A liquid crystal display contains a light source, a light guide panel that directs light from the light source towards a display panel, and optical sheets containing a diffusion sheet that spreads the light from the light guide panel and at least one prism sheet that redirects light from the diffusion sheet in a direction substantially perpendicular to the display panel. The optical sheets contain a region adjacent to the light source that has a hardened part that substantially prevents heat from being transferred to a display region of the optical sheet corresponding to the display region of the display panel and minimizes the temperature difference across the display region. The hardened part is formed on at least opposing sides of the optical sheets, overlaps a non-display region of the display panel and is bent or contains a convex part that projects towards the display panel.