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Mel Gibson - Biography

Actor. Born on January 3, 1956, in Peekskill, New York. Handsome, magnetic, spontaneous, animated, dark-haired, blue-eyed superstar of Australian and American films. The sixth of 11 children of an Irish-Catholic railroad brakeman and a former Australian opera singer, he moved with his family to Australia when he was 12, a move allegedly caused by economic distress and the father's desire to protect his older boys from the Vietnam draft. After graduating from high school, he enrolled at Sydney's National Institute of Dramatic Art, part of the University of New South Wales. While still a student, he made his screen debut in 1977 in an insignificant film. His performance caught the eye of director George Miller, who assigned him the title role in the futuristic action picture Mad Max (1979). The global success of the World War I drama Gallipoli (1981), for which he won the Australian Film Institute Award as Best Actor, launched Gibson as an international star. His popularity soared later that year, with the sequel box-office hit Mad Max 2 (released in the U.S. in 1982 as The Road Warrior) and peaked once more in the late 80s with his eccentric portrayal of a tough undercover cop in Hollywood's Lethal Weapon (1987) and its sequel (1989).

In 1990 he proved himself capable of more complex roles with a strong performance in Franco Zeffirelli's Hamlet. In 1993, he made a respectable directorial debut, directing himself in The Man Without a Face. Off-camera, Gibson is known to be a well-read quick wit who delights friends and associates with clever quips and puns. He doggedly shuns publicity and between projects maintains a rural lifestyle on an Australian ranch, far away from the limelight, with his wife Robyn and their five children. They all often accompany him on location. His production company is named Icon Productions.

Gibson starred in Hamlet or directed The Man Without a Face, but fans were relieved to see the $100-million-grossing Maverick in 1994. Gibson donned a Scotsman's kilt as Braveheart's William Wallace, and the film earned him several Oscars, including Best Director and Best Picture. In 1996, Gibson helmed the Ron Howard nail-biter Ransom, playing a daring airline tycoon who takes matters into his own hands when his son is kidnapped. He next co-stars with Julia Roberts in the thriller Conspiracy Theory; Gibson will also appear in Deadline Salonika and Fahrenheit 451, and has been mentioned to direct All the Pretty Horses.