Mel Gibson

Background

Mel Columcille Gerard Gibson is a famous actor, director, screenwriter, and producer born on January 3, 1956, in Peekskill, New York, to Hutton Gibson and Anne Patricia Reilly. He is the second son in the family and the sixth of eleven children. Gibson’s late mother was Irish-born, so he holds dual American and Irish citizenship. He’s also a permanent resident of Australia. Gibson enrolled in Sydney’s National Institute of Dramatic Art in 1974, where he started acting in theater plays, such as “Romeo and Juliet” and “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.” Three years later, Gibson made his film debut. He played the role of a surfer in “Summer City” and received $400 as payment. After graduating, Gibson entered the State Theatre Company of South Australia in Adelaide. His theatrical appearances include playing Estragon in “Waiting for Godot” and Biff Loman in “Death of a Salesman.”

Gibson began to gain popularity when he was cast as Max Rockatansky in 1979’s futuristic action film “Mad Max.” That same year, Gibson portrayed a handyman in the movie “Tim,” which earned him the Best Actor award from the Australian Film Institute. Gibson won the award again for his performance in the World War I drama “Gallipoli” (1981). That same year, he rose to international fame after playing the character Max Rockatansky in “Mad Max 2.” The third movie in the “Mad Max” series, “Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome” (1985), was his first million-dollar film and established him as a top actor. Gibson made his directorial debut with “The Man Without a Face” in 1993. He later directed and starred in “Braveheart” (1995), in which he took on the role of Scottish national hero Sir William Wallace. The film won five Academy Awards, and Gibson himself got the award for Best Director. On July 25, 1997, he was named an honorary Officer of the Order of Australia (A.O.) for his service to the Australian film industry.

In 2004, Gibson wrote, directed, and produced one of his most popular films, “The Passion of the Christ.” The film became the highest-grossing R-rated film that year, getting over $370 million at the box office in the U.S. Two years later, Gibson directed and produced a film portraying the fall of the Mayan empire, “Apocalypto.” He returned to acting in an adaptation of B.B.C.’s miniseries, “Edge of Darkness” (2010). His later films included “Machete Kills” (2013), “The Expendables 3” (2014), “Blood Father” (2016), and “Dragged Across Concrete” (2018). “Hacksaw Ridge” (2016) was Gibson’s return to directing, earning him overwhelming praise and two Academy Award nominations for Best Picture and Best Director. Gibson was married to Robyn Moore from 1980 to 2011, and the couple had seven children. He later fathered another child with Gibson, Lars Gerard Gibson, born in 2017.