Magda Szubanski Reveals Heath Ledger Almost Had A Hilarious Role On Kath & Kim

Magda Szubanski has revealed a surprising new detail about her iconic red carpet encounter with Heath Ledger, confirming the late Australian actor was almost set to appear alongside her on Kath & Kim.

The unforgettable moment between Ledger and Szubanski’s beloved character Sharon Strzelecki took place at the 2006 Australian Film Institute Awards and has continued to resurface online almost two decades later.

But according to Szubanski, what happened after the cameras stopped rolling could have resulted in a fabulous Kath & Kim cameo.

Writing in her new memoir, I Can’t Tell You But I Will, Szubanski revealed Ledger contacted her after their hilarious encounter and floated the idea of joining the hit Australian comedy.

And his proposed character could not have been more perfectly Kath & Kim.

Heath Ledger wanted to play Sharon Strzelecki’s stalker

The famous encounter took place while Ledger was being interviewed on the red carpet at the 2006 awards.

Szubanski, appearing in character as Sharon, spotted Ledger and unleashed an enormous scream before the actor walked towards her, grabbed her face and planted a kiss on her.

Sharon promptly collapsed.

While the appearance had been planned, Ledger had not been told exactly what Szubanski intended to do.

“We had decided that Sharon, who was in her role as assistant stage manager that night, would ambush Heath and go for the pash,” Szubanski writes in her new memoir.

“Heath knew nothing of our plan.”

Ledger’s enthusiastic response was entirely his own, with Szubanski recalling that after recovering from Sharon’s unexpected scream, he joined in with the gag and kissed her.

However, the real surprise came the following day.

According to Szubanski, Ledger rang her and told her the improvised encounter had been “the most fun he’d had in ages”.

“Heath rang me the following morning to tell me our red-carpet improv was the most fun he’d had in ages. And he wanted to float an idea: could he be a guest on Kath and Kim … as Sharon’s stalker! Mic drop,” she wrote.

The pair reportedly had several conversations about the potential appearance; tragically, the idea would never make it to screen.

“Heath and I had a few phone calls about it, and we were scheduled to meet in London when the tragic news came through that he’d died,” she says.

Ledger died in New York in January 2008 at just 28 years old following an accidental overdose of prescription medications.

Reflecting on the role that never came to be, Szubanski described it as one of the enduring “what ifs” of her life.

“It is one of the great ‘what ifs’ of my life. What if he hadn’t died, and we could have kept playing? The delight and hilarity that would have brought to us, and the world … it hurts to think about it,”she writes.

The Magda Szubanski and Heath Ledger moment keeps going viral

The new revelation adds another layer to an encounter that has experienced a remarkable second life online.

Last year, footage of the kiss went viral again, with millions watching the clip without understanding that the apparently overexcited “fan” was actually one of Australia’s most recognisable comedians performing as Sharon Strzelecki.

Some viewers even criticised the interaction after mistakenly interpreting it as a genuine encounter between Ledger and a stranger.

That eventually prompted Szubanski herself to set the record straight.

“I don’t know how many times I have to correct the record and tell people it’s not some rando fan!!” she wrote at the time.

“It’s me, @MagdaSzubanski as my character Sharon Strzelecki from Aussie sitcom Kath and Kim !!”

Szubanski also explained that while Ledger wasn’t expecting Sharon’s ear piercing reaction, he immediately understood what was happening.

“Heath had no idea ‘Sharon’ was gonna scream like that and he responded like a true Sharon fan,” she wrote.

“He pashed her!”

Szubanski had previously shared more details about the encounter on social media, recalling Ledger’s willingness to immediately throw himself into the joke.

“Heath had NO idea any of this was gonna happen,” she wrote in 2017.

“But being the magical, receptive actor he was, he totally went with the flow.”

Magda Szubanski tells her story in new memoir

The story arrives as Szubanski releases her highly anticipated second memoir, I Can’t Tell You But I Will, following her award-winning 2015 memoir Reckoning.

The new book explores an enormously significant period in Szubanski’s life, including the death of her mother Margaret and her prominent role in Australia’s campaign for marriage equality.

Szubanski came out publicly as a lesbian in 2012 and later became one of the most recognisable faces of the successful 2017 marriage equality campaign.

The memoir also arrives following an extraordinary period for the beloved comedian.

Earlier this year, Szubanski announced that her stage four mantle cell lymphoma was in remission after revealing her diagnosis in 2025.

She subsequently made a triumphant return to Australian television at the 2026 Logie Awards, reprising Sharon Strzelecki alongside Robert Irwin, a year after being inducted into the Logies Hall of Fame.

Sadly, we will never get to see Heath Ledger stalking Sharon Strzelecki around Fountain Lakes, but knowing it very nearly happened somehow makes their famous pash even more special.