becomes abundantly clear that the actor's ability to feel and think like the character they are portraying is enhanced by the Professional Character Makeup that they are wearing. To the average person in the viewing audience the Makeup Artist is just a name in the list of credits at the end of the film or in the Playbill, but to an Actor or Actress the Makeup Artist is a very important part of their performance.

Many unheralded people go into making the finished theatrical production that audiences see, one of the most important people to an actor or actress on set is the Makeup Artist. The Makeup Artist often spends many hours alone with an Actress or Actor as they prepare them for each day's shooting schedule, or in the case of live theater for each day's performance. For the Makeup Artist, the Makeup they use is of the utmost importance to them. As the Makeup Artist transforms the outward appearance of the Actor or Actress they are working on, the performer is transforming their thoughts and feelings into the character that they will portray. The Makeup Artist was obviously a very important person to Mr. Ledger in his final role as The Joker, as he told friends that he would begin to transform into The Joker while in the Joker Makeup.