Rising star puts career change down to Heath Ledger

He studied at one of Brisbane’s top schools where he was captain, but he threw in a law degree to take up acting full-time. Now the budding producer and star explains why.

William Pyke. Picture, John Gass

INSPIRED by the late Heath Ledger, Brisbane’s William Pyke is a rising star of the theatre scene.

Tossing in a law degree at QUT to fulfil his dream, Pyke, 25, has recently returned from London with a Bachelor of Arts (Acting), with first class honours, from the prestigious Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, whose alumni include Dame Judi Dench, Sir Laurence Olivier and Dame Kristin Scott Thomas.

William Pyke, at Brisbane’s Princess Theatre, is a rising star of the Queensland acting scene. Photo: John Gass

Pyke, who also studied drama at St Joseph’s College Gregory Terrace where he was 2011 school captain and a champion rower, says watching Ledger’s “remarkable performances” in Brokeback Mountain and The Dark Knight sparked his passion for acting.

“Growing up, Mum always read to us and I loved stories and movies, but seeing Heath Ledger made me think a performing arts career was achievable for a young, Aussie guy.”

Heath Ledger as the Joker in The Dark Knight. Photo: Warner Bros Entertainment.

Pyke is the youngest of three sons to Chris Pyke, director of surgery at the Mater Hospital, and Jan Pyke, a retired physiotherapist and volunteer guide at GoMA.

Later this month, he was due to produce and star in American playwright Sam Shepard’s Fool for Love, at Brisbane’s historic Princess Theatre, but the production has been postponed due to COVID-19 and social distancing restrictions which make rehearsing “virtually impossible”.

Pyke, who is well connected in the local theatre scene (he was also president of Underground Productions at the University of Queensland) vows the show will go on, with a future date to be advised.

The year is shaping up to be a big one for Pyke, who in July will marry long-term girlfriend Didi Leslie, a medical student he met at an audition for NIDA (National Institute of Dramatic Art) in 2014.

“Neither of us got in but the feedback that day helped me grow as an actor,” he says.

“They told me to branch out and challenge myself in roles I hadn’t done before.”

Pyke also received coaching from Brisbane-based Gareth Harris, who has worked alongside Jack Thompson, Helen Mirren and the late Alan Rickman.

“This prepared me for the London Central auditions in 2016 - thousands and thousands apply so I felt like I’d won the golden ticket.”