Source: Variety
An exceptionally mature, talented child actor of the 1970s who made the transition to adult stardom, Jodie Foster gave perhaps one of filmdom’s most memorable breakthrough roles in “Taxi Driver” (1976), playing an 11-year-old prostitute who is the beneficiary of a deranged vigilante’s (Robert De Niro) unique form of vengeance. Initially managed by her divorced mother, Brandy, the young Foster was the family's principal breadwinner after becoming a star. She gradually took control of her own career, however, meticulously shaping her development through a careful selection of projects and expert tailoring of her public image – which took a hit by proxy, when she was inexplicably linked to would-be-assassin John Hinkley, Jr. after he attempted to kill President Ronald Reagan in 1981. Her rise from child star in “Freaky Friday” (1976) to Oscar-winning actor in “The Silence of the Lambs” (1991) to feature film director with “Little Man Tate” (1991) appeared unprecedented in its smooth transition each decade, while her added status as producer on numerous projects made her one of Hollywood's few female talents who achieved a high level of success in almost all facets of the business.

Born on Nov. 19, 1962 in Los Angeles, CA, Foster began life in a broken household. Her father, Lucius, left the family when her mother, Evelyn (a.k.a. Brandy), was roughly three months pregnant. With the fervent support of her mother, Foster began her acting career at three years old with commercials; most notably baring her buns in a classic ad for Coppertone. In 1969, she made her television debut on an episode of “Mayberry R.F.D.” (CBS, 1968-1971), then had her first feature-length role in the made-for-TV movie, “Menace on the Mountain” (1970). Several inauspicious – though regular – appearances in guest spots on series TV and in several features for Disney, including “One Little Indian” (1973), were followed by a small role in “Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore” (1974), her first – and lesser-known – collaboration with director Martin Scorsese. Two years later, she left an indelible impression with her controversial performance in "Taxi Driver” as the teenage prostitute who inspires Robert De Niro's deranged personal crusade. She was nominated for her first Academy Award at age 14.

Foster followed “Taxi Driver” with appearances in several features, including the uneven gangster musical spoof "Bugsy Malone" (1976) playing Miss Tallulah, a bawdy speakeasy queen; "The Little Girl Who Lived Down the Lane" (1977), in the title role of a young murderer; and "Carny" (1980) as a teen runaway who joins up with a couple of carnival hustlers. All throughout her still-ripe career, however, Foster remained an excellent student, graduating as class valedictorian from Los Angeles’ lofty Lycée Français in 1980 and going on to study literature at Yale University. She managed to survive unwanted publicity when certifiable nutcase John Hinckley Jr. failed in his attempt to assassinate President Ronald Reagan in 1981, something he did to somehow impress the young actress. Hinckley was obsessed with Foster after repeated viewings of “Taxi Driver” and moved to New Haven, CT in order to be closer to her while she attended Yale. After slipping notes and poems under her door, and harassing her with phone calls, Hinckley searched for more dramatic ways to attract Foster’s attention – including committing suicide in front of her – before finally settling on shooting the president. Despite the unwanted media attention, Foster remained typically private about the incident, even decades later.

While studying at Yale, she squeezed in appearances in films and TV, most notably as a member of an unconventional family in the film "The Hotel New Hampshire" (1984) that provided a bridge to impressive adult acting in films like the moody and potent "Five Corners" (1987). Foster finally consolidated her reputation with Oscar-winning portrayals of a rape victim in "The Accused" (1988), a role she fought hard to get after botching her initial audition. She followed up with another sterling performance in “The Silence of the Lambs,” playing a rookie FBI agent trying to track down a serial killer (Ted Levine) by forging an uncomfortably close bond with the famed Hannibal “The Cannibal” Lector (Anthony Hopkins). Also that year, she made her directorial debut with "Little Man Tate" (1991), an endearing drama about a child prodigy (Adam Hann-Byrd) who is caught in a tug-of-war between his working-class mother (Foster) and his teacher (Dianne Wiest). Based on her proven drawing power the previous year with “Lambs,” in 1992, Foster forged a three-year deal with Polygram Filmed Entertainment, which committed to financing three films under her Egg Pictures banner in the $25 million range and three in the $10-$15 million range. Foster was now able to choose whether or not to act, direct or simply produce the films, gaining rare control and flexibility for a Hollywood actress.

Foster's acting work during this time was generally lighter fare – a turn as a prostitute in Woody Allen's "Shadows and Fog" (1992), starring roles in the costume drama "Sommersby" (1992) opposite Richard Gere, and in the Western spoof "Maverick" (1994), opposite Mel Gibson – her first comedy in over a decade. In her first Egg Pictures effort, Foster turned in a luminous performance in "Nell" (1994) by playing a backwoods hermit who speaks in an invented tongue. Once again, Foster earned her fourth Oscar nomination for Best Actress. Foster's second directorial effort – and her first where she stayed behind the cameras – was "Home for the Holidays" (1995), an ensemble comedy about a recently fired woman (Holly Hunter) who returns to her childhood home to celebrate Thanksgiving with her eccentric family. The film received mixed critical reviews, but Foster's sure handling of the actors – also including Anne Bancroft and Robert Downey Jr. – was praised.

