Mel Gibson
Birthdate: January 3, 1956 (70 Years Old)
Birthplace: Peekskill, New York, USA
No major movie star in his generation has experienced a wilder fluctuation of fortune and professional respect than Mel Gibson (birthname: Mel Columcille Gerard Gibson). The winner of both Best Picture and Best Director Oscars for his second directorial work, Braveheart (1996), Gibson has also become the face of such toxic controversies as Holocaust denial, domestic violence, and gay and lesbian-bashing which—fair or not—has enormously damaged his career.
Despite this swirl of controversial episodes in recent years (many involving his late father, the Catholic “fundamentalist” and extremist, Hutton Gibson), Mel Gibson earned an Oscar directing nomination for his excellent World War II epic, Hacksaw Ridge (2016) and continues a robust acting career, including Lionsgate’s limited series, The Continental (2022), a spinoff from the John Wick series; Bandit (2022), with Josh Duhamel and Elisha Cuthbert; Boys of Summer (2022), with Lorraine Bracco; and Father Stu (2022), with Mark Wahlberg.
Though Mel Gibson’s last important role was in M. Night Shyamalan’s Signs (2002), with Joaquin Phoenix, he has shifted his filmmaking energies mainly toward his projects, from investing $25 million of his own money to making the much-debated The Passion of the Christ (2004), his quirky and sometimes bizarre Aztec epic, Apocalypto (2006) and the more conventional Hacksaw Ridge (2016), all of which pushed the violence-on-screen envelope and none of which he took a starring role himself. (Gibson is rumored to be directing Lethal Weapon 5.)
For roughly twenty years, from his major film debut in George Miller’s astonishing Mad Max (1979) to Signs, Mel Gibson was one of Hollywood’s most important stars, able to steer his career to be able to form a major independent production house, Icon, and forge a separate career—in the manner of his peer, Kevin Costner (with whom there is much to compare)—as a filmmaker. Between his first and (even better) second Mad Max movie with Miller, The Road Warrior (1981), Gibson established his international standing as a serious actor with Peter Weir’s war tragedy, Gallipoli (1981).
He followed this with Weir’s next, more lavish production with Sigourney Weaver, The Year of Living Dangerously (1982). This launched Gibson’s Hollywood career, with the 1984 trifecta of The Bounty, with Anthony Hopkins, Mark Rydell’s The River with Sissy Spacek, and Gillian Armstrong’s Mrs. Soffel with Diane Keaton. Just as he completed his Mad Max trilogy, with Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome (1985), Mel Gibson reached superstar status with Richard Donner’s Lethal Weapon (1987), an enormous box-office hit that launched one of the era’s most successful franchises.
While Gibson took some risks, such as taking on the role of the self-tortured Dane in Franco Zefferelli’s Hamlet (1990) and making his first stab as a director with The Man Without a Face (1993), his stardom proved bankable with Lethal Weapons 2 (1989) and 3 (1992), Air America (1990) and Maverick (1994). Mel Gibson reached the peak of Hollywood renown with his director-star triumph, Braveheart (1995), a five-Oscar winner, including Best Picture and Best Director.
It proved to be a hard act to follow, with Gibson starring in a cluster of disposable yet lucrative thriller entertainments like Ransom (1996), Conspiracy Theory (1997), and Payback (1999). He took a left turn with director Wim Wenders on The Million Dollar Hotel but returned to the more familiar heroic ground on Roland Emmerich’s Revolutionary War epic, The Patriot (2000) and We Were Soldiers (2002).
Few major careers have taken such a dive so quickly: From prestige and awards-season projects, Mel Gibson’s acting filmography dropped into the realm of dubious fodder like The Expendables 3 (2014), Daddy’s Home 2 (2018)—for which he won a Razzie as worst supporting actor-- and The Professor and the Madman (2019). This happened partly because of Gibson’s increasingly toxic image, combined with his focus on directing projects that took years to prepare and produce.
Mel Gibson appeared as a co-star or supporting in several features since 2019, including films such as Last Looks (2022), with Charlie Hunnam and Morena Baccarin; Agent Game (2022), with Dermot Mulroney; director/writer Rosalind Ross’ biopic Father Stu (2022), with Mark Wahlberg and Jacki Weaver; the Canadian crime biopic Bandit (2022), co-starring Josh Duhamel, Elisha Cuthbert, and Nelson Carbonell; the Nadine Crocker-directed thriller Desperation Road (2023), with Garrett Hedlund and Willa Fitzgerald; director/co-writer/producer Asif Akbar’s crime thriller Boneyard (2024), with Brian Van Holt and Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson; the mashup of a coming-of-age and monster movie, Monster Summer (2024), co-starring Mason Thames and Lorraine Bracco; and starring in the RJ Collins-directed thriller, Mermaid (date to be announced), with Sofia Hublitz and Jordi Molla and produced by Beni Films/ETA Films/Filmopoly.
