Mel Gibson

(October 1997) Ranked #12 in Empire magazines "The Top 100 Movie Stars of All Time" list.

Born at 4:45pm-EST.

Chosen by People magazine as one of the "50 Most Beautiful People" in the world.

Educated at University of New South Wales, Australia.

Attended drama school with Judy Davis. They played Romeo and Juliet together.

Chosen by People magazine as one of the "50 Most Beautiful People" in the world.

Chosen by People magazine as one of the "50 Most Beautiful People" in the world.

Trained at NIDA (National Institute of Dramatic Arts). As well as Judy Davis , other fellow students, during his time there, included Colin Friels.

Awarded the AO (Officer of the Order of Australia), Australias highest honor, in mid-1997.

Roommates with Geoffrey Rush after college (the National Institute of Dramatic Art) when they were in an acting company (called Jane Street) together that was affiliated with NIDA. Geoffrey Rush trained at La Cocq Mime School in France.

He took up acting only because his sister submitted an application behind his back. The night before an audition, he got into a fight, and his face was badly beaten, an accident that won him the role.

Older brother of actor Donal Gibson.

Chosen by Empire magazine as one of the "100 Sexiest Stars" in film history (#37).

Chosen as People Magazines first "Sexiest Man Alive."

Like his character Riggs in the Lethal Weapon Movie series he is a big fan of The Three Stooges.

First studied drama at the New Zealand Drama School, Toi Whakaari in Wellington, New Zealand. After getting accepted he completed the course and used this as a foot-in into NIDA in Australia in 1975.

He and his wife met through a dating service in Australia.

Has a horseshoe kidney (two kidneys fused into one).

Owns a production company, Icon International, with branches in the USA, Australia, and the UK.

Ranked #15 in Premieres 2003 annual "Power 100" list. Had ranked #17 in 2002.

His voice in Mad Max was dubbed for the films US release.

The doctor who delivered him into the world is believed to be Charles Sweet, grandfather of filmmaker Jay Ruzicka.

He was a part of the movement dubbed the "Australian New Wave" by the press. They were a group of filmmakers and performers who emerged from Down Under at about the same time in the early 1980s and found work in other parts of the world. Other members included actress Judy Davis and directors George Miller , Gillian Armstrong and Peter Weir.

He was the first Australian actor to be paid $1,000,000 for a film role.

Almost turned down the role of William Wallace in Braveheart because he thought he was too old for the role. He asked the producers if he could direct it instead. A compromise was made, he could direct the movie if he agreed to portray Wallace.

His father, Hutton Gibson , moved the family from upstate New York to Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, in 1968 after winning as a contestant on "Jeopardy!" .

For The Passion of the Christ , which he directed, wrote and produced, he spent 25 million dollars of his own money. Back in 1992, he started doing research for the movie that was not released until 2004.

Has nine children from three women: seven children from his marriage to Robyn Gibson: daughter, Hannah Gibson ; twin sons, Edward Gibson and Christian Gibson (born 1982); son, Willie Gibson ; son, Louis Gibson (born 1988); son, Milo Gibson (born 1990); son, Tommy Gibson ; daughter, Lucia (born 2009), from his relationship with Oksana Grigorieva ; and son, Lars (born 2017), with girlfriend Rosalind Ross.

(Fall 2001) Son, Christian Gibson , is a freshman at the University of Colorado at Boulder.

He was considered for the role of James Bond in both The Living Daylights and GoldenEye before Timothy Dalton and Pierce Brosnan were cast respectively. Albert R. Broccoli turned him down for the former because he wasnt British and he turned down the latter because he was busy with Braveheart .

Ranked #10 in Premieres 2004 annual "Power 100" list. Had ranked #15 in 2003. He is the highest-ranked actor on the 2004 list.

Has his own private chapel in his grounds, where he attends mass every day.

He was voted the 48th "Greatest Movie Star" of all time by Entertainment Weekly.

Ranked number 1 on Forbess 2004 "Celebrity 100 List". He was the highest paid celebrity in 2004 with a reported $210,000,000 salary from his The Passion of the Christ profits, plus a potential $150,000,000 that is yet to be accounted for. He made more money than Oprah Winfrey ($210,000,000), J.K. Rowling ($147,000,000), Tiger Woods & Michael Schumacher ($80,000,000 each) and Steven Spielberg in 2004.

In Portuguese, "Mel" means "honey".

Was considered for the role of Batman/Bruce Wayne in Batman (particularly with Richard Donner directing), but he was busy with Lethal Weapon 2 .

Was considered for the role of Wolverine in X-Men , but was deemed too expensive.

Son of the controversial Hutton Gibson and Anne Gibson.

In the movie Forever Young , he needed to appear older in the last few scenes. Because his eyes were so bright blue, no matter how many wrinkles they put on him, he did not look authentically older. So, he had to wear gray contacts, in order to look old.

