Biography

With impossibly handsome, rugged features and brilliant blue eyes, Mel Gibson may have started out as just another pretty face, but since his screen debut in Summer City (1976), he has developed into an international star of great magnitude. Though he has played a wide variety of characters ranging from surfers, futuristic warriors, troubled teachers, dashing romantic leads, and historical leaders, Gibson brings to each role a barely contained intensity coupled with a keen wit. Surprisingly for a true Hollywood giant, Gibson seems well grounded and takes the brouhaha surrounding him with a wry grain of salt.

Though widely perceived to be an Australian -- and sporting a thick-enough accent to bear that out -- Mel Columcille Gerard Gibson was born January 3, 1956, in Peekskill, NY, to Irish Catholic parents (a railroad brakeman and an Australian opera singer, respectively). One of 11 children, Gibson moved with his family to Australia in 1968, and quickly developed an Aussie accent after schoolmates teased him for his Yankee accent. Though originally desiring to become a journalist, Gibson studied drama at the National Institute of Dramatic Art in Sydney, which he attended with such notables as Judy Davis. Initially, the young actor suffered from terrible stage fright and was still a student when he appeared in Summer City. Following graduation, he found work playing small supporting roles with the South Australia Theatre Company.

In 1979, Gibson starred in two very different feature films. In the moving drama Tim, the 22-year-old actor played a mildly retarded handy man. The role won him a Sammy (one of the Australian entertainment industry's highest accolades). In the other film, Mad Max, he played a leather-clad futuristic cop in a world nearly destroyed by nuclear war. His success with both roles made him a bright young star in Australia. He substantially furthered his career by starring in Peter Weir's powerful WWI drama Gallipoli (1981) -- which won him a second Sammy for Best Actor -- but it was not until Gibson appeared in Mad Max 2 (1981) that he achieved global popularity. His second collaboration with Weir, The Year of Living Dangerously (1983), in which Gibson played a callous reporter covering a bloody Indonesian coup, only bolstered his growing reputation. He made his Hollywood debut playing Fletcher Christian to Anthony Hopkin's Captain Bligh in The Bounty (1984) and then played a farmer opposite Sissy Spacek in the melodramatic The River (1984). Later that year, Gibson returned to Australia to play Mad Max one last time in the overblown Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome (1985) opposite singer Tina Turner.

Gibson then took a two-year break from filmmaking, but came back strong starring opposite Danny Glover in Richard Donner's smash action picture Lethal Weapon. Gibson's wild-man portrayal of officer Martin Riggs, a volatile man who lost the will to live following his wife's death, made him the perfect foil for Glover's more low-key character. The honest chemistry between the leads made the film one of the year's big box-office draws and in turn made Gibson a superstar. He reprised the role of Riggs in three Lethal Weapon sequels. Until 1990, Gibson was noted for his action roles, romantic heroes, and contemporary dramatic characters. Therefore it was a shock for audiences to see him show up as Shakespeare's tragic Danish prince in Franco Zeffirelli's Hamlet (1990). His performance divided critics, winning over some even as it underwhelmed others, but many were impressed by Gibson's audacity in taking the role in the first place.

In the early '90s, Gibson further extended his range by founding his own production company, ICON Productions. Through it, he made his directorial debut with The Man Without a Face (1993), a drama in which he played a horribly burned teacher with a dark secret. Though a well-wrought, moving effort, it only had middling box-office success. He did better in 1994 in Richard Donner's movie version of the popular television comedy-Western Maverick. As a director/producer, Gibson swept the 1995 Oscars with Braveheart, his epic account of 13th-century Scottish leader William Wallace's life and struggle to forge an independent nation. That same year, he also provided the speaking and singing voice to John Smith in Disney's animated feature Pocahontas, and proved he could actually carry a tune.

Through the 1990s, Gibson's popularity and reputation continued to grow, thanks to such films as Ransom (1996) and Conspiracy Theory (1997). In 1998, Gibson further increased this popularity with the success of two films, Lethal Weapon 4 and Payback. More success followed in 2000, due to the actor's lead role as an animated rooster in Nick Park and Peter Lord's hugely acclaimed Chicken Run, and to his work as the titular hero of Roland Emmerich's blockbuster period epic The Patriot (2000). After taking up arms in the battlefield of a more modern era in the Vietman drama We Were Soldiers in 2002, Gibson would next step in front of the cameras for Sixth Sense director M. Night Shyamalan's dramatic sci-fi thriller Signs (also 2002). As the patriarch of a rural family who discovers unexplainable crop circles on his farm, Gibson explored the phoenomena that has captivated the imaginations of stargazers who believe that their may be an extraterrestrial factor behind the curious and sometimes beautiful mystery. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Filmography