Gibson was director/producer of his first directorial feature since Hacksaw Ridge, the Mark Wahlberg-starring thriller Flight Risk (2025), co-starring Topher Grace and Michelle Dockery, and released by Lionsgate. Gibson returned to one of his most spectacular and controversial features as director, producer, and co-writer (with longtime collaborator Randall Wallace) pair of sequels, The Passion of the Christ: Resurrection—Chapter 1 (2025), and Chapter II (date to be announced), starring Jim Caviezel, Maia Morgenstern and Francesco De Vito, produced by Icon Productions and released via Samuel Goldwyn Films.
Mel Gibson Photos and Videos
Personal life
Known For
Lethal Weapon 3
Martin Riggs (1992)
Conspiracy Theory
Jerry Fletcher (1997)
Ransom
Tom Mullen (1996)
Mel Gibson Movies
Actor
Previous (19)
- 2025 |
Hunting Season
asBowdrie
When a reclusive survivalist and his daughter rescue a mysterious, wounded woman from a river, they become entangled in a deadly web of violence and revenge, forcing them to confront a brutal criminal to survive.
- 2024 |
- 2024 |
Monster Summer
asGene Carruthers
When a mysterious force begins to disrupt their big summer fun, Noah and his friends team up with a retired police detective to embark on a monstrous adventure to save their island.
- 2022 |
Father Stu
asBill Long
Follows the life of Father Stuart Long, a boxer-turned-priest who inspired countless people during his journey from self-destruction to redemption.
- 2020 |
- 2017 |
Daddy's Home 2
asKurt
Having finally gotten used to each other's existence, Brad and Dusty must now deal with their intrusive fathers during the holidays.
- 2017 |
Steve McQueen: American Icon
asSelf
Steve McQueen truly is an American Icon. One of America's most endearing and intriguing movie stars, he "is still the King of Cool" according to Esquire Magazine-50 years after the zenith of his career. The strangest thing about him, however, is barely known, despite countless bi... Read all
- 2014 |
The Expendables 3
asStonebanks
Barney augments his team with new blood for a personal battle: to take down Conrad Stonebanks, the Expendables co-founder and notorious arms trader who is hell bent on wiping out Barney and every single one of his associates.
- 2013 |
Machete Kills
asVoz
The U.S. government recruits Machete to battle his way through Mexico in order to take down an arms dealer who looks to launch a weapon into space.
- 2002 |
We Were Soldiers
asLt. Col. Hal Moore
The story of the first major battle of the American phase of the Vietnam War, and the soldiers on both sides that fought it, while their wives wait nervously and anxiously at home for the good news or the bad news.
- 2002 |
- 2000 |
The Patriot
asBenjamin Martin
Peaceful farmer Benjamin Martin is driven to lead the Colonial Militia during the American Revolution when a sadistic British officer murders his son.
- 2000 |
What Women Want
asNick Marshall
A cocky, chauvinistic advertising executive magically acquires the ability to hear what women are thinking.
- 2000 |
Chicken Run
asRocky
When a cockerel apparently flies into a chicken farm, the chickens see him as an opportunity to escape their evil owners.
- 1995 |
Braveheart
asWilliam Wallace
Scottish warrior William Wallace leads his countrymen in a rebellion to free his homeland from the tyranny of King Edward I of England.
- 1987 |
Lethal Weapon
asMartin Riggs
Two newly paired cops who are complete opposites must put aside their differences in order to catch a gang of drug smugglers.
- 1985 |
Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome
asMad Max
After being exiled from the most advanced town in post-apocalyptic Australia, a drifter travels with a group of abandoned children to rebel against the town's queen.
- 1982 |
The Road Warrior
asMax
In the post-apocalyptic Australian wasteland, a cynical drifter agrees to help a small, gasoline-rich community get rid of a horde of bandits.
- -- | as Dr. Alderwood
Director
Previous (4)
- 2025 |
Flight Risk
A pilot transports an Air Marshal accompanying a fugitive to trial. As they cross the Alaskan wilderness, tensions soar and trust is tested, as not everyone on board is who they seem.
- 2016 |
Hacksaw Ridge
World War II American Army Medic Desmond T. Doss, serving during the Battle of Okinawa, refuses to kill people and becomes the first man in American history to receive the Medal of Honor without firing a shot.
- 2004 |
The Passion of the Christ
Depicts the final twelve hours in the life of Jesus of Nazareth, on the day of his crucifixion in Jerusalem.
- 1995 |
Braveheart
Scottish warrior William Wallace leads his countrymen in a rebellion to free his homeland from the tyranny of King Edward I of England.
Producer
Previous (2)
- 2025 |
Flight Risk
A pilot transports an Air Marshal accompanying a fugitive to trial. As they cross the Alaskan wilderness, tensions soar and trust is tested, as not everyone on board is who they seem.
- 1995 |
Braveheart
Scottish warrior William Wallace leads his countrymen in a rebellion to free his homeland from the tyranny of King Edward I of England.
Facts About Mel Gibson
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