Here are some brief bios of some actors that I like.
Raised in Australia since the age of 12,
Mel Gibson
was the sixth of 11 kids. Mel's father moved the family there for financial reasons but also to protect his older sons from the Vietnam draft. Mel graduated from a Catholic high school with dreams of being a chef or a journalist but instead landed in the National Institute for Dramatic Art. While still a student
Mel made his film debut in
Summer City, where he played a surfer named Scallop. After graduation he joined the State
Theatre Company of South Australia and appeared in many pieces before director George Miller invited him to audition for the lead role in his post-apocalyptic film,
Mad Max.
Mel got the part and the 1980 movie became the highest-grossing Aussie movie in history. In 1982 the even more successful sequel, Road Warrior, was released in the States to ecstatic crowds. Mel's star could now be seen from all continents.
With the World War I epic, Gallipoli, Mel vaulted over the hazardous
action-picture trap and won the Australian Film Institute Award for Best Actor. The Bounty and
Mrs. Soffel
underscored the dawning reality that Mel Gibson was a fine actor as well as a good-looking guy. In 1985 he was named People's first ever "Sexiest Man Alive". As a loopy, suicidal cop in
Lethal Weapon, he proved that he still had box-office appeal. Gibson has earned the right to play both sides; no one laughed when he did Hamlet but they were also glad to see Maverick. Mel then donned kilt and kicked some English ass as
Braveheart's
William Wallace. This film earned him Oscars for Best Director and Best Picture in 1996. Mel has since starred in
Ransom
and Conspiracy Theory, Lethal Weapon 4 and Payback.
Mel will next appear in Fahrenheit 451, Deadline Salonika
.
As for his personal life, he is married with 6 kids with the 7th on the way. Back at the ranch in Australia, Mel plays it pretty straight. He seems to take his family more seriously than his movies.
Check out this page for some reviews of Mel's movies. Check out my Mel Gibson Photo Gallery.
Leonardo Wilhelm DiCaprio is undoubtedly one of the greatest actors of his generation. At 23 years of age he has earned numerous awards and nominations; enough to make other actors feverishly jealous. DiCaprio has the unique ability to combine a perfect blend of emotion, intensity, and reality in his acting,
consistently delivering stunning performances.With the enormous success of Titanic, Leonardo DiCaprio has become a household name. Though to most fans he is known as simply Leo.
Leo was born on November 11, 1974 in Los Angeles, CA. He was raised in what he likes to call "the Hollywood slums" by parents who were old hippies.
His mother has said she chose the name Leonardo after she received a swift kick from her unborn son while she was standing in the Uffizi gazing at a Leonardo da Vinci painting. Although his parents separated before his first birthday they managed to raise him together.
Though his star has just recently rocketed to international fame, no one can say that
Leonardo DiCaprio
hasn't paid his dues; he suffered with Alan Thicke and Kirk Cameron on ABC's Growing Pains before beating out 400
other young hopefuls for the part of Tobias Wolff in
This Boy's Life.
Critics agreed that he all but stole the movie out from under co-star Robert Deniro. Leo proved he was no fluke with his next movie,
What's Eating Gilbert Grape,
for which he won an Oscar nomination. Suddenly Leo was being hailed as the new rebel--the young, tortured soul that Hollywood loved to devour. Leo's next career choices did nothing to alter that perception. He then starred in
The Quick and the Dead, The Basketball Diaries and Total Eclipse,
all of which bombed at the box office.
Right now it seems that Leo's days of box office bombs are over. His cross-over from art-house darling to mainstream started with Romeo + Juliet and Marvin's Room. But the accolades he got for those movies was nothing compared to the reception he got for Titanic. This was the film that once and for all upgraded him from boy to leading man status. Leo then kept his momentum going by starring as the good and evil twins to the French monarchy in The Man in the Iron Mask.
Check out this page for some reviews of Leo's movies.
Jensen Ackles
is quickly becoming one of the strongest young leading men in daytime. His good looks and immediate ease as DAYS' Eric Brady, along with his ability to speak volumes with his body language, make him a standout newcomer. He's clever, funny, slightly outrageous, yet respectful. He's also sweet, confident and boyish. He describes himself as being young, fun, and 6 feet tall. As an actor, he's at ease with himself, has great instincts and is coachable. He comes prepared and has a healthy respect for his cast mates and
the profession. For such a young actor,
Jensen
has a very exciting quality. Jensen, a native of Richardson, Texas was discovered at an acting seminar in Dallas three years ago, when he was a senior in high school. He has only been in Los Angeles a little more than a year. After only two weeks, he landed a guest-starring role in "Sweet Valley High" and shortly, thereafter, was signed as a series regular on the NBC series "Mr. Rhodes."
You would swear that 20 year old Jensen is something of a Valley guy - he certainly looks the part. But Jensen maintains he's pure Texas. Admittedly he has a nasty, nasty case of Texas pride. In addition to missing his family "a lot," he is also missing real Texas cooking. Jensen grew up in a tight-knit family, the middle child. He has a 23 year old brother and a 13 year old sister.
You can catch Jensen on Days of Our Lives weekdays on NBC at 10am and on Global at 1pm (Atlantic time).
Check out my Jensen Ackles Photo Gallery.
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