1.
Sydney
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Sydney /ˈsɪdni/ is the state capital of New South Wales and the most populous city in Australia and Oceania. Located on Australias east coast, the metropolis surrounds the worlds largest natural harbour, residents of Sydney are known as Sydneysiders. The Sydney area has been inhabited by indigenous Australians for at least 30,000 years, the first British settlers, led by Captain Arthur Phillip, arrived in 1788 to found Sydney as a penal colony, the first European settlement in Australia. Since convict transportation ended in the century, the city has transformed from a colonial outpost into a major global cultural. As at June 2016 Sydneys estimated population was 5,005,358, in the 2011 census,34 percent of the population reported having been born overseas, representing many different nationalities and making Sydney one of the most multicultural cities in the world. There are more than 250 different languages spoken in Sydney and about one-third of residents speak a language other than English at home and it is classified as an Alpha+ World City by the Globalization and World Cities Research Network, indicating its influence in the region and throughout the world. Ranked eleventh in the world for economic opportunity, Sydney has a market economy with strengths in finance, manufacturing. Its gross regional product was $337 billion in 2013, the largest in Australia, there is a significant concentration of foreign banks and multinational corporations in Sydney and the city is promoted as one of Asia Pacifics leading financial hubs. Its natural features include Sydney Harbour, the Royal National Park, man-made attractions such as the Sydney Opera House, Sydney Tower and the Sydney Harbour Bridge are also well known to international visitors. The first people to inhabit the now known as Sydney were indigenous Australians having migrated from northern Australia. Radiocarbon dating suggests human activity first started to occur in the Sydney area from around 30,735 years ago, the earliest British settlers called them Eora people. Eora is the term the indigenous used to explain their origins upon first contact with the British. Its literal meaning is from this place, prior to the arrival of the British there were 4,000 to 8,000 native people in Sydney from as many as 29 different clans. Sydney Cove from Port Jackson to Petersham was inhabited by the Cadigal clan, the principal language groups were Darug, Guringai, and Dharawal. The earliest Europeans to visit the area noted that the people were conducting activities such as camping and fishing, using trees for bark and food, collecting shells. Development has destroyed much of the citys history including that of the first inhabitants, there continues to be examples of rock art and engravings located in the protected Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park. The first meeting between the people and the British occurred on 29 April 1770 when Lieutenant James Cook landed at Botany Bay on the Kurnell Peninsula. He noted in his journal that they were confused and somewhat hostile towards the foreign visitors, Cook was on a mission of exploration and was not commissioned to start a settlement
2.
Australian New Wave
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The Australian New Wave was an era of resurgence in worldwide popularity of Australian cinema, particularly in the United States. It began in the early 1970s and lasted until the mid-late 1980s, the era marked the emergence of Ozploitation, a film genre characterised by the exploitation of colloquial Australian culture. The Australian film industry declined after World War II, coming to a stop by the early 1960s. The Gorton and Whitlam Governments intervened and rescued the industry from its expected oblivion, the 1970s saw a huge renaissance of the Australian film industry. Australia produced nearly 400 films between 1970 and 1985, more than had been made in the history of the Australian film industry. In contrast to pre-New Wave films, New Wave films are viewed as fresh and creative, possessing a vitality, a love of open spaces. The straight-ahead narrative style of many Australian New Wave films reminded American audiences of the Hollywood-maverick period of the late 1960s, several films of the Australian New Wave are regarded as classics of world cinema and have been ranked among films considered the best. Published in 2004, The New York Times Guide to the Best 1,000 Movies Ever Made includes Walkabout, Mad Max, Breaker Morant, Gallipoli, The Road Warrior, The Year of Living Dangerously and Dead Calm. In 2008, Empire magazine chose The Road Warrior and The Year of Living Dangerously as two of the 500 Greatest Movies of All Time, ranking in at #280 and #161 respectively. The 2011 book 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die features Walkabout, Picnic at Hanging Rock, The Last Wave, The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith, My Brilliant Career, Mad Max and Gallipoli. Since its re-release in 2009, Wake in Fright has been assessed as one of, if not the greatest, many Australian filmmakers and actors launched international careers through their work in the Australian New Wave. These films are noted for their celebration of Australian popular culture, camp aesthetic, colourful makeup and costuming, prominent glitter films include Strictly Ballroom, Muriels Wedding, The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert and Love Serenade. Other prominent post-new wave revival films include Babe, The Castle, Proof, Romper Stomper, Shine, The Big Steal, Rabbit-Proof Fence, and Kiss or Kill. Film Reference Encyclopedia - Australian New Wave, The Comedies New York Times - Australia Prides Its New Wave of Films article,15 February 1981
3.