Along with Warren Beatty , Clint Eastwood , Robert Redford , Richard Attenborough and Kevin Costner one of 6 people to win and Academy Award for "Best Director", though they are mainly known as actors.

Was awarded an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree from Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles in May 2003, and gave the commencement address.

Ranked #15 on Premieres 2005 Power 50 List. Had ranked #10 in 2004.

His favourite films include, The Big Country , Double Indemnity , and Spartacus

His family line goes back several generations in Australia, but his ancestors originally came from Ireland, Scotland and England (ancestor of John Gibson, c. 1601).

Was offered the role of Eliot Ness in The Untouchables , but had to decline because he was already working on Lethal Weapon .

He turned down the role of Harvey Dent/Two Face in Batman Forever , due to scheduling conflicts with Braveheart .

Sold his home in Connecticut in July 2010 to settle his divorce with ex-wife Robyn.

When Apocalypto is finished, he plans to donate six replicas of Mayan pyramids and several movie-set villages.

In early December 2004, he flew to Fiji, where he bought the 2,160 hectare island of Mago from a Japanese hotel chain for $15 million. He plans to turn the Pacific paradise, which is home to forty residents (mostly coconut farmers and their families) into his own personal retreat. The South Pacific island boasts two lagoons and stunning white-sand beaches. The sale was finalized in March 2005.

Gibson has been widely perceived as a conservative Republican, even though he has never identified himself as such. In March 2004 he expressed doubts over the Iraq war, in particular the failure to find weapons of mass destruction, although he maintained that President George W. Bush had "done a lot of good" elsewhere. At the Peoples Choice Awards ceremony in January 2005, Gibson again condemned the Iraq war and praised the liberal director Michael Moore and his documentary film Fahrenheit 9/11 . Many of Gibsons positions are in accordance with traditional Catholicism. He released a statement in March 2005 condemning the euthanasia of Terri Schiavo, and has criticized stem cell research.

He was the original choice to play Jack Stanton in Primary Colors but lost out to John Travolta.

He was named after the Church of St. Mel in Clonmel, Co. Tipperary, Ireland where his mothers family is from.

Was spoofed in both "South Park" and "Family Guy" , and both of the times he was spoofed, there was a reference to the Looney Tunes cartoons. In "South Park" {The Passion of the Jew (#8.3)} , his character acts a lot like Daffy Duck in the cartoon Yankee Doodle Daffy , while scaring Stan and Kenny, in the hopes that they will both torture him. And in the "Family Guy" {North by North Quahog (#4.1)} , he chases Peter and Lois Griffin to the top of Mount Rushmore and is tricked into walking off a ledge, to which he plummets to the ground, very much like Wile E. Coyote does in several cartoons.

Separated from wife Robyn in June 2006. She finally filed for divorce in April 2009 but it wasnt finalized until December 2011, reportedly because it took them all that time to divide Gibsons estimated assets of $850 million. It is considered the biggest divorce payout in Hollywood history.

His performance as "Mad" Max Rockatansky in the "Mad Max" trilogy is ranked #78 on Premiere Magazines 100 Greatest Movie Characters of All Time.

Braveheart is ranked #62 on the American Film Institutes 100 Most Inspiring Movies of All Time.

Ranked #17 on Premieres 2006 "Power 50" list. Had ranked #15 in 2005.

Turned down the role of Sgt. John McLoughlin in World Trade Center to direct Apocalypto instead.

On July 28, 2006, he was arrested for drunk driving in Malibu, California. He did three-year probation following the misdemeanor drunken driving arrest in which he made derogatory comments about Jews and women.

On the 1st of August 2006, he checked himself into a recovery program for alcohol abuse. His wife, Robyn, separated from him that same month.

Pleaded no contest to DUI on 17 August 2006 and was ordered to attend one year of Alcholics Anonymous meetings. For the first four-and-a-half months, he must attend those meetings five times a week, and for the remainder of the time, he must attend three times a week. Gibson was also ordered to pay $1200 in fines and penalties and $100 in restitution.

Father-in-law of Kenny Wayne Shepherd.

Played a pilot in four movies: Bird on a Wire , Air America , Forever Young and Ransom .

Has bipolar disorder.

Moved to Sydney, Australia at age 12 with his family.

Received the Chairmans Visionary Award from Latin Business Association Chairman Rick Sarmiento during the 2006 Latino Global Business Conference and Digital Expo in Beverly Hills, California, on 2 November 2006. Gibsons appearance marked his first public appearance since his DUI arrest on 28 July in Malibu.

Director Martin Scorsese sent him the script for The Departed , offering him the role of Ellerby. Gibson was unable to accept the role as he was starting production on Apocalypto that same year. Alec Baldwin later took the role.

Oliver Stone has tried casting him twice. Once as Jim Garrison in JFK , and another time as Sgt. John McLoughlin in World Trade Center .

