Christian Bale Biography

Christian Charles Philip Bale (b. January 30, 1974) is an Anglo-Welsh actor, born in Haverfordwest, Pembrokeshire/Sir Benfro, Wales.

Bale first gained fame when cast in the starring role of Steven Spielberg's Empire of the Sun at the age of 13. Recently, Bale has earned praise as the newest Batman in the 2005 movie Batman Begins, co-starring Sir Michael Caine and Cillian Murphy. It is confirmed that Bale will reprise the role of Batman in Batman Begins' sequel.

Christian was born to the late businessman David Bale, and Jenny James, a circus performer. Although Bale's birthplace was in Wales, both of his parents are of English descent, and Bale is known to consider himself English. Bale spent his childhood in a variety of countries including the United Kingdom, Portugal, and the United States.

Bale is active in several environmental and animal protection organizations including Greenpeace, and the World Wildlife Fund.

On January 29, 2000, he married independent film producer Sibi Blazic (who is not only an ex-model and make-up artist but also the former personal assistant of Winona Ryder, who reportedly introduced them at one of her parties). Together they have a daughter who was born on March 27, 2005 in Los Angeles, but the notoriously private Bale has not revealed her name to the public.

Bale is Gloria Steinem's stepson due to her marriage in 2000 to David Bale (until the latter's death in 2003).

Bale began his acting career by appearing in a Pac-Man cereal advertisement in the UK at age 9 and then appeared a year later in the West End play The Nerd. His breakthrough came in 1987 when he was picked for the role of Jim in Steven Spielberg's Empire of the Sun. Bale next appeared in Henry V and TV roles before taking on several movie projects, starting in 1992 with the Disney musical feature film Newsies. For this role and his role in the 1993 film Swing Kids, Bale trained for 10 weeks in dancing and martial arts.

Bale garnered further attention when he won the much-coveted role of Laurie in Little Women, after being hand-picked for the role by Winona Ryder, who portrayed Jo in the film. He has since won roles in notable films such as Velvet Goldmine and the lead in American Psycho. His portrayal of yuppie businessman/ serial killer Patrick Bateman was met with rave reviews and critical acclaim, but due to the controversy surrounding the book on which the movie was based, it was only a moderate financial success. He recently played the title role in Batman Begins to yet more critical acclaim.

Bale was in the news when he lost a record 60 pounds for his role in The Machinist, going from muscular to cadaverous and seriously risking his health. For his very next role, Batman Begins, he regained the weight and added on an additional 20-odd pounds of muscle. The results are shocking when comparing the pictures (right). He has said this most likely damaged his metabolism, but to observers, it definitively gained him status as one of the most dedicated method actors of his generation.

Bale is usually critically lauded not only because of his acting abilities, but also in the nature of his film roles. Bale seems interested in often portraying menacing, dark, or mentally complex characters, rather than mainstream-type heroes who would more immediately attract an audience. For instance, Bale seems unafraid to portray controversial characters, like the violent Patrick Bateman in American Psycho, a homosexual character in Velvet Goldmine, or the emaciated and insane title character of The Machinist in spite of the potential risks both to his career and his public reputation.

Bale was reported to be on George Lucas's short list of potential actors to play the role of Anakin Skywalker in episodes two and three of Star Wars, which instead went to Hayden Christensen.

Bale is renowned for his ability to mimic accents. He has used a different one in almost every movie he has acted in, even conducting publicity interviews for Batman Begins with an American accent.