Mel Gibson is an actor is well known for his roles as an action hero. He became famous for his lead role in Mad Max and Lethal Weapon movie series where he played Max Rockatanskyrose and Martin Riggs respectively.
Mel Gibson Wiki, Height
Mel Gibson was born January 3, 1965, as Colmcille Gerard Gibson in Peekskill, New York. At age 12, he relocated with his parents to Sydney, Australia, and began his acting career at the National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA) where he studied acting. His first stage performance was in the NIDA production of Romeo and Juliet and his first screen appearance was in the film Summer City produced in 1977. Immediately after graduation from NIDA, Gibson enrolled in the Southern Australian Theater Company and performed in classical productions like Oedipus and Henry IV.
He soon started a production company called Icon Entertainment in the 1980s. He was cast in Gallipoli, an outstanding World War 1 drama directed by Peter Weir as one of the leads in 1981 which earned him an award for Best Actor from the Australian Film Institute and increased his fame as a talented actor.
The actor has kept an incredibly fit body frame over the years with a gallant height of 5ft 9in or 179.83cm.
Gibson as an Actor and Director
In 1984, Gibson launched into the American film industry with the movie, The River which was a success and won four Academy Award nominations. He went back to Australia in 1985 to wrap up the Mad Max series, Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome, in which singer Tina Turner featured. The actor also won that year’s People’s magazine’s first-ever “Sexiest Man Alive.” This skyrocketed the actor’s popularity.
Gibson was on screen in 1987 with the hit movie Lethal Weapon in which he was cast as a cop Martin Riggs alongside Danny Glover who played Roger Murtaugh. Due to the high recommendations the movie got, it was extended to three other series – Lethal Weapon 2 (1989), Lethal Weapon 3 (1992) and Lethal Weapon 4 (1998) in which Gibson and Glover played bad and good cops respectively throughout the series.
The actor is also known for his notable performance in Franco Zeffirelli’s Hamlet (1990) as a disturbed prince. This was also the first film produced by Gibson’s production company, Icon Productions followed by Beethoven’s biopic Immortal Beloved produced in 1994 and the Remake of Leo Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina produced in 1997.
As a director, his first movie was The Man Without a Face (1993), in which he featured as a victim with extreme burn scars. His most acclaimed work Braveheart (1995) in which he played a 13th-century Scottish nobleman, Sir William Wallace was also directed by him. The film won top honors in five categories at the Oscars, including Best Picture and Best Director. In 1995, Gibson did his first voice acting as John Smith in Disney’s Pocahontas.
Mel Gibson is also well known for directing The Passion of the Christ in 2004 which made headlines for its portrayal of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. Gibson, however, in response to the controversies, said he was divinely led to direct the movie by the Holy Spirit. His next historical epic was the Apocalypto in 2006 which starred a cast of Mexicans and Native American actors, also became a success topping the charts in the box office.
Controversies
The actor, director and producer has also faced his share of public criticism and personal battles from accusations of being racist and an alcoholic for which he went on three years probation and attended Alcoholics Anonymous meetings. Gibson came back to the limelight in 2010 with the thriller Edge of Darkness, where he played a police detective who investigates his daughter’s tragic death. He subsequently starred in the following action films: Get the Gringo (2012), Machete Kills (2013), and The Expendables 3 (2014).
In 2016 Gibson directed the Hacksaw Ridge after ten years of being rusty and not directing. The movie was not his best but was modest enough to earn him a Gloden Globe and Oscar nominations for good directing. The actor also made a comeback appearance at the Academy Awards in February 2017.
Gibson’s Wife, Divorce
Gibson married Robyn Moore in 1980 and they lived happily together until Robyn Moore filed for divorce in 2009 when news broke of her husband’s relationship with now-estranged girlfriend, Oksana Grigorieva. The divorce proceeding made headlines as the settlement was ranked as one of the most expensive settlements in Hollywood. Mel Gibson’s divorce cost him at least £250million.
Mel Gibson’s Girlfriend, Children, and Family
Soon after his divorce, Gibson dated Oksana Grigorieva who had a daughter for him in 2010. Their relationship ended shortly after with accusations of domestic abuse she made against him. Gibson filed for custody of the child but reached a settlement with Grigorieva for joint custody.
The actor is currently dating Rosalind Ross and in September 2016, he announced that they were expecting a together after two years of dating. They welcomed the child in early 2017.
The acclaimed actor now director and producer has grown a large clan over the years with seven children from ex-wife Robyn Moore: Hannah, twin boys Christian and Edward, William, Louis, Milo, and Thomas. He also has a daughter, Lucia, with former girlfriend Oksana Grigorieva, and a son Lars with current girlfriend Rosalind Ross.
His father is Hutton Peter Gibson a writer and his mother is Anne Rielly. Gibson’s paternal grandmother was the famous opera contralto, Eva Mylott.
