LOS ANGELES — Every day Tyrese Gibson admires a framed photo that sits on his desk at his Los Angeles office.

In it, his two acting heroes Will Smith and Denzel Washington are posed together. Each time he glances at it, he’s reminded of why he’s so picky with film projects.
Gibson’s dream is to create a career that combines the best of Washington’s and Smith’s — a mix of gut-wrenching acting and explosive adrenaline-rush projects.
“Denzel works really hard and keeps a lot of people on edge on movie sets because he’s so focused and he expects the best from everybody,” Gibson says, pointing to Washington in the photo.
“And Will, his approach has been very global: to be the biggest movie star in the world,” he says, placing the photo back in its spot.
“I definitely want to be Tyrese,” he says. “But if I had it my way, my goal would be to try to be somewhere in the middle of those guys.”
Gibson’s on his way.
The 30-year-old actor returns to the big screen Wednesday in the hotly anticipated “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen.” He reprises his role as Air Force Technical Sergeant Robert Epps, who has recently been promoted to master sergeant.
The action film is a departure from Gibson’s previous work. With exceptions such as 2003’s “2 Fast 2 Furious,” Gibson has performed in smaller films such as 2005’s “Four Brothers” and 2006’s “Waist Deep.”
“I always want to be associated with something that’s going to have people feeling good, motivated, have people walking away saying ’Man, I thought my life was rough, but it’s nowhere near as rough as that,’ ” he says. “What you decide to do in these films does have an impact on the people.”
Being a part of the big-budget “Transformers” franchise has allowed the actor and singer to pursue other projects. He sings a Babyface-penned duet with Jewel on the “Transformers” soundtrack, and he’ll produce an upcoming reality TV show about firefighters for BET. Gibson’s company, HQ Entertainment, also will produce a new comic series with Image Comics called Mayhem.
Gibson says that when he first signed on for “Transformers,” he had no idea it would perform as well as it did. Worldwide, it was the highest-grossing non-sequel movie in 2007, earning more than $708 million.
He shakes his head for a few moments in disbelief, thinking about the possible magnitude of the sequel.
“This is a real monster right here,” he says. “I believe that people are going to love ”Transformers 2.“ I think the chemistry among the cast is so much better in the sequel. Everybody had a job and we all came there to do it. I really believe that people are going to walk away enjoying this movie.”
In his office — which many days doubles as his home — the divorced dad of 1-year-old Shayla allows his eyes to fall over the relics of his career. There are pictures of him with A-listers (Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie and Luther Vandross, to name a few) on a wall of fame near his in-office studio. Framed movie posters and notes from famous friends decorate the place.
“It’s only by the grace of God that I’ve been able to go from a 30-second (Coca-Cola) commercial when I was 16 to somehow figuring out a way to still be relevant in 2009. To show up and hear any kind of screams and have anybody happy to see me is a very big deal,” he says.
“All I wanted was to be able to go shopping and spend over $50 a month on clothes for school and get this phone number of a girl who lived up the street. I had no goals. I just can’t get used to it. And I don’t want to.”