Academy Awards
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The various category winners are awarded a copy of a golden statuette, officially called the Academy Award of Merit, which has become commonly known by its nickname Oscar. The awards, first presented in 1929 at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel, are overseen by AMPAS, the awards ceremony was first broadcast on radio in 1930 and televised for the first time in 1953. It is now live in more than 200 countries and can be streamed live online. The Academy Awards ceremony is the oldest worldwide entertainment awards ceremony and its equivalents – the Emmy Awards for television, the Tony Awards for theater, and the Grammy Awards for music and recording – are modeled after the Academy Awards. The 89th Academy Awards ceremony, honoring the best films of 2016, were held on February 26,2017, at the Dolby Theatre, in Los Angeles, the ceremony was hosted by Jimmy Kimmel and was broadcast on ABC. A total of 3,048 Oscars have been awarded from the inception of the award through the 88th, the first Academy Awards presentation was held on May 16,1929, at a private dinner function at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel with an audience of about 270 people. The post-awards party was held at the Mayfair Hotel, the cost of guest tickets for that nights ceremony was $5. Fifteen statuettes were awarded, honoring artists, directors and other participants in the industry of the time. The ceremony ran for 15 minutes, winners were announced to media three months earlier, however, that was changed for the second ceremony in 1930. Since then, for the rest of the first decade, the results were given to newspapers for publication at 11,00 pm on the night of the awards. The first Best Actor awarded was Emil Jannings, for his performances in The Last Command and he had to return to Europe before the ceremony, so the Academy agreed to give him the prize earlier, this made him the first Academy Award winner in history. With the fourth ceremony, however, the system changed, for the first six ceremonies, the eligibility period spanned two calendar years. At the 29th ceremony, held on March 27,1957, until then, foreign-language films had been honored with the Special Achievement Award. The 74th Academy Awards, held in 2002, presented the first Academy Award for Best Animated Feature, since 1973, all Academy Awards ceremonies always end with the Academy Award for Best Picture. The Academy also awards Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting, see also § Awards of Merit categories The best known award is the Academy Award of Merit, more popularly known as the Oscar statuette. The five spokes represent the branches of the Academy, Actors, Writers, Directors, Producers. The model for the statuette is said to be Mexican actor Emilio El Indio Fernández, sculptor George Stanley sculpted Cedric Gibbons design. The statuettes presented at the ceremonies were gold-plated solid bronze
4.
