Heath Ledger found dead at 28

Heath Ledger was found dead today at a New York apartment, naked in bed with sleeping pills nearby, police said. The Australian-born actor was 28.

It wasn't immediately clear if Ledger had committed suicide. He had an appointment for a massage at a residence in SoHo, NYPD spokesman Paul Browne said. A housekeeper who went to let him know the massage therapist had arrived found him dead at 3:26 p.m.

A large crowd of paparazzi and onlookers gathered outside the building on an upscale block. Ledger's body was still inside, and several police officers guarded the door.

The medical examiner's office planned an autopsy Wednesday, Ledger was a respected, award-winning actor who chose his roles carefully rather than cashing in on his heartthrob looks. He was nominated for an Oscar for his performance as a gay cowboy in ``Brokeback Mountain,'' where he met Michelle Williams, who played his wife in the film. The two had a daughter, Matilda, and lived together in Brooklyn until they split up last year.

Ledger had finished filming his role as the Joker this year in ``The Dark Knight,'' a sequel to 2005's ``Batman Begins.''

Ledger was born in 1979 in Perth, in western Australia, to a mining engineer and a French teacher, and got his first acting role playing Peter Pan at age 10 at a local theater company. He began acting in independent films as a 16-year-old in Sydney and played a cyclist hoping to land a spot on an Olympic team in a 1996 television show, ``Seat.''

After several independent films, Ledger moved to Los Angeles at age 19 and co-starred opposite Julia Stiles in ``10 Things I Hate About You,'' a teen comedy reworking of ``The Taming of the Shrew.''

The website TMZ has stated that they learned that Ledger had been sick with pneumonia when he died.