Mad Max IV: Fury Road (2004) .... Mad Max
Singing Detective, The (2003) .... Dr. Gibbon
We Were Soldiers: Getting It Right (2002) (V) .... Himself
Signs (2002) .... Graham Hess
74th Annual Academy Awards, The (2002) (TV) .... Himself
We Were Soldiers (2002) .... Lt. Col. Hal Moore
Breaking the News (2001) (TV) .... Narrator
Cleopatra: The Film That Changed Hollywood (2001) (TV) (uncredited) (archive footage) .... Himself
"Drama School" (2000) TV Series .... Himself
What Women Want (2000) .... Nick Marshall
Wallace and Gromit Go Chicken (2000) (TV) .... Himself
Patriot, The (2000) .... Col. Benjamin Martin
... aka Patriot, Der (2000) (Germany)
Chicken Run (2000) (voice) .... Rocky Rhodes
... aka C:R-1 (2000) (USA: promotional abbreviation)
Million Dollar Hotel, The (2000) .... Detective Skinner
Forever Hollywood (1999) .... Himself
Payback (1999) .... Porter
Lethal Weapon 4 (1998) .... Detective Sergeant Martin Riggs
... aka Lethal 4 (1998) (USA: promotional abbreviation)
FairyTale: A True Story (1997) (uncredited) .... Frances' Father
... aka Fairy Tale (1997)
... aka Illumination (1997)
Conspiracy Theory (1997) .... Jerry Fletcher/Dr. Fine
Fathers' Day (1997) (uncredited) .... Scott (the body piercer)
Ransom (1996) .... Tom Mullen
Pocahontas (1995) (voice) .... John Smith
Australia's Outback: The Vanishing Frontier (1995) (TV) .... Narrator
Casper (1995) (uncredited) .... Himself
Braveheart (1995) .... William Wallace
Maverick (1994) .... Bret Maverick
1993 MTV Movie Awards (1993) (TV) .... Himself/Presenter
Chili Con Carne Club, The (1993)
Man Without a Face, The (1993) .... Justin McLeod
Forever Young (1992) .... Capt. Daniel McCormick
Lethal Weapon 3 (1992) .... Detective Sergeant Martin Riggs
Mel Gibson's Video Diary 2: Lethal Weapon 3 (1991) (TV) .... Himself
"Dame Edna's Hollywood" (1991) TV Series .... Himself
Frank Sinatra: The Best Is Yet to Come (1990) (TV) .... Himself
Hamlet (1990) .... Hamlet
Air America (1990) .... Gene Ryack, Pilot
Bird on a Wire (1990) .... Rick Jarmin
Lethal Weapon 2 (1989) .... Detective Sergeant Martin Riggs
Tequila Sunrise (1988) .... Dale 'Mac' McKussic
Ultimate Stuntman: A Tribute to Dar Robinson, The (1987) (TV) .... Himself
Lethal Weapon (1987) .... Sergeant Martin Riggs
Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome (1985) .... 'Mad' Max Rockatansky
... aka Mad Max 3 (1985)
Mrs. Soffel (1984) .... Ed Biddle
River, The (1984) .... Tom Garvey
Bounty, The (1984) .... Fletcher Christian Master's Mate
Making of 'Mrs. Soffel', The (1984) (TV) .... Himself
Making of 'The Bounty', The (1984) (TV) .... Himself
Year of Living Dangerously, The (1982) .... Guy Hamilton
Attack Force Z (1982) .... Captain P.G. Kelly
... aka Z Men, The (1982)
... aka Z-tzu te kung tui (1982) (Taiwan)
Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior (1981) .... 'Mad' Max Rockatansky
... aka Mad Max 2 (1981) (short title)
... aka Road Warrior, The (1982) (USA)
"Punishment" (1981) TV Series .... Rick Monroe
Gallipoli (1981) .... Frank Dunne
Chain Reaction, The (1980) (uncredited) .... Bearded Mechanic
... aka Nuclear Run (1980)
Tim (1979) .... Tim
Mad Max (1979) .... 'Mad' Max Rockatansky
Summer City (1977) .... Scollop
... aka Coast of Terror (1977)
I Never Promised You a Rose Garden (1977) (uncredited) .... Basebal player in final scene
"Sullivans, The" (1976) TV Series .... Ray Henderson