Cited as Americas Favorite Movie Star in Harris Polls conducted in 1996 and 2003.

A chain smoker for most of his career, in 2004 Gibsons wife persuaded him to limit his addiction to just three cigarettes a day. However this did not last.

Turned down the role of Kyle Reese in James Cameron s The Terminator .

Actor Girard Swan formerly worked as his stand in and photo double.

Was considered for the role of Robert Clayton Dean in Enemy of the State .

On 27 January 1997, nine lesbian and gay filmmakers met with Gibson on the set of Conspiracy Theory . Conceived and sponsored by GLAAD, the day long event gave the filmmakers the opportunity to meet with director Richard Donner , producer Joel Silver , and co-stars Patrick Stewart and Julia Roberts. A 40-minute lunch with Gibson, however, found the filmmakers not only discussing the inner workings of the industry but also Gibsons troubled relationship with the lesbian and gay community.

Endorsed the Republican candidate for lieutenant governor of California in the 2006 mid-term elections.

In interviews promoting The Passion of the Christ , Gibson admitted that depression had led him to contemplate suicide, and that he made the film to "heal" himself.

Along with Rolf Harris and Clive James , Gibson publicly supported keeping Queen Elizabeth II as head of state in an Australian poll in 1999.

Voted the most powerful Christian in Hollywood in a poll by religious website Beliefnet.com in October 2007.

He was awarded the honorary A.O. (Officer of the Order of Australia) in the 1997 Queens Birthday Honours List for his services to the Australian film industry.

In April, 2009, made a first public appearance together with his girlfriend, Oksana Grigorieva who was then three-months pregnant with his child.

Due to the worldwide recession in 2008, his personal fortune is reported to have declined from around $900 million to $650 million.

He and Oksana Grigorieva became the parents of a girl, Lucia, on October 30, 2009, in Los Angeles.

Mad Max 2 (aka The Road Warrior) is his favorite out of the "Mad Max" series.

Turned down the chance to voice a parody of himself in the "Family Guy" North by North-Quohag . He later admitted in an interview that he regretted the decision because he thought the episode was hilarious.

Split from Oksana Grigorieva [April 14, 2010].

Has been under restraining order since July, 2010, after an episode of domestic violence with his then girlfriend, Oksana Grigorieva. In return, he filed for a restraining order against ex-girlfriend Oksana Grigorieva. (June 2010).

(July 2010) Was investigated for domestic violence by Malibu/Lost Hills station detectives, in reference to an incident between him an ex-girlfriend Oksana Grigorieva on January 6, 2010.

Appeared on the cover of GQ magazine four times: June 83, February 87, May 95 and November 96 (with Jerry Seinfeld and Michael Jordan ).

His mother was born in County Longford, Ireland and his father was born in Peekskill, New York. Mels paternal grandmother, Eva Mylott, was an Australian contralto opera singer, whose own parents were Irish as well. Mels paternal grandfather, John Hutton Gibson, was a wealthy American businessman from a family based in the American South; John was of mostly Irish descent, and also had English, Scottish, Scots-Irish (Northern Irish), and Welsh, roots.

He was a mentor to the late actor Heath Ledger.

According to fan magazines of the day, his father moved the family to Australia to lessen his sons chances of serving in Vietnam.

He turned down the role of John McClane in Die Hard .

He was tested and rejected by Franco Zeffirelli for the part of David Axelrod in Endless Love . However, Zeffirelli later cast him as the title character in Hamlet .

He was considered to portray Henry Hill in Goodfellas .

Although he played Glenn Close s son in Hamlet , he is only nine years her junior in real life.

Directed one Oscar nominated performance: Andrew Garfield in Hacksaw Ridge .

Is expecting his ninth child with girlfriend Rosalind Ross. It is the ninth child for him and the first child for her.[September 2016].

Friends with Jodie Foster , and Robert Downey Jr..

Works with Survivor Mitzvah Project, a charitable group that brings emergency aid to Holocaust survivors in Eastern Europe.

Has struggled with alcoholism.

Senior lecturer at Northumbria University.

Comic book historian.

I might go and go somewhere no-one can find me. You know where that is?,You know where the place is no-one can find you? I was thinking of,pitching my tent right next to the weapons of mass destruction. Then,no-one would find me.

Asked if he felt besieged by the opposition to,The Passion of the Christ (2004) : Beseiged? No, not really.

Obviously, nobody wants to touch something filmed in two dead languages.

I like him.

I had to do it sitting down. It was blind terror.

And you know, like, why? I just wanted to say something a lot more,positive.

[on the definition of "ultimate love" while filming Hacksaw Ridge],putting your life on the line for the other by saving your fellow,brothers in arms when bullets are flying by your head on the,battlefield.

Above all, film is a business. . . Independence is a really cool thing as you can be a bit more bold, and take a few more chances with what you do.