Bale, Christian (1974-…), is a British actor. He is known for his performances in dramatic roles. Bale received an Academy Award for best supporting actor for his performance in The Fighter (2010). In that motion picture, he portrayed a drug-addicted former boxer helping train his half-brother for a boxing championship. Bale also played the comic book hero Batman in a series of films including Batman Begins (2005), The Dark Knight (2008), and The Dark Knight Rises (2012).
Christian Charles Philip Bale was born on Jan. 30, 1974, in Haverfordwest, Pembrokeshire, Wales. He began acting in commercials as a child. In 1986, he appeared in the television miniseries Anastasia: The Mystery of Anna. In 1987, Bale won acclaim for his performance in Empire of the Sun. In that film, he played an English boy living in China during World War II (1939-1945). His character struggles to survive under the Japanese occupation of China during the war.
In 2000, Bale gained notice for his performance as a serial killer in American Psycho. A serial killer is a person who commits a series of murders. Bale attracted attention for physically transforming himself for his roles. He lost over 60 pounds (27 kilograms) to portray an industrial worker in The Machinist (2004). He gained about 80 pounds (36 kilograms) the following year to portray the muscular title hero in Batman Begins.
Bales’s other notable films include Swing Kids (1993), Little Women (1994), Velvet Goldmine (1998), Equilibrium (2002), The Prestige (2006), 3:10 to Yuma (2007), Public Enemies (2009), The Flowers of War (2011), American Hustle and Out of the Furnace (both 2013), Exodus: Gods and Kings (2014), The Big Short (2015), and Ford v Ferrari (2019).
