MEL GIBSON

MEL GIBSON

Born January 03, 1956 - Despite a thick Australian accent in some of his earlier films, actor Mel Gibson was born in Peeksill, NY, to Irish Catholic parents. One of eleven children, Gibson didn't set foot in Australia until 1968, and only developed an Aussie accent after his classmates teased him for his American tongue.

Despite a thick Australian accent in some of his earlier films, actor Mel Gibson was born in Peeksill, NY, to Irish Catholic parents. One of eleven children, Gibson didn't set foot in Australia until 1968, and only developed an Aussie accent after his classmates teased him for his American tongue. Mel Gibson's looks have certainly helped him develop a largely female following similar to the equally rugged Harrison Ford, but since his 1976 screen debut in Summer City, Gibson has been recognized as a critical as well as physiological success.
Though he had, at one point, set his sights on journalism, Gibson caught the acting bug by the time he had reached college age, and studied at the National Institute of Dramatic Art in Sydney, Australia, despite what he describes as a crippling ordeal with stage fright. Luckily, this was something he overcame relatively quickly -- Gibson was still a student when he filmed Summer Cityand it didn't take long before he had found work playing supporting roles for the South Australia Theatre Company after his graduation

The year 2004 saw Gibson return to the director's chair for The Passion of The Christ. Funded by 25 million of Gibson's own dollars, the religious drama generated controversy amid cries of anti-Semitism. Despite the debates surrounding the film -- and the fact that all of the dialogue was spoken in Latin and Aramaic -- it nearly recouped its budget in the first day of release.
The actor stepped behind the camera again in 2006 with the Mayan tale Apocalypto and was preparing to product a TV movie about the Holocaust, but by this time, public attention was not pointed at Gibson's career choices. That summer, he was pulled over for drunk driving at which time he made extremely derogatory comments about Jewish people to the arresting officer. When word of Gibson's drunken, bigoted tirade made it to the press, the speculation of the actor's anti-Semitic leanings that had circulated because of the choices he'd made in his depiction of the crucifixion in Passion of the Christ seemed confirmed. Gibson's father being an admitted holocaust denier hadn't helped matters and now it seemed that no PR campaign could help. Gibson publicly apologized, expressed extreme regret for his comments, and checked himself into rehab. Still, the plug was pulled on Gibson's Holocaust project and the filmmaker's reputation was irreparably tarnished.

Mel Gibson Filmography:

Actor
2006 Payback: Straight Up
2006 Who Killed the Electric Car?
2004 The Big Question
2004 ABC Primetime: Mel Gibson's Passion
2003 The Singing Detective
2002 We Were Soldiers
2002 Signs
2000 The Patriot
2000 What Women Want
2000 The Million Dollar Hotel
2000 Chicken Run
1999 Forever Hollywood
1999 Payback
1998 Lethal Weapon 4
1997 Fairy Tale: A True Story
1997 Conspiracy Theory
1996 Ransom
1995 Braveheart
1995 Pocahontas
1995 Casper
1994 Maverick
1993 Earth and the American Dream
1993 The Man without a Face
1993 Chili Con Carne
1992 Lethal Weapon 3
1992 David and Goliath
1992 Greatest Stories Ever Told: David and Goliath
1992 World War II Collection: The Year of the Generals
1992 Forever Young
1990 Air America
1990 Hamlet
1990 Bird on a Wire
1989 Saturday Night Live: Mel Gibson
1989 Lethal Weapon 2
1988 Tequila Sunrise
1987 Lethal Weapon
1985 Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome
1984 The River
1984 Mrs. Soffel
1984 The Bounty
1982 The Year of Living Dangerously
1982 Attack Force Z
1981 The Road Warrior
1981 Gallipoli
1980 The Chain Reaction
1979 Tim
1979 Mad Max
1977 Summer City

Director
2006 Apocalypto
2004 The Passion of The Christ

2004 Complete Savages(TV series)
1995 Braveheart
1993 The Man Without A face

Executive Producer
2005 Leonard Cohen: I Am Your Man
2004 Club House (TV series)
2004 Complete Savages(TV series)
2001 Invincible
2000 The Three Stooges

Producer
2006 Apocalypto
2005 Leonard Cohen: I Am your Man
2004 Paparazzi
2004 The Passion of the Christ

2003 The Singing Detective

1997 Anna Karenina

1995 Braveheart
Screenwriter
2006 Apocalypto
2004 The Passion of The Christ