She returned to acting with the role of a scientist who receives signals that may be from space aliens in "Contact" (1997), a high-minded, reality-rooted sci-fi tale conceived by Carl Sagan and directed by Robert Zemeckis; a film that greatly benefited from Foster's ability to project intelligence on the big screen. Next was an unconventional choice, "Anna and the King" (1999), a non-musical version of the same true life story that inspired the fabled stage and film production "The King and I." The film cast Foster as widowed British schoolteacher Anna Leonowens, who engages in a romance with the King of Siam (Chow Yun-Fat) in the 1860s. Well acted and lavishly produced, the film nevertheless failed to be a triumph for Foster. She next appeared in a supporting role as the universally despised Catholic school instructor Sister Assumpta in the clever indie "The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys" (2002).

Foster continued to pick her projects judiciously, turning out only a small number of films in the early 2000s. In director David Fincher’s taut and stylish "Panic Room" (2002), she played a single mom woman opposite her young daughter (Kristen Stewart) holed up in their home's high tech panic room during a home invasion by three would-be thieves (Forest Whitaker, Dwight Yoakam and Jared Leto). Foster landed the role after Nicole Kidman bowed out two weeks before shooting due to a knee injury. Adding to onset worries, Foster began the shoot five months pregnant with her second son, Kit. Nonetheless, Foster managed to pull off the demanding action role with her usual steady assurance. Interestingly, her next project had similar thematic tones and an equally contained environment. "Flightplan" (2005) saw Foster as an aeronautics engineer and fiercely protective mother, this time of a six-year-old daughter who vanishes during an airplane flight. When Foster desperately tries to find her child, the airline crew insists the girl was apparently never one of the passengers. Although the film sometimes flew intensely over-the-top, Foster's compelling performance grounded it in enough reality to make it a satisfying film.

Foster next starred in Spike Lee’s impressive genre piece, “Inside Man” (2006), playing a well-connected fixer for the rich and powerful called in to keep quiet the secrets of a bank founder (Christopher Plummer), while his employees are held hostage by a master thief (Clive Owen). Meanwhile, the thief remains constantly one step ahead of a smooth-talking hostage negotiator (Denzel Washington) in an effort to pull off the perfect heist. Foster continued her new millennium rebirth with “The Brave One” (2007), a revenge thriller about a New York City radio host who struggles to recover from a brutal attack by setting out on a dark journey to seek justice. She ends up creating a media sensation that rivets the city while she battles herself over whether or not her quest for vengeance is truly the right path.

MEL GIBSON

Source: Variety
Though introduced to American audiences as Australian, the strikingly handsome, blue-eyed Mel Gibson actually hailed from Peekskill, New York. (He and his family had emigrated Down Under in 1968 at the height of the Vietnam War.)

After a season onstage with Sydney's South Australian Theatre Company where he portrayed both Oedipus and Henry IV, he made his name as the leather-clad, post-apocalyptic action hero of George Miller's "Mad Max" and in the radically different "Tim" (both 1979), for which he picked up his first of two Australian Film Institute Awards as Best Actor, playing a retarded handyman in love with Piper Laurie.

Peter Weir's World War I drama "Gallipoli" and "Mad Max 2" (both 1981), Miller's transcendent follow-up to "Mad Max" (released in the USA as "The Road Warrior" since American audiences knew nothing of the barely-released earlier movie), established Gibson as an international star. "The Year of Living Dangerously" (1982), Weir's film about the political upheavals of 1960s Indonesia, gave him his first romantic lead opposite Sigourney Weaver and launched him as a sex symbol.

After a turn as a reluctantly mutinous Fletcher Christian opposite Anthony Hopkins' Captain Bligh in "The Bounty", Gibson made an inauspicious American debut in "The River" (both 1984), playing a character so coldly stubborn that few could empathize. The well-made but gloomy "Mrs. Soffel" (also 1984) followed quickly before he returned to Australia to wrap up the "Mad Max" series with "Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome" (1985), a cumbersome satire with less action, a bigger budget, Tina Turner and Max, mostly on foot, looking like a wandering prophet.

Gibson then took two years off to concentrate on his family, returning to the screen in "Lethal Weapon" (1987), for which he created perhaps his most popular character, Martin Riggs, an explosive homicide cop paired with the long-suffering Danny Glover. The film propelled Gibson to superstardom, spawned three sequels (to date) and allowed him to incorporate his innate playfulness as part of an unusually rich characterization for a modern action hero.

