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Christian Charles Philip Bale (also known professionally as Christian Morgan Bale; born 30 January 1974) is a Screen Actors Guild Award-nominated, Saturn Award-winning Welsh-born actor whose film credits include Empire of the Sun, American Psycho, Equilibrium, The Machinist, and Batman Begins. Bale is known for his mastery of accents and harsh regimens of shedding and gaining weight (particularly for The Machinist, Batman Begins and, most recently, Rescue Dawn). Before he found success in playing Batman, he was heavily involved in independent films. Bale first caught the public eye when he was cast in the starring role of Steven Spielberg's Empire of the Sun at the age of 13, playing an English boy who becomes separated from his parents and subsequently finds himself in a Japanese internment camp during World War II. Since then, he has portrayed a wide range of characters. Bale is especially noted for his cult following. The tenth anniversary issue of Entertainment Weekly hailed him as one of the "Top 8 Most Powerful Cult Figures of the Past Decade," citing his impressive cult status on the Internet. In a 2007 poll of IMDb users, he was voted their favorite actor who is under 40. Entertainment Weekly also called Bale one of the "Most Creative People in Entertainment," after his dynamic performance in American Psycho. Despite having all the necessary tools to become a star – looks, talent, presence – actor Christian Bale lacked one necessary ingredient at the start of his career: tolerance for being in the spotlight. After achieving instant celebrity after being tapped by Steven Spielberg to star in his epic period film, “Empire of the Sun” (1987), Bale suddenly discovered that he hated dealing with publicity. Instead of faking his way through interviews and junkets, he mentally bailed out, sometimes sitting through an entire session without answering, and occasionally flat out refusing to participate. But as he got older, he realized that the publicity aspect of acting was vital to his success, so he grew more and more comfortable with every new career landmark – “Little Women” (1994), “American Psycho” (2000) and “Batman Begins” (2005), chief among them. Lucky enough, Bale came to accept publicity as a necessary evil before he was lost to obscurity, though his talent far surpassed any of his contemporaries, making him a lock on becoming a star no matter how hard he tried to avoid it. Born on Jan. 30, 1974 in Pembrokeshire, South Wales, Bale grew up in Portugal and various towns around England before finally settling in Bournemouth, Dorset, England. He was introduced to life in entertainment almost from the start – one grandfather was a vaudeville-style stand-up comic; the other grandfather was a stand-in for John Wayne on several films. His mother, Jane, was also in the business, working as a dancer and a circus performer. On the other hand, his father David was an entrepreneur, conservationist and animal rights activist who brought Young Bale to Save the Whale rallies. But it was Bale’s older sister, Louise, who piqued his interest in acting – she started the craft when he was young; naturally, he followed her into it. Bale began his career a child actor, making his debut when he was nine years old in British television commercials, including one for Pac-Man cereal. He made the transition to stage and film, performing alongside Rowan Atkinson in a West End production of “The Nerd” (1984) and on the BBC miniseries “Heart of the Country” (1987). He also made his American debut with a supporting role in the two-part miniseries, “Anastasia: The Mystery of Anna” (NBC, 1986). By the time he was 13, Bale was attending the Bournemouth School for Boys, though maintaining studies while also acting proved difficult. His entire life changed, however, when he was chosen by Steven Spielberg out of 4,000 hopefuls to play Jim Graham, a pampered upper-class British adolescent living in China, in “Empire of the Sun.” Shouldering the bulk of the movie – no small task for one so young – Bale delivered a mature performance and was immediately hailed as the next Big Thing. Being thrust into the limelight – some even said he was the most talked about child actor since Mickey Rooney – had a starkly profound effect on Bale, who suddenly found himself retreating from press interviews and publicity events. The pressure of being a sudden celebrity proved to be too much, especially in light of “Empire of the Sun” doing mediocre business at the box office. Back at home, Bale was taken to task by a local newspaper for refusing an interview, while the boys at Bournemouth picked fights and mocked him. All he wanted to do was get away. Soon after he was finished with “Empire of the Sun,” his parents divorced, jading Bale on the concept of marriage. Meanwhile, he lost his desire to act, thanks to his time spent in the bright lights of celebrity. But the lure was ignited anew when Kenneth Branagh persuaded Bale to play a minor role opposite Falstaff (Robbie Coltrane) in the actor-director’s excellent interpretation of Shakespeare’s “Henry V” (1989). He next starred opposite Charlton Heston as Jim Hawkins in the competently made television adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson’s “Treasure Island” (TNT, 1990). A couple of years later, Bale made the ill-fated decision to star in his first musical, “Newsies” (1992), a dreadful Disney concoction that told the true story of an 1899 strike by newspaper boys against publishing tycoon Joseph Pulitzer. Bale hated musicals and claimed to have had no idea how he became involved in one. Regardless, it became one of the few embarrassments of Bale’s career. Bale made his film debut as Tsarevich Alexei Nikolaevich of Russia in the made-for-television film Anastasia: The Mystery of Anna in 1986, which was followed by leading roles in the miniseries Heart of the Country and the fantasy adventure Mio in the Land of Faraway, in which he appeared for the first time with Christopher Lee and Nick Pickard. In 1987, Amy Irving, his co-star in Anastasia: The Mystery of Anna, recommended Bale to her then-husband, Steven Spielberg, for a role in Empire of the Sun, adapted from the J.G. Ballard semi-autobiography. Bale's performance as Jim Graham earned him widespread critical praise and the first ever "Best Performance by a Juvenile Actor" award from the National Board of Review of Motion Pictures; the Board created the award especially for him. The attention the press and his schoolmates lavished upon him after this took a toll on Bale, and he contemplated giving up acting until Kenneth Branagh approached him and persuaded him to appear in Henry V in 1989. In 1990 he played the role of Jim Hawkins opposite Charlton Heston (as Long John Silver) in Treasure Island, an adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson's classic book. In 1992, Bale starred as Jack Kelly in the Disney musical Newsies, and followed it up in 1993 with another release, Swing Kids, a movie about teenagers who secretly listened to forbidden jazz during the rise of Nazi Germany. Bale was handpicked by Winona Ryder in 1994 to star in Gillian Armstrong's version of Louisa May Alcott's Little Women. Bale provided the voice for Thomas, a young compatriot of Captain John Smith, in Disney's Pocahontas (1995) and in 1997 played the lead in Todd Haynes' tribute to glam rock, Velvet Goldmine. In 1999, Bale contributed to an all-star cast, including Kevin Kline, Michelle Pfeiffer, Stanley Tucci, and Rupert Everett (among others) in an updated version of Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream. In 1999, Bale prepared to undertake what would become one of his most acclaimed roles, serial killer Patrick Bateman in American Psycho. Director Mary Harron, who had previously helmed the Valerie Solanas biopic I Shot Andy Warhol, was given the reins to the adaptation of Bret Easton Ellis’ controversial novel, but dropped out of the project when she learned Leonardo DiCaprio was set to star instead of Bale, her first choice. Harron cited budget concerns, believing DiCaprio to be too expensive for the production. Oliver Stone replaced Harron as director, but when DiCaprio abandoned the project for The Beach, Stone left as well, and a pregnant Harron was contracted once more, this time with her wish for Bale to star granted. Bale had never read the novel before being contacted about the film, but took on the role because he was surprised and engaged by the script, which he described as “the opposite of anything I’d ever done before.” Harron's decision to cast Bale lay in that she thought he resembled a male Lili Taylor “in the sense that there was a lot below the surface,” and that “he had a sense of mystery and depth in his face.” Bale played an assortment of diverse characters from 2001 onwards. His first role after American Psycho was in the John Madden adaptation of the best-selling novel Captain Corelli's Mandolin, which was a significant departure from the novel. Bale played Mandras, a Greek fisherman who vied with Nicolas Cage's title character for the affections of the desirable Pelagia (Penelope Cruz). The Mandras of the novel was a more developed character with his own subplot; Bale's Mandras was relegated to a supporting character, and his subplot was eliminated, much of the camera being devoted to Corelli and Pelagia. Captain Corelli's Mandolin was Bale's second time working with John Hurt, after All the Little Animals. Perhaps as insurance, he portrayed Jesus in the biblical drama, "Mary, Mother of Jesus" (NBC, 1999), co-starring Pernilla August as Mary. Bale moved on to supporting roles in a pair of more conventional, low-performing films – John Singelton's remake of "Shaft" (2000) with Samuel L. Jackson and "Captain Corelli's Mandolin" (2001) starring Nicolas Cage. He scored a modest box office hit playing the dragon fighter Quinn in the fantasy adventure "Reign of Fire" (2002). Later that year, he appeared in the uninspired sci-fi parable "Equilibrium" (2002) which reunited him with “Metroland” costar Emily Watson. The film was released with little fanfare and to poor critical response. He fared better, however, in the intriguing – albeit not artistically successful – indie drama "Laurel Canyon" (2003), convincingly playing a Los Angeles-bred physician and the son of an iconoclastic rock producer (Frances McDormand) who returns to the affluent canyon community he has grown to look down upon with his fiancée (Kate