FACTS

Name: Mel Columbcille(Colum'kill) Gerard Gibson

Birthdate: January 3, 1956

Birthplace: Peekskill,New York

Occupation: Actor, Director, Producer

Family: Robyn Moore(wife), Hannah, Edward, Christian, William, Louis, Milo, and the new baby boy!!!!!:)(kids)

Brothers/Sisters:Danny,Donal,Kevin,Mary,Maura Louise,Patricia,Shiela,Chris,Ann(not in order of birth)

Education: Mel went to The National Institute Of Dramatic Arts in Sydney, Australia.

BIOGRAPHY

Mel's grandmother, Eva Mylott, was a famous opera singer in the early 1900's. After having just two children(one mel's father, Hutton), Eva died. Mel never met either one of his grandparents on his fathers side.

Mel's parents, Hutton Gibson and Anne Reilly, were married on May 1, 1944. Hutton declared on their wedding day that "we're going to have ten children".

Mel's father was a very dedicated Catholic, and would only marry a Catholic girl that was a virgin.

Mel was the 6th of 10 children(not including his adopted 11th brother, Jeremy). Mel was born at 4:45 PM at Peekskill Hospital.

Mel's brothers and sisters are(in order of birth):

Patricia, Sheila, Mary, Kevin, Maura Louise, Mel(of course), Danny and Chris(twins), Donal and Ann(twins), and his adopted brother, Jeremy.

Mel's father was nicknamed "Red" because of his red hair. Nobody ever called him Hutton, but did call him Hutt.

Mel and his family moved too Australia in 1968, when Mel was 12. He didn't exactly fit in at first, and was teased at school because of his American accent, which he later adopted to Australian.

Mel went to St. Leo's College when he moved to Australia. He quikly became friends with Jeremy Connoly, another loner, and his future roommate. Mel also met Deborah Foreman.

Mel started smoking and drinking at age 13. Mel's father considered smoking and drinking the two most deadly sins, but all of his kids except his oldest Patricia, smoke and drink.

Mel got up the nerve to ask a girl out in 1971, right after his 15th birthday. Mel was always a very shy person, not very outgoing, and relyed on booze to boost his social courage.

After graduating highscool, Mel wanted to be a journalist, it was his older sister, Sheila, who sent out an application to NIDA(National Institute Of Dramatic Art), and didn't bother to tell him, until they called to ask for an interview.

Mel made quick friends with Steve Bisley when he arrived at NIDA, his future roomate, and co-star in such movies as Summer City and Mad Max.

Mel, Steve Bisley, Monroe Reimers, and Jeremy Connoly, became roommates, and moved into a small apartment on Bondi Beach.

Mel went on too star in his first two movies with NIDA buddies, Steve and Monroe, but Jeremy eventually dissapeared from the picture, as he didn't fit in with all of their actor friends.

Mel met Robyn Moore, a dentist assistant in 1974. They were friend for six years before they began dating, and eventually were married on June 7, 1980. Mel and Robyn's first child, Hannah, was born in November 1980. Mel was in Egypt, shooting Gallipolli, but he heard the birth over the phone.

June 2, 1982, Robyn gave birth to twin boys Christian and Edward.

Baby #4 was born in the middle of June, a few days after Mel returned home from shooting Mr.s Soffel. He was named William.

The River began filming in Tennessee. The River was Mel's Hollywood debut, and he considered it his big break. During the shooting of The River, rumor was said that Mel had died in a plane crash. Newspaper headlines read "Star Mel Gibson dies at the young age of 27." Mel's agent was awoken in the middle of the night by a phone call from a journalist, wanting some information for the obituary's. Mel's agent was horrified, how could this have happened. Finnaly, Mel's agent decided to give him a ring at the house in Tennessee, where Mel was supposed to be staying with his entire family. Much to his relief, a very healthy, upbeat Mel answered the phone.

Mel and Pat Lovell create a production company, LovellGibson. Around the same time Mel is offered the role of Hook in Peter Pan, which he seriously considers. Mel soon forgets about the PP project after being offered a role in the buddy-buddy cop movie, "Lethal Weapon". The role of Hook goes to Dustin Hoffman. The movie was released in 1991 and was re-titled as Hook.

Louis, Mel and Robyn's 5th child, was born in August, 1987, right after the release of Lethal Weapon.

The LovellGibson production company finnaly folds in 89' without completing any projects when Mel formed his own, LA based production company, Icon.

Some rumors began that Mel was gay after an Aussie magazine, Cleo, took a picture of Mel's head and put it on another body in a, well, bisexual-like pose. All of the rumors stopped after several interviews with Mel where he demanded, "Do I look like a bisexual, to a talk like them, do I move like them?"

Halfway through the shoot of Air America, baby number 6, Milo, was born. Since the producer, Dan Melnick declined Mel the oppurtunity to fly home to Sydney to wittness Milo's birth, he was given a blow-by-blow account of the birth over the phone by his 9 year old daughter, Hannah, who was standing in by her mother's side for Mel.

Upset over missing Milo's birth, Mel declined the lead role in Ghost, which earned Patrick Swayze 10 million.

Mel had become a regular alchoholic over the years, downing 5 can's of beer before coming to the set of LW 2 each morning. Mel's alchohol quota slowly grew while working on the set of Tequila Sunrise.

Robyn threatened in 1991 that their marriage would end if Mel didn't stop drinking.

A terrible rumor is born that claimed Mel had a more then friendly relationship with a young, blonde, English teenager, and that he had left his family to live with her. Eventually, this rumor diminished and several newspaper articles had apology letters to Mel included in them for such untrue, malicious rumors.

In 1993, Mel stopped drinking and began to visit sick children in hospitals. Mel still visits sick kids to this day.

In 1995, Braveheart is released. That same year, Mel took home two Golden Globe awards for best male performance and Best Director for Bravheart. Braveheart took control of every award show in 95' and 96', taking home over 10 awards.

Let's skip a couple years now and get to 1998 when the 4th in the Lethal Weapon series is released. The movie goes both ways with the critics, but is loved by the fans. Mel does an outstanding acting job, just as he did 11 years ago on the set of Lethal Weapon when he did one of the most memorable and outstanding acting jobs of all time when Riggs sticks a gun in his mouth, ready to join his dead wife. The same year, Payback is released, a definate 180 for Mel as he stars as the BAD GUY in the movie that reached #1 it's first week.

April 14, 1999, Mel's 7th child, a baby boy is born.

As Mel makes his way through his forties, a lifetime of drinking, womanizing, and overworking has taken it's tole, but Mel still stands strong.