May 15, 2008: "Britney Spears, Mel Gibson Vacationing in Costa Rica"
Britney Spears and father Jamie are currently en-route to Costa Rice, where they will spend �a few days� relaxing with Hollywood superstar, Mel Gibson, and his wife, at the What Women Want star�s holiday home.
�They�re just going away for a few days to relax,� a source said.
According to the source, Gibson and Britney Spears� new-found friendship has little to do with the fact that they used to be neighbors, and more because of what the young pop star went through at the hands of the press during her various stints in a mental asylum earlier in the year.
�Mel and his wife Robin clearly saw a woman in crisis and wanted to extend themselves in any way possible,� the source explained.
Actor, director and producer Mel Gibson pictures and photo gallery.
Birth name: Mel Columcille Gerard Gibson.
Born: January 3, 1956 Peekskill, New York, USA.
-Robyn Moore (7 June 1980 - present) they seven children.
Mel Columcille Gerard Gibson is an American-born actor, director, and producer raised primarily in Australia. After establishing himself as a household name with the Mad Max and Lethal Weapon series, Gibson went on to direct and star in the Academy Award-winning Braveheart. Gibson's direction of Braveheart made him the sixth actor-turned-filmmaker to receive an Oscar for Best Director. In 2004, he directed and produced The Passion of the Christ, a blockbuster movie that portrayed the last hours of the life of Jesus. Gibson is an honorary Officer of the Order of Australia and was ranked the world's most powerful celebrity in the annual list by Forbes magazine in 2004.
Gibson is a native-born United States citizen, being born in Peekskill, New York, the sixth of eleven children. He is the son of Hutton Gibson and Anne Reilly Gibson, who was born in Columcille Parish, County Longford, Ireland. His paternal grandmother was the Australian opera singer, Eva Mylott. One of Mel's younger brothers, Donal, is also an actor. Gibson's first name comes from a 5th century Irish saint, Mel, founder of the diocese of Ardagh containing most of his mother's native county, while his second name, Columcille is also linked to an Irish saint. Columcille is the name of the parish in County Longford where Anne Reilly was born and raised.
Hutton Gibson relocated his family to Sydney, Australia in 1968, after winning a work related injury lawsuit against New York Central. After a seven day trial on February 14, 1968, the jury awarded him $145,000. The family moved when Gibson was twelve. This move was in protest of the Vietnam War, for which Gibson's elder brothers risked being drafted. It is also because Gibson's father, a devout Traditionalist Catholic, believed that the changes to American society which took place during the 1960s were immoral.
Gibson graduated from the National Institute of Dramatic Art in Sydney in 1977. His acting career began in Australia with appearances in television series, including The Sullivans, Cop Shop and Punishment. Gibson's first film was Summer City.
Gibson's good looks made him a natural for leading male roles in action projects such as the "Mad Max" series of films, Peter Weir's Gallipoli, and the "Lethal Weapon" series of films. Later, Gibson expanded into a variety of acting projects including human dramas such as Hamlet, and comedic roles such as those in Maverick and What Women Want. His greatest artistic and financial success came with films where he expanded beyond acting into directing and producing, such as 1993's The Man Without a Face, 1995's Braveheart, 2004's Passion of the Christ and 2006's Apocalypto. Gibson was considered for roles in Batman, GoldenEye, Amadeus, Gladiator, The Golden Child, X-Men, Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, Runaway Bride and Primary Colors. Actor Sean Connery once suggested Gibson should play the next James Bond to Connery's M. Gibson turned down the role, reportedly because he feared being typecast.
On July 25, 1997, Gibson was named an honorary Officer of the Order of Australia (AO), in recognition of his "service to the Australian film industry". The award was honorary because substantive awards are made only to Australian citizens. Gibson is the first person awarded People magazine's "Sexiest Man Alive". Gibson quietly declined the Chevalier des Arts et Lettres from the French government in 1995 as a protest against France�s resumption of nuclear testing in the Southwest Pacific. Time magazine chose Mel Gibson and Michael Moore as Men of the Year in 2004, but Gibson turned down the photo session and interview, and the cover went instead to George W. Bush.
On June 7, 1980, Gibson married Robyn Moore, a nurse whom he met through a dating service, in a Catholic Church in Forestville, New South Wales. He has referred to his wife as "my Rock of Gibraltar, only much prettier." They have seven children, one daughter and six sons: Hannah (born 1980), twins Edward and Christian (born 1982), Willie (born 1985), Louis (born 1988), Milo (born 1990), and Tommy (born 1999).
Hannah Gibson, Gibson's eldest child and only daughter, married the musician Kenny Wayne Shepherd on September 16, 2006. She had previously considered becoming a Catholic nun or religious sister.
Gibson has multiple homes in Malibu, CA, an estate in Greenwich, Connecticut, a private island near Fiji and a ranch in Australia. In December 2004, Gibson purchased Mago Island from Tokyu Corporation of Japan for $15 million. Descendants of the original native inhabitants of Mago (who were displaced in the 1860s) have protested the purchase. He also has a house in Guanacaste, Costa Rica. In July 2007, he sold his 76 acre estate in Connecticut for $40 million to an unnamed buyer.
Gibson is an admirer of the Baroque artist Caravaggio. Much of the cinematography of The Passion of the Christ was designed to evoke the painter's style.
Gibson's height is disputed. Varied sources place him from 5'6" (170 cm) to 5'11" (180 cm).
-Max Rockatansky in the Mad Max films.
-Martin Riggs in the Lethal Weapon films.
-Nick Marshall in What Women Want.