Scots College (Sydney)
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The Scots College is an independent Presbyterian day and boarding school for boys, located in Bellevue Hill, an eastern suburb of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Students attend Scots from all regions of the metropolitan area. The college was formed in 1893 by three men, the Reverend Dr Archibald Gilchrist, the Reverend William Dill-Macky and the Reverend Arthur Aspinall. Gilchrist devised the motto of Utinam Patribus Nostris Digni Simus. The Reverend Arthur Aspinall, who became the first Principal, was minister to the Forbes Parish from 1874 to 1887, an educated man himself, with a love of learning, he saw the need to educate the sons of the pastoralists of the area. His dream was for a school in Sydney to which these very isolated farming families could send their children. The Presbyterian Church was not happy with the proposal to start the school, Aspinall became the guarantor, advancing the capital required, while the possibility of starting the school was still a matter of bitter contention within the Church hierarchy. Thus Scots opened as a private enterprise, once the school was established and functioning, the Church Assembly saw no reason to continue to oppose the idea of the school. In 1906 Aspinall sold the college to the Church for seven thousand pounds, the college was originally established at Lady Robinson Beach, now renamed Brighton-Le-Sands, near the shores of Botany Bay. The initial school building was the modified, de-licensed New Brighton Hotel on The Grand Parade, the renovations to the hotel were done by Arthur Aspinalls brother, Albert Aspinall. The first Principal, the Rev Arthur Aspinall, remained in position until his retirement in 1913. The school was officially opened 28 January 1893 by the Governor of New South Wales, villiers Street, Rockdale was named in honour of this occasion. There were ten day students and 25 Boarders, the period when the school opened was a time of depression. The first few years for the school were difficult, there were 55 boys enrolled at the school when, in 1895, the school moved to its current location in Bellevue Hill. The school occupied St Killians, the home of Judge Josephson. Before he retired, Aspinall had added new buildings to the school, the school was still surrounded by many areas of bushland which caught fire on hot summer days. Lessons would be cancelled so that the students could assist in the fire fighting, Aspinall was a stern Principal who dealt harshly with misdemeanours. Often his acerbic tongue and brilliant use of words produced ridicule more intimidating than any of his physical punishments, but he was also capable of empathy
5.
University of Sydney
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The University of Sydney is an Australian public research university in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is Australias first university and is regarded as one of the leading universities. The university comprises 16 faculties and schools, through which it offers bachelor, master, in 2011 it had 32,393 undergraduate and 16,627 graduate students. The university is known as one of Australias sandstone universities. Five Nobel and two Crafoord laureates have been affiliated with the university as graduates and faculty, the university has educated six prime ministers and 24 justices of the High Court of Australia, including four chief justices. Sydney has produced 24 Rhodes Scholars and several Gates Scholars and it would take two attempts on Wentworths behalf, however, before the plan was finally adopted. The university was established via the passage of the University of Sydney Act, two years later, the university was inaugurated on 11 October 1852 in the Big Schoolroom of what is now Sydney Grammar School. The first principal was John Woolley, the first professor of chemistry, by 1859, the university had moved to its current site in the Sydney suburb of Camperdown. Most of the estate of John Henry Challis was bequeathed to the university and this was thanks in part due to William Montagu Manning who argued against the claims by British Tax Commissioners. The following year seven professorships were created, anatomy, zoology, engineering, history, law, logic and mental philosophy, the New England University College was founded as part of the University of Sydney in 1938 and later separated in 1954 to become the University of New England. During the late 1960s, the University of Sydney was at the centre of rows to introduce courses on Marxism and feminism at the major Australian universities, prior to 1981, the Sydney Institute of Education was the Sydney Teachers College. In January 2005, the University of Sydney transferred the OAC to Charles Sturt University, in February 2007, the university agreed to acquire a portion of the land granted to St Johns College to develop the Sydney Institute of Health and Medical Research. This caused concern among some groups, who argued that it would interfere with scientific medical research, at the start of 2010, the university controversially adopted a new logo. It retains the same university arms, however it takes on a modern look. The original Coat of Arms from 1857 continues to be used for ceremonial and other formal purposes, concerns about public funding for higher education were reflected again in 2014 following the federal governments proposal to deregulate student fees. In order to enhance its competitiveness locally and internationally, the university has introduced plans to consolidate existing degrees to reduce the overall number of programs. In 2001, the University of Sydney chancellor, Dame Leonie Kramer, was forced to resign by the governing body. In 2005, the Public Service Association of New South Wales, action initiated by Spence to improve the financial sustainability of the university has alienated some students and staff
6.