Beckinsale). Bale's next film was the nightmarish thriller "The Machinist" (2004) by director Brad Anderson – the actor played a drill press operator who grows emaciated after not sleeping for a year. Bale insanely dropped a whopping 63 lbs – a third of his bodyweight – by downing whiskey and diet pills, a true testament to his dedication for authenticity. After a year's hiatus, Bale returned in 2004 to play Trevor Reznik, the title character in the psychological thriller The Machinist. Reznik was a chronic insomniac, tormented by a mysterious stalker. Bale devoted himself to the role to an extent he had never gone to, sacrificing his mental and physical well being to achieve Reznik's emaciated, skeletal appearance for the sake of an authentic, natural performance. (In one scene, Jennifer Jason Leigh's character quipped, “If you were any thinner, you wouldn’t exist.”) He went without proper rest for prolonged periods, and placed himself on a crash diet that saw his weight dropping by 60 pounds (27 kilograms) in a matter of months. Bale wanted to lose more, but everyone from the director to his doctor forbade him (Bale weighed 130 pounds (59 kg) by the end of filming). He was compared to Robert De Niro, whose alternate weight-gaining regimen saw him putting on fifty-five pounds for his role as Jake LaMotta in Raging Bull. Bale took the Reznik role because the script “intrigued” him, and it helped him cope with his depression. The Machinist garnered mostly positive reviews — critics were impressed by Bale's dedication. It was a low-budget production, costing roughly US$5,000,000 to produce, and was given only a limited U.S. release while most of its profits were made overseas. Bale, an admirer of Hayao Miyazaki's Spirited Away, was cast as the voice of the title character, Howl, in the English language dub of the Japanese director's fantasy anime adventure Howl's Moving Castle, an adaptation of Diana Wynne Jones’ children's novel. Its profits in the United States were US$4,711,096, a fraction of its worldwide gross (US$230,458,788). Bale had long been a contender to portray Batman, from as early as 2002. He had previously auditioned for the role of Robin in Batman Forever (1995), but lost out to Chris O'Donnell. In 2004, after completing filming for The Machinist, Bale won the coveted role of Batman and was set to star alongside Liam Neeson, Katie Holmes, Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman, and Cillian Murphy in the Christopher Nolan-helmed Batman Begins, a complete restart of the Batman mythos without any ties to the Burton or Schumacher films. Bale beat out Jake Gyllenhaal, the closest competition for the role, a situation reversed when Bale lost the part of Anthony Swofford in Jarhead (2005) to Gyllenhaal. Still fresh from The Machinist, it became necessary for Bale to bulk up to match the powerful physique of Batman. He was given a deadline of six weeks to do this. Bale recalled it as far from a simple accomplishment: “…when it actually came to building muscle, I was useless. I couldn’t do one push up the first day. All of the muscles were gone, so I had a real tough time rebuilding all of that.” With the help of a personal trainer, Bale succeeded in meeting the deadline, gaining exactly one hundred pounds (46kg) in six weeks. He then worked toward building muscle. Bale had initial concerns about playing Batman, as he felt more ridiculous than intimidating in the Batman costume. He dealt with this by depicting Batman as a savage beast in his portrayal. To attain a deeper understanding of the character, Bale read various Batman comic books. He explained his interpretation of the Dark Knight: “Batman is his hidden, demonic rage-filled side. The Batman creature [Bruce Wayne] creates is an absolutely sincere creature and one that he has to control but does so in a very haphazard way. He's capable of enacting violence — and to kill — so he's constantly having to rein himself in.” For Bale, the most grueling part about playing Batman was the costume. “You stick it on, you get hot, you sweat and you get a headache in the cowl,” he said. “But I'm not going to bitch about it because I get to play Batman.” When promoting the film in interviews and public events, Bale reportedly retained Bruce Wayne's American accent to avoid confusion with Batman being a Briton. Batman Begins was released domestically on June 15 and was a domestic and international triumph for Warner Bros., costing approximately US$135,000,000 to produce and taking in over US$370,000,000 in returns worldwide. The cast was praised for its effective portrayals, but Bale drew the most acclaim for his dual portrayal of both Batman and Bruce Wayne. He earned the Best Hero award at the 2006 MTV Movie Awards for his performance. Bale has currently finished filming the Batman Begins sequel, The Dark Knight. The film is once again directed by Christopher Nolan and will have a release date of July 18, 2008 in the United States. Bale built his body back into super-heroic shape and rocketed to international superstardom when he was tapped by director Christopher Nolan to star in "Batman Begins,” a serious-minded reboot of the faded franchise that explored the origins of the Dark Knight in his earliest days. Bale was