Australians in Hollywood : Biographical Notes

Mel Gibson
Although chiefly known as an actor, Mel Gibson (b. 1956) remains the only Australian to have won a best director Oscar. He was born in New York State , the sixth of 11 children of a railroad brakeman and an Australian opera singer. In 1968 the family moved to Australia , where Mel attended NIDA. In student productions he played Romeo to Judy Davis's Juliet, and Vladimir to Geoffrey Rush's Estragon. In 1979 he was Mad Max. In 1981 his performances in Mad Max 2 (released in America as The Road Warrior ) and Gallipoli began to attract international attention. His inauspicious Hollywood debut came in The Bounty (1984), but Lethal Weapon (1987) established him as an A-list star. His subsequent films include Tequila Sunrise (1988), Lethal Weapons II , III and IV (1989, 1992, 1998), Hamlet (1990), Ransom (1996), What Women Want (2000) and Signs (2002). As director he has made The Man Without a Face (1993), Braveheart (1995), which won best director and best picture Oscars, and the controversial The Passion (2003).

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