Touted as one of the most talented and versatile actors of his generation, Christian Bale is an English actor who mainly works in the Hollywood industry. Noted as the `Sex Symbol` by the media, the actor has been time and again featured in the `100 sexiest men` list. Bale is a method actor and he is known to take his roles very seriously and goes to great lengths to get into the skin of the character he plays. Most notably, Bale lost nearly 63 pounds for his role in The Machinist.

The actor has featured in both commercial and independent films and rose to fame for his role in the movie Empire of the Sun. The actor garnered further critical acclaim for playing the role of a psychotic serial killer in American Psycho and for playing the role of Bruce Wayne in The Dark Knight Trilogy. Some of the other notable films are The Prestige (2006), The Fighter (2010), American Hustle (2013) and The Big Short (2015). For his stellar performances, Bale has won several awards including Academy Award, Screen Actors Guild Award, and the Golden Globe Award.

The actor has also actively supported various charitable causes and environmental groups. He is part of groups such as Greenpeace, WWF (World Wildlife Fund), and Sea Shepherd Conservation Society.
Early Life
Christian Bale was born in Haverfordwest, Pembrokeshire to Jenny, a former circus performance and David Bale, an entrepreneur, a talent manager, and commercial pilot. Although Bale was born in Wales, he is not Welsh; he is English and he spent his childhood in Wales, Surrey, Dorset, and Portugal. The actor went to Bournemouth School but dropped out of school at the age of 16. Bale has a sister named Sharon. After his parents divorced in 1991, his sister and mother stayed in Bournemouth and he moved to Lon Angeles, California with his father at the age of 17.

Before making his mark on the silver screen, Bale started his acting career by appearing in various TV commercials and in theater groups. His first tryst in front of the camera was in 1982 when he appeared in a TV commercial for Lenor, a fabric softener. The following year, he appeared in a Pac-Man cereal commercial. In 1984, he joined a theater group and made his stage debut with The Nerd alongside Rowan Atkinson.
Personal Life
Christian Bale is married to Sandra `Sibi` Blazic, a Serbian-American who worked as a model and was a former make-up artist. The couple tied the knot on 29th January 2000 and the two have two children; a daughter named Emmaline and a son named Joseph. Although the actor has been living in the U.S since 1992, he applied for US citizenship in 2010.
Movie Career
Christian Bale, started acting at a very young age. His first tryst in front of the camera was in 1986 when he played the role of a Russian boy in the Television film, Anastasia: The Mystery of Anna. He subsequently played the leading role in fantasy adventure film, Mio in the Land of Faraway alongside Christopher Lee and Nick Pickard. A year later, in 1987 Bale appeared in the critically acclaimed movie Empire of the Sun. He essayed the character of Jim Graham and also won the Best Performance by a Juvenile Actor Award from the National Board of Review of Motion Pictures. Soon, Bale received adulations and press attention, which had a massive impact on him and he considered quitting acting. However, Kenneth Branagh persuaded him to act him in the 1989 film, Henry V.

Over the next decade, between 1989 and 1998, Bale appeared in several films like Newsies (1992), Swing Kids (1993), Little Women (1994) and Velvet Goldmine (1998) but did not garner any attention for his roles. The year 1999 marked a huge turnaround in Bale`s career as he featured in the crime drama film titled American Psycho directed by Mary Harron. The movie received critical acclaim and was a commercial hit at the box-office. In preparation for his role in the movie, Bale underwent intense physical training to get the perfect Olympian physique. The film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2000.

In 2002, Bale appeared in Laurel Canyon, Reign of Fire and Equilibrium.

After a hiatus of one year, Bale returned in 2004 with psychological thriller, The Machinist. For his role as Trevor Reznik, an insomniac Bale put himself on a crash diet on only coffee and apples, which reduced his weight by 63 pounds in a matter of few months. Following the success of The Machinist, Bale received more adulation as he played the role of Bruce Wayne in Christopher Nolan`s DC comics-based superhero film, Batman Begins. The film released in June 2005 and it opened to rave critical reviews and grossed more than 370 million US dollar worldwide.

After Batman Begins, Bale returned to acting in independent films and he featured in Harsh Times. Bale next appeared in the American-British romantic historical drama film, The New World initially opened to average reviews but later critics hailed it as one of the best films of the decade. In 2006, the actor featured Rescue Dawn and Christopher Nolan`s The Prestige. In 2007, Bale was cast alongside Russell Crowe in James Mangold`s 3:10 to Yuma. The critically and commercially successful film was the remake of the 1957 film of the same name.

The following year Bale reprised the role of Bruce Wayne in The Dark Knight, the sequel to Batman Begins. For his role in his movie, Bale underwent extensive training to learn the Keysi fighting method and he performed most of the stunts on his own. The movie released in July 2008 and it went on to gross about 158 million US dollars in the opening week itself and broke the $ 300 million within 10 days. Following the success of The Dark Knight, Bale went on to feature in McG`s (Joseph McGinty Nichol) post-apocalyptic science-fiction film, Terminator Salvation, which is also referred as Terminator 4 or T4. The movie co-starring Sam Worthington is the fourth installment of the Terminator series. During the shooting of the film, Bale got himself into trouble as he verbally abused the director of Photography Shane Hurlbut for disturbing him during and intense scene. The actor after a year of silence apologized to Hurlbut in 2009.

Christian Bale had a great start to the year 2010 as he featured in David O. Russell`s drama film, The Fighter alongside Mark Wahlberg, Amy Adams, and Melissa Leo. Upon release, the movie got rave critical reviews and it was nominated for seven Academy Awards and was a huge commercial hit. For his brilliant performance in the movie, Bale won the Best Supporting Actor at the Academy Awards as well as the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor. Bale`s next notable performance came in the final installment of the Batman series, The Dark Knight Rises. The movie released in July 2012 and it garnered critical praise as well as huge financial earnings; it grossed more than one billion US dollars worldwide and is one of the top grossing films of the world. The following year, Bale played the role of Russell Baze in the thriller film, Out of the Furnace directed by Scott Cooper. The film also featuring Casey Affleck, Zoe Saldana, Woody Harrelson, Sam Shepard, and Forest Whitaker received mixed reviews and was a commercial failure.

In the same year, Bale once again collaborated with director David O. Russell for the dark comedy film, American Hustle. The film also starring Amy Adam and Bradly Cooper in the lead role had Bale playing the role of a con artist. The film got wide critical acclaim and it got 10 nominations at the 86th Academy Awards. Although the movie did not win any Academy Awards, it went on to win three BAFTA Awards and three Golden Globe Awards. The following year, Bale appeared as Moses in Ridley Scott`s Biblical epic film, Exodus: Gods and Kings. The film got mixed to negative reviews from the critics but it emerged to be a box office hit. In 2015, the actor starred in a biopic film The Big Short. The film got critical acclaim and was nominated for five Academy Awards and it won the Award for Best Adapted Screenplay. His next film was Knight of Cups (2016) premiered at the 65th Berlin International Film Festival. The actor`s 2017 release includes Weightless and Hostiles. HIs other releases include Vice (2018), Ford v Ferrari (2019) and Thor: Love and Thunder (2022).