Mel Gibson is probably best known for big blockbuster action films. In a career spanning 25 years, he has played soldiers, futuristic warriors and historical leaders.
Commonly thought of as Australian, Gibson was born in New York, but moving to Australia in 1968 where he ended up in drama school. His screen debut, "Summer City" (1976) was while he was still a student, and after that he took to the stage. It was in 1979 when he made two startlingly different films that Gibson came to public attention. "Tim" he played a mildly retarded handy man, and in "Mad Max" he portrayed a vengeful young policeman of the future. It was the Mad Max characterisation which was to dominate his career.
He achieved critical acclaim by appearing in Peter Weir's First World War drama "Gallipoli" (1981), and also in his second collaboration with Weir in "The Year of Living Dangerously"(1983), in which he played a reporter covering the Indonesian Coup. His Hollywood debut was to be a year later in "The Bounty" (1984) opposite Anthony Hopkins. After this he launched fully into an action career, finishing one franchise ("Mad Max") and starting another ("Lethal Weapon"). Not until Zeffirelli's "Hamlet" (1990) was he once again allowed to test his ability.
One of Hollywood's most powerful players for over a decade, his choice of directorial debut, "The Man Without A Face" (1993), was a sensitive film, far removed from the action hero that audiences associate with Mel Gibson. This month he makes his first contribution to romantic comedy with "What Women Want". Whether he knows the answer to that we will never know, but he seems to know what the public want.