Aboriginal Australians
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Aboriginal Australians are legally defined as people who are members of the Aboriginal race of Australia. Until the 1980s, the legal and administrative criterion for inclusion in this category was race. In the era of colonial and post-colonial government, access to human rights depended upon your race. If you were a full blooded Aboriginal native, the Constitution of Australia, in its original form as of 1901, referred to Aboriginals twice, but without definition. Section 51 gave the Commonwealth parliament power to legislate with respect to the people of any throughout the Commonwealth. The purpose of this provision was to give the Commonwealth power to regulate non-white immigrant workers, the only other reference, Section 127, provided simply that aboriginal natives shall not be counted in reckoning the size of the population of the Commonwealth or any part of it. The purpose of section 127 was to prevent the inclusion of Aboriginal people in section 24 determinations of the distribution of House of Representatives seats amongst the states and territories, after both of these references were removed by the 1967 referendum, the Australian Constitution had no references to Aboriginals. Since that time, there have been a number of proposals to amend the constitution to specifically mention Indigenous Australians, the change to Section 51 gave the Commonwealth parliament the power to make laws specifically with respect to Aboriginal peoples as a race. The case concerned an application of legislation that would preserve cultural heritage of Aboriginal Tasmanians and it was held that Aboriginal Australians and Torres Strait Islanders, together or separately, and any part of either, could be regarded as a race for this purpose. As to the criteria for identifying a person as a member of such a race, Deane said, It is unnecessary, for the purposes of the present case, to consider the meaning to be given to the phrase people of any race in s.51. Plainly, the words have a wide and non-technical meaning, the phrase is, in my view, apposite to refer to all Australian Aboriginals collectively. Any doubt, which might otherwise exist in regard, is removed by reference to the wording of par. The phrase is also apposite to refer to any identifiable racial sub-group among Australian Aboriginals, while Deanes three-part definition reaches beyond the biological criterion to individuals self-identification, it has been criticised as continuing to accept the biological criterion as primary. It has been difficult to apply, both in each of its parts and as to the relations among the parts, biological descent has been a fall-back criterion. If it is to be used to refer to us as a group of people. This has just really crept up on us and we are very happy with our involvement with indigenous people around the world, on the international forum because theyre our brothers and sisters. But we do object to it being used here in Australia and her lecture offered a new perspective on the terms urban, traditional and of Indigenous descent as used to define and categorise Aboriginal Australians. She said, Not only are these categories inappropriate, they serve to divide us, governments insistence on categorising us with modern words like urban, traditional and of Aboriginal descent are really only replacing old terms half-caste and full-blood – based on our colouring
7.
Cinema of Australia
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The Australian film industry has its beginnings with the 1906 production of The Story of the Kelly Gang, the earliest feature film ever made. Since then, many films have produced in Australia, a number of which have received international recognition. Cinema in Australia began with the first public screenings of films in Australia in October 1896, the first Australian exhibition took place at the Athenaeum Hall in Collins Street, Melbourne, to provide alternative entertainment for the dance hall patrons. The venue would continue screenings, but these were all short films, commercially successful Australian films have included Paul Hogans Crocodile Dundee, Baz Luhrmanns Moulin Rouge. Other award winning productions include Picnic at Hanging Rock, Gallipoli, The Tracker, Shine, the Athanaeum Hall in Collins Street, Melbourne, was a dance hall from the 1880s, which from time to time would provide alternative entertainment to patrons. In October 1896, it exhibited the first movie shown in Australia, the Athanaeum would continue screenings, but these early screenings were all short films. The earliest feature length film in the world was the Australian produced The Story of the Kelly Gang. The film was written and directed by Charles Tait and included several of his family, the film was also exhibited in the United Kingdom, and was commercially very successful. Melbourne was also home of one of the worlds first film studios, the Limelight Department produced evangelical material for use by the Salvation Army, as well as private and government contracts. In its 19 years of operation, the Limelight Department produced about 300 films of various lengths, soldiers of the Cross fortified the Limelight Department as a major player in the early film industry. The Limelight Department was commissioned to film the Federation of Australia, the 1910s was a boom period in Australian cinema. While these numbers may seem small, Australia was one of the most prolific film-producing countries at the time, in all, between 1906 and 1928,150 narrative feature films were made, of which almost 90 were made between 1910 and 1912. There are various explanations for the decline of the industry in the 1920s. Some historians point to falling numbers, a lack of interest in Australian product and narratives. Also, there was a ban on bushranger films in 1912. To redress this imbalance, the government imposed a tax on imported film in 1914. Whatever the explanation, by 1923, American films dominated the Australian market with 94% of all exhibited films coming from that country, in 1930, F. W. Thring established the Efftee Studios based in Melbourne to make talking films using optical sound equipment imported from the USA. The first sound films produced were in 1931, when the company produced Diggers, A Co-respondents Course, The Haunted Barn, during the five years of its existence, Efftee produced nine features, over 80 shorts and several stage productions
8.
