Mel Gibson – biography, photos, facts, family, kids, affairs, height and weight 2021

Mel Gibson’s Biography

Mel Gibson is a famous Hollywood actor, director, and producer of Irish descent, winner of the Oscars award as the Best Director for the film Braveheart. Gibson depicts especially successfully the men who are in despair of grief, who decided to take revenge on their offenders, or the characters of principled men, who are struggling for justice ‒ courageous and fearless men. His blue eyes and Apollonian appearance still continue to make women fall in love with them all around the world.

Childhood and youth

Mel Columcille Gerard Gibson was born on January 3, 1956, and became the sixth of eleven children in an Irish Catholic family. The actor got his name in honor of the saint, who is the protector of Ardagh ‒ his mother’s homeland, and the second, double name of Colm-Cille, he was given in honor of the Irish saint Columbus.

In the early 60s, when the Vietnam War broke out, Mel’s father ‒ Hutton Gibson took the Gibsons to Australia since he didn’t want his sons to be taken to this meaningless bloodbath. Already in Australia, Hutton and Anne Patricia Gibson had five more children. The Gibsons lived there in a small town in the state of New South Wales, where Mel’s grandmother, opera singer Eva Mylott, was born.

After graduating from the Catholic and public schools in Sydney, Mel was going to become a journalist, but unexpectedly for him, his sister sent an application on his behalf to enter the Sydney National Institute of Dramatic Art. In spite of the absence of any acting experience, Gibson ventured to go to an audition, which he passed successfully. It’s funny that before this the guy had a great fight, but it was just that textured appearance that attracted casting managers.

Acting and directing career

Shortly after joining the Institute of Dramatic Art, Gibson made his debut on the stage in the performance Romeo and Juliet, and in 1977 he made his debut on screen in the Australian TV series The Sullivans (1976-83) and in the film Summer City. Mel played the lead roles in classical theatrical performances simultaneously with the shooting, for example, in the tragedy Oedipus the King and the historical drama Henry IV. Then he even managed to work with Judy Davis and Geoffrey Rush.

Gibson debuted on stage in the performance Romeo and Juliet

The young actor pulled out his lucky ticket very soon ‒ in 1979, George Miller invited him to play the lead role in the post-apocalyptic action movie Mad Max, in which Gibson played a brutal policeman of the future who got into conflict with a local biker gang.

The young actor pulled out his lucky ticket when he was invited to play the lead role in the post-apocalyptic action movie Mad Max

Atmospheric road-movie became the most successful Australian film (more than 100 million dollars in the world box office) and quickly became a cult one among lovers of the genre, and Mel Gibson received his first big fee ‒ 15 thousand dollars and, most importantly, gained fame. The continuation of the story about Max was not long in coming. Already two years later the second part called Mad Max: The Road Warrior was released, and the actor’s salary grew almost 10 times.

After the release of the movie Mad Max Mel Gibson received his first big fee and gained fame

Between these money projects, Mel had a different, more intimate work ‒ the role of a mentally retarded man in a melodrama called Tim, which tells the story of the unequal love of an unusual character of Gibson and a woman, who is much older than him (Piper Laurie). Mel Gibson won his first acting award from the Australian Film Institute just for work in this picture.

In 1981, another well-known Australian director Peter Weir noticed Gibson’s talent and invited the actor to his military drama Gallipoli about the bloodiest battle during the First World War, and a year later invited to play in the historical melodrama The Year of Living Dangerously in which Gibson played with Sigourney Weaver.

The Year of Living Dangerously ‒ trailer

But Mel, even so, got to Hollywood thanks to George Miller and Mad Max: in 1984 he was invited to play the lead role in the adventure drama called The Bounty about a real rebellion on the ship of the same name. On the set, the partners of the young actor were Anthony Hopkins and Laurence Olivier, Daniel Day-Lewis, and Liam Neeson.

In 1985, the final part of the story about Max with the participation of Mel Gibson ‒ Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome followed, in which the singer Tina Turner also played one of the leading roles.

The second major breakthrough in mass cinema for Gibson was the role of the fearless police officer Martin Riggs in Richard Donner’s criminal action movie Lethal Weapon (1987). The film is about the two cops of the Los Angeles police ‒ bad and a good one, foolhardy and conscientious, and it became the hit of film distribution and is still admired by the audience.

Within just a few years, sequels of the film were shot, which turned out to be no less successful than the original one. By the way, it was in the image of Martin Riggs that Mel Gibson made such an impression on the film director Franco Zeffirelli that he later invited him to the role of Hamlet in the same film adaptation with Glenn Close, Ian Holm, and Helena Bonham Carter.

In 1993, Gibson, along with his partner on the site, Danny Glover won the MTV Movie Award for Best On-Screen Duo in Lethal Weapon 3. But he understood perfectly well that it was necessary to move on. In the same year, Mel founded the film production company Icon Productions and filmed his first picture ‒ the drama called The Man Without a Face.

The Man Without a Face‒ trailer

But his second directorial work came out much more successful than the first one ‒ it was the epic drama Braveheart about the struggle of the Scottish people for independence. Thanks to Mel Gibson’s work and talent, many have learned the story of the brave Scottish rebel William Wallace.