Called at various times "practical joker", "eternal adolescent" and "fun-loving fourth Stooge", Gibson has remained a "regular guy" who doesn't take himself or his work too seriously and consistently comes across as relaxed and natural.

Gibson sandwiched "Tequila Sunrise" (1988) and "Bird on a Wire" (1990) around a blockbuster "Lethal Weapon 2" (1989), and his patented swagger could not save the alleged action-comedy "Air America" (1990) from the inadequacy of its script. Next, in a surprising career move, he opted to take his shot at Shakespeare's Melancholy Dane in Franco Zeffirelli's "Hamlet" (1990). While the film was problematic, Gibson turned in a finely rendered portrait of the famed prince in the first project produced by his Icon Productions. He continued in a more sentimental vein with the sudsy "Forever Young" (1992), scored another huge hit with "Lethal Weapon 3" (1993), then made his directorial debut with "The Man Without a Face" (1993), a drama in which he hid his good looks behind the heavy makeup of a burn victim. After this mildly popular effort, Gibson returned to rowdy commercial fare with "Maverick" (1994), teaming for a fourth time with "Lethal Weapon" director Richard Donner for a 90s adaptation of the 60s TV Western-comedy series.

Gibson returned to the director's chair for "Braveheart" (1995), a project far bigger than any with which he had been previously involved in any capacity. Clad in a kilt, sporting blue war paint and wielding a big sword, Gibson starred as Sir William Wallace, a 13th-century Scottish nobleman persecuted for his efforts to free Scotland from English rule. Wags dubbed the film "Mad Mac", but the Academy deemed it worthy, voting it five awards including Best Picture and honoring Gibson as Best Director. Later that same year, in addition to providing the speaking voice for John Smith in Disney's "Pocahontas,” Gibson made his screen singing debut.

His collaboration with Ron Howard, "Ransom" (1996), another box-office hit that earned $35 million its first week, preceded "Conspiracy Theory" (1997), his fifth film with Donner and a surprising commercial dud compared to their previous work, especially with Julia Roberts starring opposite Gibson. The actor-director pair rebounded with "Lethal Weapon 4" (1998), its healthy box office reaffirming Riggs-Murtaugh (in reportedly their last outing) as a bankable team. Gibson next starred as a murderous thief bent on getting his "Payback" (1999), a reworking of the same Donald Westlake novel that had inspired John Boorman's 1967 classic thriller "Point Blank".

His star power could not make Wim Wenders' "The Million Dollar Hotel" (2000) a mainstream success, and though the director's visual skills were on display, the underdeveloped, not very interesting story made it a tough sell at the art-houses. Gibson then joined Dean Devlin and Roland Emmerich for Emmerich's Revolutionary War drama "The Patriot" (also 2000), scripted by Robert Rodat. After voicing Rocky the Rooster in the animated "Chicken Run", a sort of feathered "Great Escape,” he rounded out the busy year as star of Nancy Meyers' romantic comedy "What Women Want" (both 2000).

Aside from making Gibson vehicles, his Icon Productions has produced projects like the Beethoven biopic "Immortal Beloved" (1994, directed by Bernard Rose), the remake of "Leo Tolstoy's Anna Karenina" (1997, also helmed by Rose), the black comedy "Ordinary Decent Criminals" (a fictionalized version of the life of Irish thief Martin Cahill) and the above average ABC biopic "The Three Stooges" (both 2000).

In 2002, Gibson appeared in the war film "We Were Soldiers," directed by Gibson's "Braveheart" scribe Randall Wallace and in "Signs," the much anticipated M. Night Shyamalan movie about crop circles.

The actor was almost unrecognizable behind wig of thinning hair and bulbous prosthetics in the 2003 film adaptation of Dennis Potter's acclaimed "The Singing Detective," and while the film did not burn up the box office reports Gibson, who also produced, earned personal kudos for employing his old "Air America" co-star Robert Downey, Jr., to play the lead, despite Downey's prior difficulties with drug arrests.

Gibson next ignited a wildfire of controversy with his third directorial effort "The Passion of the Christ" (2004). Critics were polarized by the film, many citing the violence and gore as excessive, while others praised Gibson's unflinching portrayal. With interest in the controversial film at a fever pitch when in opened, "The Passion of the Christ" debuted to box office blockbuster-sized grosses, thanks to the legions of true believers who boarded church busses and flocked to theaters in droves.“The Passion of the Christ” became a runaway sensation—and perhaps the most profitable independent film of all time—taking in over $370 million in domestic box office and putting the director into the enviable position being able to make anything he wanted for his next project. Some hoped that he would return to “Braveheart” territory, but Gibson instead chose to direct “Apocalypto” (2006), a film set in the ancient Maya civilization that focused on a young man’s perilous journey into a world ruled by fear and oppression where a harrowing end awaits him. “Apocalypto” was released in early December 2006.