Sigourney Weaver
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Susan Alexandra Sigourney Weaver is an American actress and film producer. Following her film debut as a character in Annie Hall. She reprised the role in three sequels, Aliens, for which she was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress, Alien 3 and she is also known for her starring roles in the box-office hits Ghostbusters, Ghostbusters II, and Avatar. Weaver was nominated for a Drama Desk Award for the 1980 Off-Broadway play Das Lusitania Songspiel and she also received Academy Award nominations for both films. For her role in the 1997 film The Ice Storm, she won the BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role, additionally, she has received three Emmy Award nominations and won two Saturn Awards. Weaver acquired the nickname of the Sci-Fi Queen for her numerous contributions to film history. Other popular works she has appeared in include Galaxy Quest, Futurama, WALL-E, Paul, The Cabin in the Woods, Finding Dory and she returned to Broadway in 2013 to star in Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike. Weaver was born in Manhattan, New York City, the daughter of Elizabeth Inglis, an actress, and her uncle, Doodles Weaver, was a comedian and actor. Her mother was English, from Colchester, Essex, and her father, who was American, had English, Scottish, Weaver began using the name Sigourney Weaver in 1963 after a minor character in Chapter 3 of F. Scott Fitzgeralds novel The Great Gatsby. Weaver attended the Ethel Walker School, a preparatory school in Simsbury. She also attended The Chapin School and The Brearley School, Sigourney was reportedly 5 10½ tall by the age of 14, although she only grew another inch during her teens to her adult height of 5 11½. In 1967, at the age of 18, Weaver visited Israel, Weaver later acted in original plays by her friend and classmate Christopher Durang. She later appeared in an Off-Broadway production of Durangs comedy Beyond Therapy in 1981, weavers first role is often said to be in Woody Allens 1977 comedy Annie Hall playing a minor role opposite Allen. She reprised the role in the three sequels of the Alien movie franchise, Aliens, Alien 3 and Alien, Resurrection. Ty Burr of The Boston Globe states, One of the pleasures of Alien is to watch the emergence of both Ellen Ripley as a character and Sigourney Weaver as a star. She followed the success of Alien appearing opposite Mel Gibson in The Year of Living Dangerously released to critical acclaim, by the end of the decade, Weaver appeared in two of her most memorable and critically acclaimed performances. In 1988, she starred as Dian Fossey in Gorillas in the Mist, the same year she appeared opposite Harrison Ford in a supporting role as Katharine Parker in the film Working Girl. Weaver won Golden Globe awards for Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress for her two roles that year and she gave birth to her daughter Charlotte Simpson taking a few years break from the movie business and focusing on her family
9.