In 1996, Braveheart was presented at the Oscars ceremony in ten nominations at once, half of which were won, including for Best Director and Best Picture. The victory simultaneously in two main nominations is generally a rarity for the Oscars, but here the film academy had no other choice.

In 1995, Gibson diversified his filmography by working on the cartoon Pocahontas, voicing the main character John Smith. Further followed the roles in such thrillers as Ransom directed by Ron Howard and Conspiracy Theory with Julia Roberts, where Mel worked again with director Richard Donner.

Conspiracy Theory ‒ trailer

In 1998, Lethal Weapon again returned to the big screens ‒ the fourth part about the Los Angeles policemen was released, and such stars as Joe Pesci, Jet Li and Chris Rock joined Glover and Gibson.

The audience loved Mel Gibson’s character in the historical drama The Patriot about the family tragedy against the background of the Civil War between the North and the South, in which the actor’s partner was young Heath Ledger. And in the comedy What Women Want with Helen Hunt, Gibson demonstrated his comedic talent and courage before wax depilation in front of the camera.

The audience loved Mel Gibson’s character in the historical drama The Patriot

In the year two thousand, the actor began to act less and less. For this period only his work in M.Night Shyamalan’s films Signs (2002) and We were soldiers (2002) can be selected.

We were soldiers ‒ trailer

At this time, Mel Gibson increasingly went to his own projects, where he already occupied the director’s chair with full rights. In 2004, he shocked many viewers and religious people with a drama about the last day of Jesus called The Passion of the Christ. Gibson and the team managed to recreate in detail the Palestine of the beginning of our era; in the frame, the actors spoke Aramaic, Hebrew, and Latin.

The Passion of the Christ ‒ trailer

The film was full of violent scenes ‒ the lead actor James Caviezel later admitted that he received a real injury during shooting. Despite the indignation of critics and those who disagreed with the concept of the picture, The Passion of the Christ was highly appreciated by Pope John Paul II.

The Passion of the Christ was highly appreciated by Pope John Paul II

Mel Gibson himself wrote the script for the 2006 film Apocalypto. He again turned to the historical epos, this time to the period of the Maya civilization. In 2006, Gibson almost crossed out his career because of anti-Semitic statements (read about this below) and almost disappeared from view for a whole 10 years, so that to return with his own film in 2016 ‒ with anti-war drama Hacksaw Ridge starring Andrew Garfield in the role of a real guy who saved 75 soldiers during World War II. The return was appreciated ‒ the picture received the main nominations for the Oscars and the Golden Globe, and even the Award for the rehabilitation of reputation.

Apocalypto ‒ official trailer

Religious views and scandals

In 1984, Mel Gibson was fined four hundred dollars and deprived of his driver’s license for driving while intoxicated. In 2006, the celebrity was again arrested for driving while drunk. During the arrest, Mel shouted out anti-Semitic statements. The man was shouting that the cause of all wars in history were Jews.

Gibson’s Hollywood colleagues, television commentators, and, of course, Jewish organizations began to criticize him for this. The actor received severe remarks from some film companies too. Later, Mel Gibson publicly apologized and admitted that he found his behavior atrocious and that he temporarily lost his mind.

Mel Gibson supports traditionalist Catholics

Mel Gibson supports the traditionalist Catholics. In particular, he opposes stem cell research. At the same time, in the actor intolerance coexists with religiosity and passion for charity. After The Passion of the Christ was released, Mel Gibson stated that he got signs, portents that are as clear as traffic lights. Later, the director even stated that the Holy Spirit helped him to film the picture.

Mel Gibson's personal life

In the 1970s, then still the beginner actor Mel Gibson met his future wife, Robyn Moore through a marriage agency. Mel and Robin married in Adelaide in 1980. During family life, they had seven children ‒ two daughters and five sons.

In the spring of 2009, information appeared that Mel Gibson had not lived with his wife Robyn Moore for three years. At the same time, the wife of the famous actor filed for divorce, and a few days later the director came to the premiere of X-Men Origins: Wolverine with Oksana Grigorieva.

In the fall of 2009, a daughter was born to Gibson and Grigorieva, but the couple could not build a full-bodied family. Already in the spring of 2010, it was reported that one of the most discussed couples in the world intended to part. In June, a series of trials began between Mel and Oksana ‒ the parents could not decide who should raise the child. In addition, doctors found a concussion of the brain in Grigorieva, for which her former spouse was accused. In the spring of 2011, the actor received three years suspended sentence and a fine of $ 400. This whole story considerably worsened the already diminished reputation of the actor.

Now Mel Gibson is again happy in his personal life ‒ his girlfriend is the screenwriter and actress Rosalind Ross, who gave birth to his son in 2017 and whom his happy parents called Lars Gerard.

Mel Gibson now

After a long break, Mel Gibson ‒ the actor, director, and producer, is again in operation. He participates in a variety of projects, among which is the shooting in the pictures The Professor and the Madman with Natalie Dormer and Sean Penn and Boss Level with Naomi Watts. The actor is not going to forget about the director’s chair either: the film Berserker, as well as the sequel of the much-talked-of picture The Passion of the Christ: Resurrection is in the pre-production stage. Recently, Gibson also announced his intention to film a picture according to the script of his beloved Rosalind Ross about the battle for Okinawa during World War II. Also in 2020, Mel Gibson appeared in the sci-fi action movie "Boss Level".