Christian Bale Biography
Born: January 30, 1974
Christian Bale is one of the few actors in Hollywood whose child stardom has successfully translated to steady and respectable adult employment. With a wistful handsomeness to complement his impressive, sometimes underrated talent, Bale has become something of a quiet sensation, netting choice roles in a number of unconventional, critically acclaimed films.
Born January 30, 1974, in Pembrokeshire, Wales, Bale was raised in England, Portugal, and the U.S. The product of a creative family (his mother was a dancer and both of his grandfathers were part-time actors), Bale made his stage debut at the age of ten, playing opposite British comedian Rowan_Atkinson in +The Nerd. In 1986, he debuted on television as Alexis in the miniseries Anastasia: The Mystery of Anna. His film debut came the following year with the lead role in Steven_Spielberg's adaptation of J.G. Ballard's Empire of the Sun. Although the film met with very mixed reviews, Bale received almost ubiquitous praise for his portrayal of a young boy interned in a Japanese prison camp during World War II. Following a starring role in a Swedish film, Mio min Mio, Bale next appeared in Kenneth_Branagh's celebrated 1988 adaptation of Henry_V and in 1990, starred opposite Charlton Heston in a highly-regarded cable adaptation of Treasure_Island.
In 1992, Bale appeared in his first adult role in the musical Newsies, in which he could be seen singing, dancing, and sporting a fairly convincing American accent. His next film, Swing_Kids (1993), also featured him dancing, this time alongside Robert_Sean_Leonard in wartime Germany. Although the film failed to impress most critics, it succeeded in making a favorable impact on teenage girls and swing afficionados everywhere. The following year, Bale appeared as Laurie in Gillian_Armstrong's acclaimed adaptation of Little_Women and then went on to lend his voice to Disney's animated film Pocahontas, which proved to be one of 1995's biggest box-office draws. The actor next appeared in The_Secret_Agent (1996), which, despite a strong cast including Gérard_Depardieu, Bob_Hoskins, and Patricia_Arquette, was widely unseen in the U.S. After a tragically small role in the same year's The Portrait of a Lady, Bale was finally given the opportunity to step into the limelight with the 1997 film Metroland, an adaptation of Julian Barnes' novel. Starring alongside Emily_Watson, Bale played a young husband and father wallowing in discontented nostalgia and received overwhelmingly positive notices for his thoughtful, complex portrayal. The film was not released in the U.S. until the following year, when he also had lead roles in Todd_Haynes' eagerly anticipated Velvet_Goldmine and All the Little Animals, which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival to strong reviews.
The following year, Bale starred alongside Kevin_Kline, Michelle_Pfeiffer, and Rupert_Everett in a lavish adaptation of A_Midsummer_Night's_Dream. In addition to the exposure he (literally) received in his role as Demetrius, Bale got a different kind of recognition for his part in the well-documented controversy surrounding the casting of Mary_Harron's adaptation of Bret Easton Ellis' -American Psycho. After winning and then losing the film's lead role to Leonardo DiCaprio, Bale then won it back, prompting a wave of media coverage and at least one publication's decision to describe him as everyone's favorite underdog. It was a title that, deserved or not, seemed to fit an actor who, beneath all of the hyperbole and hype, was one of Hollywood's most engaging and underrated treasures. Bale next starred in the humans versus dragons opus Reign of Fire (2002), followed by the dystopian /thriller Equilibrium before returning to the present day with the low-key sexual /comedy drama Laurel Canyon (2002).
Bale was about to make a breakthrough move into blockbuster film, however, as he was cast as the suprehero Batman in Christopher Nolan's latest entry in the franchise, Batman Begins. The franchise reboot would prove overwhelmingly successful, especially with the dark, crime-drama style sequel, The Dark Knight (2008). Though Bale would become something of an infamous fixture in viral media for an explosively angry outburst at an on-set crewmember that was caught on audio, this did nothing to upset the actor's star power. He would also collaborate with Nolan on The Prestige (2006), before starring in the critically acclaimed western 3:10 to Yuma. Bale would also take on the infamous role of John Conner in a long-awaited Terminator Salvation in 2009, before playing a hard-nosed FBI agent on the trail of Johnny Depp's John Dillinger in Public Enemies that same year.
In 2010, Bale joined the cast of the hard hitting sports drama The Fighter, playing the troubled brother and coach of an underdog boxer played by Mark Wahlberg. Bale would take home the Oscar and Golden Globes for Best Supporting Actor for his performance, but he was soon onto his next project, the period war drama Flowers of War. Soon, he was gearing up to don the cowel once again, with the third and final installment in Nolan's Batman franchise, The Dark Knight Rises. Rebecca Flint Marx, Rovi
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