Mel Gibson Biography

A movie star and a controversial filmmaker, Mel Gibson got his start as an action hero in George Miller‘s Mad Max (1979), a low-budget thriller which cast him as a grim, leather-clad ex-cop in a barren Australian future.

The film’s bigger-budget sequel, The Road Warrior (1981), was an even bigger hit, and Mel Gibson became an international star. His turn as a goofy rogue cop in 1987’s Lethal Weapon cemented his status as Hollywood’s leading blue-eyed action hero.

Gibson 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).

In 1995 Mel Gibson directed, produced and starred as historical hero William Wallace in the swords-and-Scotsmen epic Braveheart, for which he 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), was a surprise hit but stirred up controversy after critics accused it of anti-semitism. Gibson added fuel to such charges in July of 2006 when he went on an anti-Jewish tirade after being arrested and charged with driving while intoxicated. He publicly apologized for his behavior and was fined and sentenced to three years probation.

The episode drew to its conclusion just prior to the 2006 release of Apocalypto, a film set in the ancient Mayan culture that Gibson wrote, produced and directed. He returned to the screen in the 2010 thriller Edge of Darkness and the 2011 oddity The Beaver, directed by Jodie Foster.

His other films include The Year of Living Dangerously (1982, opposite Sigourney Weaver), The Bounty (1982, opposite Anthony Hopkins), Pocahontas (1995, as the voice of John Smith) and Chicken Run (2000, as the voice of Rocky), and Daddy’s Home 2 (2017, starring Mark Wahlberg).