Thursday, Heath Ledger earned a posthumous Academy Award nomination for best supporting actor for his portrayal of the Joker in Christopher Nolan’s Batman movie “The Dark Knight,” which came exactly one year after his death, caused by an accidental prescription drug overdose.

The Oscar nod makes Ledger the second actor likely to be posthumously awarded an Academy Award after Peter Finch won the honor for his 1976's „Network” approximately two months after he had suffered a fatal heart attack at age 60.

On January 22, 2008, Ledger died at age 28, five months before „The Dark Knight” was released and his performance came into much critical acclaim, which rendered him a very possible choice for an Oscar nod.

Back in 2005, Heath Ledger earned an Academy Award nomination for best leading actor for his portrayal of Ennis Del Mar in the movie „Brokeback Mountain,” which made him the ninth youngest nominee for a Best Actor Oscar.

For his performance as Del Mar, who has a love affair with rodeo rider Jack Twist, played by actor Jake Gyllenhaal in “Brokeback,” Ledger also received a Golden Globe best actor in drama nomination one year later, in 2006.

Within recent weeks, Ledger has also won Golden Globe and Critics Choice awards and has been nominated for upcoming awards by the Screen Actors Guild and the British Academy of Film and Television Arts.

For the Academy Awards that are scheduled to take place in February 22, Ledger is running against Josh Brolin for "Milk," Robert Downey Jr. for "Tropic Thunder," Philip Seymour Hoffman for "Doubt" and Michael Shannon for "Revolutionary Road."