Summary

• The Mad Max franchise has featured 7 different actors who play Max Rockatansky, and they helped make the series so influential.
• Mel Gibson was the first actor to play Max and his role had a significant impact on both the franchise and his own career.
• Tom Hardy took over as Max in Mad Max: Fury Road, showcasing a different portrayal of the iconic character.

The Mad Max franchise has primarily focused on the titular character of Max Rockatansky, but he hasn't always been played by the same actor. Mad Max has been a hugely important and influential franchise in the dystopian genre. It's gone on to influence several major stories that came after it, from films like Terminator to video games and shows like Fallout. Much of the reason it has been so inspirational is because of Mad Max's unique wasteland, and also because of its central character, Max Rockatansky.

Despite being such a central figure to the franchise, Max hasn't been entirely consistent throughout Mad Max's timeline. After 44 years and five movies, it makes sense that the character would evolve, and that he would have to be replaced at some point. While there was one very notable change in the main actor behind Max, there have actually been seven different actors who have played him in the history of the franchise. All of them brought very valuable things to both Max and the franchise, and they all have had a big influence on making it such an iconic series.

6 Mel Gibson

Mad Max, Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior, Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome

Mel Gibson was the first actor to portray Max Rockatansky, and he also did so in the most movies. Gibson has been a hallmark of the franchise since the beginning, as he starred in 1979's Mad Max, 1981's Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior, and 1985's Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome. The Mad Max franchise owes quite a bit to Gibson, as he was the sole face of both the character and the series itself, but Gibson also owes just as much back. Mad Max was Gibson's breakout role as an actor, and it kickstarted his career in several ways.

Since his early Mad Max days, Gibson has gone on to have a prolific acting career. He's appeared in several major action films such as the Lethal Weapon franchise and Braveheart, among many others. More recently, Gibson has begun working more frequently behind the camera, as a director. He's directed such films as Hacksaw Ridge and The ion of the Christ. It's hard to overstate just how much of an effect Mad Max had on his entire career, and it's difficult to say whether he would have had such an impressive filmography without it.

5 Grant Page

Stunt Double For Mad Max, Stunt Coordinator For Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome

While Gibson may have been the face of Mad Max, he wasn't alone in bringing Max Rockatansky to life. For most of Mad Max, Gibson wasn't actually driving Max's Interceptor, it was his stunt double, Grant Page. Page didn't work exclusively as a stunt double for Max, but he was involved in several of the stunts for Mad Max, and he worked as a stunt coordinator for Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome. According to the National Film and Sound Archive of Australia, Page actually broke his leg on the way to the set of Mad Max, yet still performed his stunts.

Perhaps the best illustration of his dedication to the art of stunt performing comes from Mad Dog Morgan, as that movie saw Page jump from a 25-meter tall cliff, backwards, while on fire.

Page was one of the most prolific stunt performers in all of Australia, and Mad Max was just one of the films he worked on. Throughout his career, until his death in 2024, Page worked on the stunt teams of 111 different films. Perhaps the best illustration of his dedication to the art of stunt performing comes from Mad Dog Morgan, as that movie saw Page jump from a 25-meter tall cliff, backwards, while on fire. Interestingly, his last credit was actually also for the Mad Max franchise, as he worked as a stunt coordinator for Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga.

4 Guy Norris

Stunt Coordinator/Double For Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior

The Mad Max franchise has a long history of being dedicated to its impressive practical stunts, and that continued in Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior. Guy Norris acted as Mad Max 2's stunt coordinator and as a stunt double due to the film's small budget. Norris took on several of the movie's stunt roles, including Max's driving double and "essentially every character that jumped onto the tanker," as he would change wardrobes and perform the stunt again. His stunts also included one that broke his leg and prevented him from finishing the movie, when he had to crash a motorcycle into a parked car.

Since Mad Max 2, Norris has continued to have a very successful career performing and directing stunts. He performed stunts for movies like Superman Returns, and he acted as the stunt coordinator for several films, including The Suicide Squad and Moulin Rouge!. Like Grant Page, Norris has also maintained an effect on the Mad Max franchise long after actually playing Max, as he worked as a supervising stunt coordinator for Mad Max: Fury Road and as the action designer for Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga.

3 Tom Hardy

Mad Max: Fury Road

While Page and Norris had a huge effect on Max Rockatansky, the actual face of the character wouldn't change until Tom Hardy took the role in Mad Max: Fury Road in 2015. Acting as a soft reboot of the franchise, Fury Road did not explain why Max looked different than Gibson did, however the film did prove that Hardy and Gibson played the same Max. That said, there were some key differences in Hardy's portrayal of Max Rockatansky. Max was always mad, but Hardy's version had been wandering the wasteland for a long time, and it showed more in his mannerisms and facial expressions.

Another difference between Hardy and Gibson is what the Mad Max franchise did for their careers. While it was certainly an impressive movie, Fury Road was not Hardy's first big role. Hardy has been in major shows like Peaky Blinders and movies like The Dark Knight Rises since 2010's Inception. Still, Fury Road likely had some positive effects for his career, as Hardy has gone on to star in several blockbusters since, such as Dunkirk and the Venom franchise. Hardy is also set to reprise his role as Max in Mad Max: The Wasteland.

2 Jacob Tomuri

Stunt Double For Mad Max: Fury Road, Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga

Mad Max: Fury Road may have changed Max, but it kept the franchise's tradition of using practical effects and stunt doubles. That included Tom Hardy's stunt double, Jacob Tomuri, who did extensive work in Fury Road. As Hardy's stunt double, Tomuri played Max for several of the film's more dangerous stunts, like the polecat scene and several driving shots. Tomuri's work on Fury Road was so impressive that he was nominated for the World Stunt Award's Best Fight, and he won the Screen Actors Guild's Outstanding Action Performance by a Stunt Ensemble in a Motion Picture award.

Tomuri and Hardy have worked together extensively both before and after Mad Max: Fury Road. They both appeared in Legend, The Revenant, and Venom. Tomuri has also made a name for himself without Hardy, as he performed stunts for the Lord of the Rings trilogy, both Avatar movies, and The Meg, among others. He's also worked as the stunt coordinator for shows like the live-action Cowboy Bebop and Our Flag Means Death. Tomuri also had a chance to show his face on-screen in the Mad Max franchise, as Tomuri played Max in a cameo for Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, which he also coordinated stunts for.

1 Bren Foster & Kym Bradley

Mad Max (2015)

The final actors to take on the mantle of Max Rockatansky didn't appear in any of the franchise's films or in live-action at all. Bren Foster voiced Max in the 2015 video game Mad Max, alongside motion capture performer Kym Bradley. The game doesn't tie directly into the larger Mad Max canon, so Foster and Bradley's portrayal of the character is self-contained within the game. That said, the game does bear several stylistic similarities to Mad Max: Fury Road, such as the inclusion of Warboys and the general look of vehicles and the wasteland itself.

Despite only making their way into the Mad Max franchise via video games, both Foster and Bradley have had several live-action roles throughout their careers. Foster appeared in television shows like The Last Ship, where he played SO Wolf Taylor, as well as movies like Infini. Bradley has performed motion capture for other games like Battlefield: Bad Company 2, but he's also appeared had several small roles, such as one in The Lone Road. They may not be the most prominent actors to portray Max in the Mad Max franchise, but they both added to its enduring legacy.

Source: The National Film and Sound Archive of Australia