Despite a thick Australian accent in some of his earlier films, actor Mel Gibson was born in Peeksill, NY, to Irish Catholic parents. One of eleven children, Gibson didn't set foot in Australia until 1968, and only developed an Aussie accent after his classmates teased him for his American tongue.

Gibson was brought to the attention of director George Miller, who cast him in Mad Max, the film that first brought him worldwide recognition. This was followed by the title role in Tim, starring as a handicapped young man for which he won an Australian Film Institute Best Actor Award. He went on to reprise his role as Mad Max in Mad Max -- The Road Warrior and Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome and teamed with director Peter Weir in Gallipoli, which brought Gibson a second Australian Best Actor Award. A few years later, Weir and Gibson again collaborated on The Year of Living Dangerously.

In the early '90s, Gibson founded ICON Productions, and through it made his directorial debut with 1993's The Man Without a Face. The film, which also starred Gibson as a horrifically burned teacher harboring a secret, achieved only middling box-office success, though it was considered a well-wrought effort for a first-time director. Gibson would fare much better in 1994 when he rejoined Richard Donner in the movie adaptation of Maverick

Gibson made his American film debut in "The River". He starred in another popular trilogy with the high-grossing "Lethal Weapon" series. Gibson’s other films include "The Bounty," "Mrs" Soffel," "Tequila Sunrise," "Bird on a Wire," and "Air America". When Gibson starred in "Hamlet," directed by Franco Zeffirelli, the film was the first to be produced by Gibson’s production company, Icon Productions.