At 18, Rose Byrne didn't know how to 'make it in Hollywood.' Then she met Heath Ledger.

When Rose Byrne was just starting out, she didn't know how to make the leap from Australian soaps to Hollywood. Luckily, she had Heath Ledger in her corner.

Appearing on Dax Shepard's Armchair Expert podcast, Byrne reflected on how the late actor quietly helped open doors for her when they were both teenagers.

"I really wanted to work internationally and wanted to have those ambitions, but by no means knew how," Byrne recalled.

"I had never been to L.A.," she continued. "And then I did a film with Heath Ledger when we were 18. We were just kids."

The 1999 film Two Hands, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, marked Byrne's first brush with the American film scene — and Ledger's early rise to global fame.

The pair were close when they were costars in 1999Image: Getty

Hosts Shepard, 50, and Monica Padman asked Byrne if she fell in love with the late Aussie star while working with him.

"He was such a charmer. He was a generous guy and such a talent and could have gone so many ways," Byrne replied honestly. "We were close when we were 18, 19."

Byrne remembered Ledger as a friend who took his craft seriously, even before Hollywood came calling.

"He was always getting offered these TV shows when we were starting out, and he was really like, 'I don't wanna do that. I don't wanna just be a heartthrob,'" she said.

"I didn't have that confidence," she added, "to be like, 'Okay, I'll just not do TV.' At 20?"

Rose Byrne is now getting Oscar buzz for her new film. Image: Getty.

Before her own breakout role in Damages, Byrne often got support from Ledger, staying with him when visiting Los Angeles.

"I stayed with him a bunch of times, and he was so sweet. He'd get me into audition for his things."

Reflecting on his legacy, Byrne compared Ledger to another collaborator, Ethan Hawke.

"He's a true artist. That takes such drive and such belief — similar to Heath."

Now 46, Byrne is getting early Oscar buzz for her role in A24's If I Had Legs I'd Kick You.

She has well and truly carved her own path in the industry — far from home.

Feature image: Getty.