OnlineHost: AOL's Entertainment Asylum welcomes hunky Australian actor Heath Ledger, from the upcoming film "10 Things I Hate About You," to AOL Live. Many of you may remember Heath from his role in the television series "Roar."

Question: This movie is like “Taming of the Shrew” -- and is your name, Heath, like the Shakespearean character?

Heath Ledger: Well, it's actually from “Wuthering Heights,” from Heathcliff.

OnlineHost: Why did you get into acting?

Heath Ledger: I remember doing theater and workshops and I blinked my eyes and suddenly it's an occupation. It could have been my mom, but there wasn't any strong influence in the family. My older sister worked in theater and that inspired me. I have three sisters.

Question: What is the hardest part of acting?

Heath Ledger: Oh gosh, I don't know. I suppose keeping the fine line between being real and then taking it past that realism and sort of playing it up a little and then keeping it realistic. I don't know. I think that's the hardest thing about acting so far. I think it's all pretty hard. I sing "Can't Take My Eyes Off of You" in the movie and I felt like a rock star for a day. We went to a studio and we put down a track.

Question: Were any pranks pulled on the set? If so, what was the best?

Heath Ledger: I can't remember any pranks that were pulled on the set. I think there were a few. But I can't remember. I think Gil, the director, was always pulling pranks.

Question: What actors do you want to work with?

Heath Ledger: I want to work with so many actors, it's such a hard question for me to answer. It's like asking what my favorite movie is. I'd like to work with Jack Nicholson and Mel Gibson and some dead actors.

Question: I know this question isn't about "10 Things I Hate About You," but I can't resist, I loved "Roar!" After it was taken off the air, rumors were spread it might start up again. Can you set the record straight, and will Conners and Fergus bicker again?

Heath Ledger: LOL. There's no chance you'll see that again. I miss it and I'm sorry it's not playing. It was a great show and I had so much fun doing it. But, unfortunately, there weren't that many people watching it. It was like a 30-episode experiment.

Question: Did you work with Keri Russell before?

Heath Ledger: No, I have never worked with Keri before. She was sweet to work with. She deserves all the recognition she gets. She's gorgeous and can act! Julia Stiles is incredible and hot! And she's doing “Hamlet” right now and [has] a lot of things going on. She's on the ball. She's really knocking off the Shakespeare movies. And she's gorgeous.

OnlineHost: Would you like to do more Shakespeare?

Heath Ledger: I do, but I'm the type of person that, if they offered it to me today, I wouldn't take it. I'd take 10 years.

Question: You look like an outdoors guy. What are your interests?

Heath Ledger: I am an outdoors guy! This is my hole-y favorite sweater. I play tennis and snowboard and I used to surf a lot in Australia. I walk and enjoy being outside. I like to go to the desert, to Joshua Tree out here. I climb, but it gets me into trouble sometimes. I have friends who like to climb high things.

Question: Are you dating anyone?

Heath Ledger: No, I'm not. I hate that question. LOL

Question: Heath, what made you want to cut your gorgeous hair short?

Heath Ledger: I don't know. It was just too long and I just wanted it out of my eyes. And I had already finished two movies where it's long and brown and my hair is naturally brown, so I don't know, I just cut it off.

Question: What kind of music do you listen to?

Heath Ledger: I listen to everything from Miles Davis to U2, to just everything and anything that comes out. I like anything that feels good going into your ear.

OnlineHost: Are there any hot Australian bands?

Heath Ledger: There's Spider Bait who I listen to and they're featured in the movie. They're sort of a punk band, and Silverchair, of course.

Question: What were the most difficult scenes to do in "10 Things I Hate About You"?

Heath Ledger: I think probably the singing and dancing, physically, were the most demanding because I had to run up and down the staircase about 20 or 30 times. It wasn't that difficult a movie to do because I was surrounded by a lot of great actors and we had a great relationship. So I was blessed at having an ensemble that was extremely talented.

Question: What do you think you would be doing right now if you weren't acting?

Heath Ledger: I don't know. I'd probably be walking around the world with a backpack, lost, searching for something to do. No, I would be doing a number of things. I really like doing something to do with children. I'd like to teach children. I don't know. I've never really thought about it because I've never done anything but this. But there are a lot of things I want to do.

Question: What was it like working with Larisa?

