10 Famous Actors Who Were Totally Discovered By Chance

9. Mel Gibson

Before he was William Wallace, before he was Lethal Weapon's Martin Riggs, and a long time before he was an Oscar-winning director, Mel Gibson was a struggling actor. While living in Australia, Gibson's close friend Steve Bisley needed a lift to an audition (which turned out to be George Miller's Mad Max), and Gibson was happy to oblige. The night before the audition, however, Gibson got into a drunken bar fight, showing up to the audition with a black, blue, lumpy face. Now, you'd think this would make most people weary of a person: you certainly wouldn't give them a job. As the story goes, however, the director noticed him and thought he looked the part for a rough and rugged role. The film-makers asked Gibson to return a couple of weeks later, when his bruised and scraped face had healed, to read for the lead role. Obviously, he got it.