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Mel Gibson
Biography
Mel Gibson got his start as an action hero in Mad Max (1979),
a low-budget
thriller which cast him as a grim, leather-clad
ex-cop in a barren Australian future. When he reprised the
Mad Max character
in a bigger-budget sequel,
The Road Warrior (1981),
Gibson became an
international star. His turn as a goofy rogue
cop in 1987's Lethal Weapon
cemented his status as Hollywood's
leading young blue-eyed action hero.
He made three more films in the
Lethal Weapon series (1989, 1992 and 1998)
and starred in
other big-budget
action flicks like Air America (1990,
with Robert Downey, Jr.)
and The Patriot (2000, with Heath Ledger). Gibson
also showed a
thoughtful side, taking the lead in Hamlet (1990) and directing
and starring in the sentimental drama The Man Without a Face (1993). |
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In 1995 he directed, produced and starred as historical
hero
William Wallace in the swords-and-Scotsmen epic Braveheart, for which
Gibson took home Oscars for best director and best picture. His 2004 film about
the last hours of Jesus, The Passion of the Christ (starring Jim Caviezel), stirred
up controversy after critics accused it of anti-semitism. Gibson was born in New
York but raised in Australia,
which he has continued to make his home. He
and his wife,
the former Robyn Moore, have seven children.
Extra credit: A devout Catholic, Gibson
directed, co-wrote, co-produced and self-financed
the $25 million The Passion
of Christ... The Road Warrior was followed by Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome in 1985;
a fourth film in the series, Mad Max: Fury Road, is tentatively scheduled
to begin filming in 2004... Gibson played another historical figure, mutineer
Fletcher Christian, in The Bounty (1984); Christian also has been played onscreen
by Marlon Brando (Mutiny on the Bounty, 1962) and Clark Gable (Mutiny on the Bounty,
1935). Other big-budget stars of Gibson's era: Sharon Stone, Sylvester Stallone,
Arnold
Schwarzenegger and Bruce Willis. | |
