[4] His mother was a social worker, and his father was a lawyer and liberal Democrat who served in the South Carolina state Senate and House.

After a year and a half at Charleston, Gibson won a scholarship to Juilliard's Drama Division (Group 14: 1981–1985),[8] where he graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in 1985.

Gibson made his stage debut in David Hare's A Map of the World in the New York Shakespeare Festival.

He worked on and off Broadway for the next 10 years in a range of plays by Shakespeare, Christopher Marlowe, Molière, Tennessee Williams, Howard Brenton, Romulus Linney, Noël Coward, and Alan Ball.

Chase was the villainous rival of Joseph Donnelly (Tom Cruise) for Shannon Christie's (Nicole Kidman) affections.

Also in 1993, he played bisexual businessman misanthrope Beauchamp Day in the television version of Armistead Maupin's Tales of the City (1993).

At the time, Tales of the City was highly controversial for its gay, transgender, bisexual, and drag-queen characters along with nudity, sexual situations, drug use, and explicit language.

In 1999, Gibson had a supporting role in Stanley Kubrick's final film Eyes Wide Shut, where he was reunited with Cruise and Kidman.

[13] Gibson has three children including his son, Travis Carter, who was featured in the Season 10 episode "Boxed In" (#5) of Criminal Minds as a friend of a kidnapped child.