the most comic book-accurate Batman yet, convincingly playing both his fearsome crime-fighting alter ego, the foppish public persona of Bruce Wayne and the third conflicted personality behind both masks. He was scheduled to revive the role opposite Heath Ledger as The Joker in Nolan's sequel, "The Dark Knight" in 2008. Bale next had a supporting role in Terrance Malick’s “The New World” (2005), a lyrical, but ultimately meandering look at the settlement at Jamestown, Virginia in 1607 and the ensuing love affair between Captain John Smith (Colin Farrell) and a young Native American girl, Pocahontas (Q’Orianka Kilcher). Bale played John Rolfe, a tobacconist who marries Pocahontas after the supposed death of Smith and brings her back to England where she’s treated as a celebrity. Bale next starred in “The Prestige” (2006), playing an obscure, but brilliant magician engaged in a game of one-upmanship with his flashier, more sophisticated rival (Hugh Jackman). Their rivalry starts off friendly enough, but a trick that goes horribly awry forces them to become bitter enemies, leading both down a path of a fierce competition that may ultimately end in death. Then in “Harsh Times” (2006), Bale was a Gulf War veteran struggling to cope with postwar life while hoping to become a policeman. His dream starts to slip away, however, when he joins his best friend (Freddy Rodriguez) on a violent rampage through South Central Los Angeles that eventually causes dire consequences. Meanwhile, Bale played Dieter Dengler in “Rescue Dawn” (2006), a true-life telling of the German-born pilot whose obsession with flying leads him to join the Air Force during Vietnam, only to be shot down during his first mission and captured by the Vietcong. Directed by famed lunatic Werner Herzog, “Rescue Dawn” put Bale through the wringer in the jungles of Thailand, where the actor endured harsh conditions, grueling takes and crew revolts – just another day at the office of a Herzog production. In “3:10 to Yuma” (2007), an earnest attempt by Hollywood to revive the once-dead Western genre, Bale played a rancher fallen on hard times who agrees to escort a notorious criminal (Russell Crowe) to prison in order to earn money to support his family. But the criminal has other plans, tempting the rancher into releasing him in exchange for a share of hidden loot worth much more than he is being paid. Both Bale and co-star Crowe gave fine, nuanced performances that helped underscore a strong revisionist take on an old favorite by director James Mangold. For a change of pace, Bale joined several other top performers – including Richard Gere, Heath Ledger and Cate Blanchett – to appear as Bob Dylan at different stages of his career in “I’m Not There” (2007). Bale played the earnest folk artist who eventually was reborn as a Christian preacher. In 2006, Bale took on four projects. Rescue Dawn, by German filmmaker Werner Herzog, had him playing U.S. Fighter pilot Dieter Dengler, who has to fight for his life after being shot down while on a mission during the Vietnam War. Bale left a strong impression on Herzog, with the director complimenting his acting abilities: "I find him one of the greatest talents of his generation. We made up our own minds long before he did Batman." In The Prestige, an adaptation of the Christopher Priest novel about a rivalry between two Victorian stage magicians, Bale reunites with Michael Caine and director Christopher Nolan. The cast of The Prestige also included Hugh Jackman, Scarlett Johansson, Piper Perabo, and David Bowie. I'm Not There, a film in which Bale again worked alongside Todd Haynes and Heath Ledger (who plays The Joker in the 2008 film The Dark Knight), is an artistic reflection of the life of Bob Dylan. He also starred with Russell Crowe in a commercially and critically successful remake of the Western classic 3:10 to Yuma. Bale has been cast as the role of John Connor in the upcoming Terminator Salvation: The Future Begins film, and will appear as FBI agent Melvin Purvis in Michael Mann's Public Enemies. Writer/director Joe Carnahan confirmed in November 2007 that he is also involved in the upcoming Killing Pablo in which he is to play Major Steve Jacoby. On January 29, 2000, Bale married Sandra "Sibi" Blazic (born 1970), a one-time model, make-up artist, and personal assistant to Winona Ryder, his Little Women co-star. He has a daughter with Blazic named Emmaline, who was born on March 27, 2005, in Santa Monica, California. Bale has three older sisters – Erin Bale, a musician; Sharon Bale, a computer professional; and Louise Bale, a theatre actress and director. The Bale family is deeply rooted in show business, especially theatre. Bale is a distant relative of British actress Lillie Langtry, while his uncle, Rex Bale, and maternal grandfather were actors as well. Like his father, David, Bale is known as a conservationist, and is a supporter of conservation and animal welfare groups such as Greenpeace and the World Wildlife Fund. The famous feminist activist, Gloria Steinem, became a first-time bride (at age 66) and Bale's stepmother, when she married David on September 3, 2000. The marriage ended with the death of the elder Bale in 2003. |
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