Heath Ledger: It was great working with Larisa. She's a doll. She's really a sweetheart. I didn't have that many scenes with her because she had a lot of love scenes with Joseph Gordon-Levitt. But there was a lot of warmth and it comes through in the movie, and she was great to work with. It's a really good adaptation from Shakespeare because he's really good at writing sensitivity towards a character, and that's one of the things that adapted truly in our movie, because you actually care about our characters. You want them to fall in love.

Question: I've heard you write poetry! Could you please recite some?

Heath Ledger: I don't know if I could. A lot of the poetry I write is more like journal stuff. I have books I write my poetry in and I also take a lot of photos and I kind of combine the two. It's like a diary kind of thing. I don't think I could recite anything for you, I'm so sorry. I used to read a lot of Hilde Brande. But my latest poet that I like, and you can debate me on this, is Terrence Malick. He is a very visual poet.

Question: What kind of surfboard did you used to use?

Heath Ledger: I had an Exile surfboard, which is a local brand.

Question: Can you name 10 things you hate and 10 things you love?

Heath Ledger: Not really. Hate is really a strong word. It's a good word to have in the title of a movie, but I don't know. I hate all the classic corny things, like war, hunger and anger. I don't know. I'm sorry. Ten things I love would be my family, my sisters, life, clean air, ground to lay on, I love the earth. I love clean earth. I love universal language -- like we're all having right now, yeah, I love the Internet, and "10 Things I Hate About You."

Question: Are you going to be doing any TV appearances to promote "10 Things"?

Heath Ledger: Yeah. I did some stuff for a few different TV things, like “Access Hollywood,” but no TV shows, if that's what you're talking about.

Question: In "Roar," why did Lisa Zane (the Queen) stay with the old sorcerer?

Heath Ledger: LOL. Because she loved him. She loved the sorcerer. She saw through the evil and saw through the mask. That's it. I think she loved him and she wanted the power of whatever it was he was going to give her.

Question: What is it like experiencing fame so young?

Heath Ledger: To tell you the truth, I don't know because I'm still experiencing it now. It's scary; it's interesting, but as long as you take control of it.... Also, I don't think about it that much. Friends and going places help. Friends are extremely important. I have a friend, Trevor, in Australia who I've grown up with, and if you have friends like that.... I like to surround myself with good people.

Question: Was it annoying to wear the same costume in every "Roar" episode?

Heath Ledger: Heck yeah! It was so annoying. I had to wear leather pants and these little leather pocket chains. And we were shooting in extreme heat. And riding horses. But the one good thing is that usually you had to watch where you sit or not getting food on your clothes, but in this I was in Celtic rough wear and it didn't matter.

Question: I have heard a rumor that you are going to play the title role in the next “Mad Max” film; is this true?

Heath Ledger: I don't know. I don't know. I'd like to. I've been hearing this as well. It's a rumor. The same thing's been going around Australia in magazines and stuff. But I don't think they've even thought about writing it yet.

Question: Did you do any research for your role, like reading "The Taming of the Shrew" or watching "Kiss Me Kate"?

Heath Ledger: Yes, I did. I watched "Kiss Me Kate" and I also watched "Taming of the Shrew" with Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton, but I didn't have much time. I had two days literally to get on a plane to Seattle and start shooting. I think that subconsciously I did a lot of research. I'd read the play a number of times and watched the movie with Richard Burton.

Question: Do you know if your movie "Two Hands" will be released in the US?

Heath Ledger: They're still working that out right now. We took it to Sundance Film Festival and lots of people saw it and loved it, and now they're just trying to work out a distribution deal. "Two Hands" is a black comedy around the gangster life in Sydney, and Brian Brown plays the lead gangster in the movie. It's a really funny, dark movie. It is extremely realistic with a lot of Australian subtleties. Americans have a hard time picking up those subtleties. The majority of what we watch in Australia is American based, so the same thing doesn't happen with us watching American movies.

Question: Do you like your fans so much you would e-mail them?

Heath Ledger: Yeah, sure, absolutely. But I'm not hooked up right now, so I can't. I don't know. Next time I get hooked up, I'll do that. I actually have done that before.

Question: What was your favorite scene in the movie?

Heath Ledger: There are a few scenes that are my favorite. I think the stuff between David Krumholtz and Joseph Gordon-Levitt. They sort of bounce off each other well. They make a good duo.

Question: What are your plans for the future?

Heath Ledger: My plans for the future are to establish a career here and then move out of here. I don't know. That's another thing I rarely stress about, is the future.

OnlineHost: Thank you for joining us.

Heath Ledger: Go see it! You'll love it! Thank you!