From green card to SAG card: Expatriate's path to Hollywood star
"He died thousands of miles from home, but like hundreds of other entertainers who came before him, Heath Ledger had left his native land to carve out a career in Hollywood.
In doing so, the Australian-born actor, who died last week in New York City of still-undetermined causes, joined a long list of expatriate entertainers that includes Spain's Antonio Banderas, Canada's Mike Myers and even the man who paid tribute to Ledger at Sunday's Screen Actors Guild Awards, the Englishman Daniel Day-Lewis.
With immigration as a hot-button issue in an election year, the internationalization of Hollywood—nine of the 20 acting or supporting Oscar nominations this year went to foreign-born movie stars—begs the question: Is it easier for an actor to get a U.S. work visa than, say, a dishwasher?"
JOHN ROGERS for the Associated Press.