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The former Dawson's Creek star and ex-fiancée of the late Heath Ledger, Williams has managed to transition from teenybopper star to serious film actress.

Pillow-lipped Williams grew up in rural Montana as one of five children; at age 15, she graduated from high school and emancipated herself from her parents in order to pursue the acting career. In the late '90s she earned her big break acting on the teen drama Dawson's Creek, and had her first starring film role as a giggly teen opposite Kirsten Dunst in the 1999 Watergate satire Dick. But it was her portrayal of Heath Ledger's spurned wife in Ang Lee's 2005 gay-cowboy drama Brokeback Mountain that earned her truly substantial critical acclaim and an Oscar nomination. Continuing to eschew mainstream froth, post-Brokeback she's taken parts in Blue Valentine, Shutter Island, and had the difficult task of tackling Ms. Monroe in My Week With Marilyn.

Williams' personal life has had its fair share of sadness. She got together with Heath Ledger in 2004 on the set of Brokeback Mountain and had their daughter, Matilda in 2005. Although Ledger and Williams were spotted applying for a marriage license in 2006, they never actually got married, and eventually split up in August 2007, a few months shy of Ledger's untimely death.