The film's success established Gibson as an international star. Later that same year, he reprised his role as the leather-clad hero in Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior (released in the United States as The Road Warrior in 1982). Gibson received his second AFI Award (again for Best Actor) for his performance as a patriotic idealist in Peter Weir's 1981 World War I drama, Gallipoli.
Furthermore, Mad Max became the biggest commercial success of any Australian film to date, grossing more than $100 million worldwide. For his performance in the latter film, Gibson earned his first Australian Film Institute Award, for Best Actor. He graduated to mainstream cinema in 1979 with two film roles: as a futuristic warrior in Mad Max, and as a mentally disabled man who falls in love with an older woman, played by Piper Laurie, in Tim.
He finished his high school education at Asquith Boys High School in New South Wales, Australia.Īfter conquering the stage, Gibson tried his hand at television, landing his first role on the Australian series The Sullivans (1976-83). Leo's Catholic College, an all-boys Catholic high school. Gibson spent the remainder of his childhood in Sydney, where he attended St. Shortly after the onset of the Vietnam War, Hutton Gibson relocated his family to Australia for fear that his sons would be drafted into battle. He was the sixth of 11 children of Hutton and Ann Gibson, Roman Catholics of Irish descent. Mel Colmcille Gerard Gibson was born on January 3, 1956, in Peekskill, New York. Gibson's standing as a bankable star suffered in the wake of his controversial comments and domestic abuse allegations in the 2000s, but he later rediscovered directing success with the Oscar-nominated Hacksaw Ridge. Who Is Mel Gibson?īy the 1980s, Mel Gibson was internationally known for his starring roles in the Lethal Weapon series, and the following decade he was recognized as an Academy Award-winning director for Braveheart. Actor Mel Gibson rose to fame as the star of the 'Mad Max' and 'Lethal Weapon' film series and later earned acclaim as the director of 'Braveheart,' 'The Passion of the Christ' and 'Hacksaw Ridge,' among other features.