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20 Jan 2026 6:00
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  •   Home > News > Entertainment

    Jacob Elordi was inspired to act by Heath Ledger

    The 28-year-old actor has become one of the most sought-after stars in Hollywood in recent years, and Jacob has now revealed who inspired him to pursue a career in the movie business.


    Jacob told Variety: "I was quite loud as a kid, which is every actors’ thing. They didn’t know what to do with me. There was a teacher at school, Mrs. McMahon, who decided to cast me as the cat in The Cat in the Hat musical."
    Jacob also recalled feeling inspired by Heath Ledger, who died in January 2008, aged 28.
    He said: "As soon as I was singing and dancing with the big hat on, I knew that that was what I wanted to do.
    "I also saw Heath Ledger in The Dark Knight when I was about 12. I realised he was from Australia and then the cog started turning that this could be a viable thing for me to do."
    Meanwhile, Jacob recently confessed that he experienced "moments of great anguish" amid shooting Frankenstein.
    The actor was required to lose a significant amount of weight in a relatively short period of time in order to star in the Guillermo del Toro-directed movie, and Jacob admits that his efforts took a real toll on him.
    Speaking to the Los Angeles Times newspaper, Jacob shared: "My brain was kind of all over the place.
    "I had these moments of great anguish at around 3 a.m. in the morning. I’d wake and my body was in such pain. And I just realised that it was a blessing with Frankenstein coming up, because I could articulate these feelings, this suffering."
    Jacob actually feels that he was destined to play the part of Frankenstein's monster.
    He explained: "It came from some other place.
    "It felt like a growth, like a cancer in my stomach that told me that I had to play this thing. I’ve heard stories about this from actors, and when you hear them, you kind of go, ‘Sure, you were meant to play this thing.’ But I really feel like I was."

    © 2026 Bang Showbiz, NZCity

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