Sukarno
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Sukarno was the first President of Indonesia, serving in office from 1945 to 1967. Sukarno was the leader of his countrys struggle for Independence from the Netherlands and he was a prominent leader of Indonesias nationalist movement during the Dutch colonial period, and spent over a decade under Dutch detention until released by the invading Japanese forces. Sukarno and his fellow nationalists collaborated to support for the Japanese war effort from the population. Upon Japanese surrender, Sukarno and Mohammad Hatta declared Indonesian independence on 17 August 1945 and he led Indonesians in resisting Dutch re-colonization efforts via diplomatic and military means until the Dutch acknowledgment of Indonesian independence in 1949. The early 1960s saw Sukarno veering Indonesia to the left by providing support and protection to the Indonesian Communist Party to the irritation of the military and he also embarked on a series of aggressive foreign policies under the rubric of anti-imperialism, with aid from the Soviet Union and China. The 30 September Movement led to the destruction of the PKI and his replacement in 1967 by one of his generals, Suharto, the spelling Soekarno, based on Dutch orthography, is still frequently used, mainly because he signed his name in the old spelling. Sukarno himself insisted on a u, not oe, but said that he had told in school to use the Dutch style. He said that it was too difficult to change his signature, official Indonesian presidential decrees from the period 1947–1968, however, printed his name using the 1947 spelling. The Soekarno–Hatta International Airport which serves near Jakarta, the capital of Indonesia, Indonesians also remember him as Bung Karno or Pak Karno. Like many Javanese people, he had one name. He is sometimes referred to in accounts as Achmad Sukarno. The first name was added by a British journalist, who felt his readers would be confused over someone with just a single name. He was originally named KusnoJavanese pronunciation, following Javanese custom, he was renamed after surviving a childhood illness. After graduating from a primary school in 1912, he was sent to the Europeesche Lagere School in Mojokerto. Subsequently, in 1916, Sukarno went to a Hogere Burgerschool in Surabaya, where he met Tjokroaminoto, in 1920, Sukarno married Tjokroaminotos daughter Siti Oetari. In 1921, he began to study engineering at the Technische Hoogeschool te Bandoeng. During his study in Bandung, Sukarno became romantically involved with Inggit Garnasih, the wife of Sanoesi, Inggit was 13 years older than Sukarno. In March 1923, Sukarno divorced Siti Oetari to marry Inggit, Sukarno later divorced Inggit and married Fatmawati
10.
Australian Broadcasting Corporation
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The Australian Broadcasting Corporation is Australias national public broadcaster, owned and funded by the government. The ABC plays a role in the history of broadcasting in Australia. With a total budget of A$1. Founded in 1929 as the Australian Broadcasting Company, it was made a state-owned corporation on 1 July 1932 as the Australian Broadcasting Commission. The Australian Broadcasting Corporation Act 1983 changed the name of the organisation to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, although funded and owned by the government, the ABC remains editorially independent as ensured through the Australian Broadcasting Corporation Act 1983. The ABC is sometimes referred to as Aunty, originally in imitation of the British Broadcasting Corporations nickname. The first public station in Australia opened in Sydney on 23 November 1923 under the call sign 2SB with other stations in Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide, Perth. It also nationalised the Australian Broadcasting Company which had created by entertainment interests to supply programs to various radio stations. Over the next four years the stations were reformed into a broadcasting organisation through regular program relays. The Australian broadcast radio spectrum was constituted of the ABC and the commercial sector, in 1942 The Australian Broadcasting Act was passed, giving the ABC the power to decide when, and in what circumstances, political speeches should be broadcast. Directions from the Minister about whether or not to broadcast any matter now had to be made in writing and it was used only once, in 1963. In the same year, Kindergarten of the Air began on ABC Radio in Perth, cater argues that reform was urgently needed in 1945, By the end of World War II, the ABC was a decadent, hollow institution. Its authority had been compromised by a poorly drafted charter and further undermined by timid management, poor governance, in April 1945, Boyer refused to accept the post of chairman until Prime Minister Curtin issued a mandate of independence which Boyer drafted itself. The ABC commenced television broadcasting in 1956, and followed the earlier practice of naming the station after the first letter of the base state. ABN-2 Sydney was inaugurated by Prime Minister Robert Menzies on 5 November 1956, with the first broadcast presented by Michael Charlton, aBV-2 followed two weeks later, on 18 November 1956. Stations in other cities followed, ABQ-2, ABS-2, ABW-2. ABC-3 Canberra opened in 1961, and ABD-6 started broadcasting in 1971, although radio programs could be distributed nationally by landline, television relay facilities were not in place until the early 1960s. This meant that news bulletins had to be sent to each city by teleprinter, to be prepared and presented separately in each city, with filmed materials copied manually
11.
Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress
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The Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress is an award presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. It is given in honor of an actress who has delivered a performance in a supporting role while working within the film industry. At the 9th Academy Awards ceremony held in 1937, Gale Sondergaard was the first winner of award for her role in Anthony Adverse. Initially, winners in both supporting acting categories were awarded instead of statuettes. Beginning with the 16th ceremony held in 1944, however, winners received full-sized statuettes, currently, nominees are determined by single transferable vote within the actors branch of AMPAS, winners are selected by a plurality vote from the entire eligible voting members of the Academy. Since its inception, the award has given to 78 actresses. Dianne Wiest and Shelley Winters have received the most awards in this category with two awards each, despite winning no awards, Thelma Ritter was nominated on six occasions, more than any other actress. As of the 2017 ceremony, Viola Davis is the most recent winner in category for her role as Rose Maxson in Fences. In the following table, the years are listed as per Academy convention, and generally correspond to the year of release in Los Angeles County. Toronto, Ontario, Canada, University of Toronto Press, inside Oscar, The Unofficial History of the Academy Awards. New York, United States, Ballantine Books, oscars. org Oscar. com The Academy Awards Database
12.
Mel Gibson
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Mel Colmcille Gerard Gibson AO is an American actor and filmmaker. He was born in Peekskill, New York, and moved with his parents to Sydney, Australia and he studied acting at the Australian National Institute of Dramatic Art. During the 1980s, he founded Icon Entertainment, a company which independent film director Atom Egoyan has called. Director Peter Weir cast him as one of the leads in the critically acclaimed World War I drama Gallipoli, the film also helped to earn Gibson the reputation of a serious, versatile actor. He later directed and produced the successful and controversial, biblical drama film The Passion of the Christ. He received further critical notice for his work of the action-adventure film Apocalypto. Gibson was born in Peekskill, New York, the sixth of eleven children, and the son of Hutton Gibson, a writer. One of Gibsons younger brothers, Donal, is also an actor, because of his mother, Gibson retains dual Irish and American citizenship. Mel was twelve years old at the time, Gibson was educated by members of the Congregation of Christian Brothers at St Leos Catholic College in Wahroonga, New South Wales, during his high school years. Gibson gained very favorable notices from critics when he first entered the cinematic scene. In 1982, Vincent Canby wrote that Mr. Gibson recalls the young Steve McQueen, I cant define star quality, but whatever it is, Mr. Gibson has it. Gibson has also likened to a combination Clark Gable and Humphrey Bogart. Gibsons roles in the Mad Max series of films, Peter Weirs Gallipoli, 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. He expanded beyond acting into directing and producing, with, The Man Without a Face, in 1993, Braveheart, in 1995, The Passion of the Christ, in 2004, jess Cagle of Time compared Gibson with Cary Grant, Sean Connery, and Robert Redford. Connery once suggested Gibson should play the next James Bond to Connerys M. Gibson turned down the role, Gibson studied at the National Institute of Dramatic Art in Sydney. The students at NIDA were classically trained in the British-theater tradition rather than in preparation for screen acting. As students, Gibson and actress Judy Davis played the leads in Romeo and Juliet, and Gibson played the role of Queen Titania in an experimental production of A Midsummer Nights Dream. After graduation in 1977, Gibson immediately began work on the filming of Mad Max, but continued to work as a stage actor, and joined the State Theatre Company of South Australia in Adelaide
