Christian Charles Philip Bale was born on 30 January 1974 and is an English actor.
69 Facts About Christian Bale
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Christian Bale has received various accolades, including an Academy Award and two Golden Globe Awards.
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Christian Bale continued in starring roles in a range of films outside his work as Batman, including the period drama The Prestige, the action film Terminator Salvation, the crime drama Public Enemies, the epic film Exodus: Gods and Kings and the superhero film Thor: Love and Thunder.
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Christian Bale attended Bournemouth School, later saying he left school at age 16.
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Christian Bale's parents divorced in 1991, and at age 17, he moved with his sister Louise and their father to Los Angeles.
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Christian Bale's first acting role came at eight years old in a commercial for the fabric softener Lenor.
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Christian Bale said later he did not find acting appealing but pursued it at the request of those around him because he had no reason not to do so.
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The fame from Empire of the Sun led to Christian Bale being bullied in school and finding the pressures of working as an actor unbearable.
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Christian Bale grew distrustful of the acting profession because of media attention but said that he felt obligated at a young age to continue to act for financial reasons.
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Around this time, actor and filmmaker Kenneth Branagh persuaded Christian Bale to appear in his film Henry V in 1989, which drew him back into acting.
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Christian Bale starred in the 1992 Disney musical film Newsies, which was unsuccessful both at the box office and with critics.
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In Gillian Armstrong's 1994 film Little Women, Christian Bale played Theodore "Laurie" Laurence following a recommendation from Winona Ryder, who starred as Jo March.
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Christian Bale next voiced Thomas, a young compatriot of Captain John Smith, in the 1995 Disney animated film Pocahontas, which attracted a mixed critical reception.
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Christian Bale played a small part in the 1996 film The Portrait of a Lady, based on the Henry James novel of the same name, and appeared in the 1998 musical film Velvet Goldmine, set in the 1970s during the glam rock era.
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Christian Bale played Patrick Bateman, an investment banker and serial killer, in American Psycho, a film adaptation of Bret Easton Ellis' novel of the same name, directed by Mary Harron.
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Christian Bale exercised and tanned himself for months to achieve Bateman's chiseled physique and had his teeth capped to assimilate to the character's narcissistic nature.
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Christian Bale next played a villainous real estate heir in John Singleton's action film Shaft and appeared in John Madden's film adaptation of the novel Captain Corelli's Mandolin as Mandras, a Greek fisherman who vies with Nicolas Cage's title character for the affections of Pelagia, played by Penelope Cruz.
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Christian Bale said he found it refreshing to play Mandras, who is emotionally humane, after working on American Psycho and Shaft.
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Christian Bale starred as the insomnia-ridden, emotionally dysfunctional title character in the psychological thriller The Machinist.
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Christian Bale lost 63 pounds, weighing 121 pounds to play the character, who was written in the script as "a walking skeleton".
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Roger Moore of the Orlando Sentinel regarded it as one of the best films of the year, and Todd McCarthy of Variety wrote that Christian Bale's "haunted, aggressive and finally wrenching performance" gave it a "strong anchor".
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Christian Bale portrayed American billionaire Bruce Wayne and his superhero alias Batman in Christopher Nolan's Batman Begins, a reboot of the Batman film series.
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Nolan cast Christian Bale, who was still fairly unknown at the time, because Christian Bale had "exactly the balance of darkness and light" Nolan sought.
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Christian Bale trained in weapons, Wing Chun Kung Fu and the Keysi Fighting Method.
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Christian Bale employed gravelly tone qualities for Batman, which Nolan believed reinforced the character's visual appearance.
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Christian Bale committed himself to voice the role after watching Miyazaki's animated film Spirited Away.
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Christian Bale portrayed colonist John Rolfe in The New World, a historical drama film inspired by the stories of Pocahontas, directed by Terrence Malick.
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Christian Bale next starred in the 2007 drama films I'm Not There, portraying two incarnations of singer-songwriter Bob Dylan, and in 3:10 to Yuma, playing a justice-seeking cattleman.
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Christian Bale characterised his Dylan incarnations as "two men on a real quest for truth" and attributed his interest in 3:10 to Yuma to his affinity for films where he gets to "just be dirty and crawling in the mud".
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Christian Bale did many of his own stunts, including one that involved standing on the roof of the Sears Tower in Chicago.
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Several colleagues in the film industry defended Christian Bale, attributing the incident to his dedication to acting.
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Christian Bale publicly apologised in February 2009, calling the outburst "inexcusable" and his behaviour "way out of order" and affirming to have made amends with Hurlbut.
