Early Life & Family

-The doctor at Mel’s birth was Dr. Charles Sweet, whom is also the grandfather of actor Jay Danger.

-Mel was born at 4:45PM EST.

-He and author J.R.R. Tolkien share the same birthday.

-In Portuguese, “Mel” means “honey”.

-He has a ‘horseshoe kidney’, which is when a person’s two kidneys fuse together and form a horseshoe-shape.

-His family line goes back several generations in Australia, but his ancestors originally came from Ireland and Scotland.

-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!” (1964).

-Brother of actor Donal Gibson.

-Sons, Edward and Christian attended University of Colorado at Boulder. [2001]

-Is the father-in-law of blues guitarist and prodigy Kenny Wayne Shepherd. [2006]

Education & Career

-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.

-Educated at University of New South Wales, Australia.

-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 (National Institute of Dramatic Arts) in Australia in 1975.

-Fellow actor Geoffrey Rush was his college roommate.

-Attended NIDA with Judy Davis. They played Romeo and Juliet together.

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

-He was a part of the movment 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 1980’s and found work in other parts of the world. Other members included actress Judy Davis and directors George Miller, Gillian Armstrong and Peter Weir.

-Owns a production company called ICON with branches in the USA, Australia and the UK.

-For The Passion of the Christ (2004), 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.

-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 then Oprah Winfrey ($210,000,000), JK Rowling ($147,000,000), Tiger Woods and Michael Schumacher ($80,000,000 each), and Steven Spielberg ($75,000,000) in 2004.*

Film Roles

-Was offered the role of Eliot Ness in The Untouchables (1987) but turned it down.

-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. In order to look old, he has to wear gray contracts to subdue his bright blue eyes.

-Was considered for the role of Batman/Bruce Wayne in Batman (1989).

-Almost turned down the role of William Wallace in Braveheart (1995) 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.

-Was considered for the role of Wolverine in X-Men (2000).

-If you would like to read more trivia on specific films, click here.
Also, for more on past film role offers, click here.

Awards & Honors

-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.

-Awarded the AO (Officer of the Order of Australia), Australia’s highest honor. [Mid-1997]

-Awarded an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree from Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles and gave the commencement address. [May 2003]

-Want to know what other award nominations and wins Mel received? Click here.

Rankings

-People Magazine: the first “Sexiest Man Alive”. [1985]
-People Magazine: one of the “50 Most Beautiful People” in the world. [1990]
-People Magazine: one of the “50 Most Beautiful People” in the world. [1991]
-Empire Magazine: #37 on the “100 Sexiest Stars” in film history. [1995]
-People Magazine: one of the “50 Most Beautiful People” in the world. [1996]
-Empire (UK) Magazine: #12 on the “The Top 100 Movie Stars of All Time”. [1997]
-Premiere Magazine: #17 on the “Power 100″. [2002]
-Premiere Magazine: #15 on the “Power 100″. [2003]
-Premiere Magazine: #10 on the “Power 100″. [2004]
-Premiere Magazine: #15 on the “Power 100″. [2005]
-Forbes Magazine: #1 “Celebrity 100 List”. [2004]*
-Entertainment Weekly: #48 on the “Greatest Movie Stars” of all time.