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Christian Bale later admitted he knew during production that the film would not revitalise the Terminator franchise as he had wished.
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Christian Bale asserted he would not work with McG again.
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Christian Bale portrayed FBI agent Melvin Purvis opposite Johnny Depp as gangster John Dillinger in Michael Mann's crime drama Public Enemies.
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Christian Bale played Batman again under Christopher Nolan's direction in the sequel The Dark Knight Rises, released in July 2012.
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Christian Bale described Batman in the film as a remorseful recluse in poor mental and physical health, who has surrendered following the events of The Dark Knight.
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Christian Bale later revealed his dissatisfaction with his work throughout the trilogy, saying he "didn't quite nail" his part and that he "didn't quite manage" what he had hoped he would as Batman.
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In 2013, Christian Bale played a steel mill worker in Scott Cooper's thriller Out of the Furnace.
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Christian Bale gained 43 pounds, shaved part of his head and adopted a slouched posture, which reduced his height by 3 inches and caused him to suffer a herniated disc.
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Christian Bale was nominated for an Academy Award and a Golden Globe Award for his work.
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Christian Bale portrayed Moses in Ridley Scott's epic film Exodus: Gods and Kings.
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Scott justified casting decisions citing financing needs, Christian Bale stating that Scott had been forthright in getting the film made.
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Christian Bale appeared in Terrence Malick's drama Knight of Cups, which The Atlantic critic David Sims dubbed a "noble failure".
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In Cooper's 2017 film Hostiles, Christian Bale starred as a US Army officer escorting a gravely ill Cheyenne war chief and his family back to their home in Montana.
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Christian Bale calls the film "a western with brutal, modern-day resonance" and his character "a bigoted and hate-filled man".
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Christian Bale learned the Cheyenne language while working on the film.
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In 2018, Christian Bale voiced Bagheera in the adventure film Mowgli: Legend of the Jungle.
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Christian Bale described Cheney, who is reckoned the most influential and loathed vice president in US history, as "quiet and secretive".
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Christian Bale portrayed sports car racing driver Ken Miles in the 2019 sports drama Ford v Ferrari, for which he lost 70 pounds after playing Cheney.
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Christian Bale played Gorr the God Butcher, a villain, in the Marvel Cinematic Universe superhero film Thor: Love and Thunder, which was released in July 2022.
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Christian Bale cited a character in the music video for the Aphex Twin song "Come to Daddy" as an inspiration for his characterisation of Gorr.
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Christian Bale's portrayal drew praise from critics, who deemed it "grounded and non-campy".
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Christian Bale produced and appeared in David O Russell's period film Amsterdam and Scott Cooper's thriller The Pale Blue Eye, reuniting with both directors for the third time.
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Christian Bale is known for his exhaustive dedication to the weight fluctuations that his parts demand as well as "the intensity with which he completely inhabits his roles", with The Washington Posts Ann Hornaday rating him among the most physically gifted actors of his generation.
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Christian Bale named Rowan Atkinson as his template as an actor and added that he was mesmerised by him when they worked together.
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Christian Bale studied the work of Gary Oldman, crediting him as the reason for his pursuit of acting.
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Christian Bale has been recognised for his versatility; Martha Ross of The Mercury News named him one of his generation's most versatile actors.
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Christian Bale explained that "letting people know who you are" does not help create different characters, viewing anonymity as "what's giving you the ability to play those characters".
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Christian Bale has been noted for portraying roles with an American accent, with The Atlantics Joe Reid listing him among those who "work least in their native accents"; in real life, Christian Bale speaks in an "emphatic, non-posh" English accent.
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In 2000, Christian Bale became feminist Gloria Steinem's stepson following her marriage to his father, who died in 2003 of brain lymphoma.
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Christian Bale became a vegetarian at seven years old but in 2009 said he was "in and out of the vegetarianism now".
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Christian Bale had stopped eating red meat after reading the children's book Charlotte's Web.
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Christian Bale was forced to retreat after scuffling with guards at a checkpoint.
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Christian Bale finally met Chen at a dinner held by the nonprofit Human Rights First the following year, during which he presented Chen with an award.
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Christian Bale voiced Chen's story in Amnesty International's podcast, In Their Own Words.
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Christian Bale denied the allegations and later called the incident "a deeply personal matter".
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Christian Bale has garnered four Academy Award nominations, including two in the Best Actor category for his work in American Hustle and Vice as well as two in the Best Supporting Actor category for his work in The Fighter and The Big Short; he won one for The Fighter.
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Christian Bale has been nominated for eight Screen Actors Guild Awards, winning in the Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role category for The Fighter and the Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture category as part of the American Hustle cast.