Christian Bale Biography
Christian Charles Philip Bale, child actor of the popular Empire of the Sun film and the Batman sequels has been gracing films for three decades now and he easily passes for the professional name Christian Bale, he is a native of Haverfordwest, Pembrokeshire, Wales, UK where he was born on January 30 1974.
Showbiz ran in the family and Bale grew up in a mobile home following his parents’ active performing jobs, as a child to David Bale and Jenny James, a popular circus couple, he was already a child celebrity known by all acts in his mother’s circus troupe. Bale went to school at the independent Dolphin School in Berkshire and the Church of England Primary School in Shiplake, he was a good student although his interests lay in the music and dance clubs where he was a guitar player and ballet dancer respectively.
The Bale family continued touring in different countries and even after his parents separated and remarried, Bale continued to tour with his father as an emerging child actor. David Bale became the manager of his young son’s career and with his young Bale’s experience with entertainment from an early age coupled with his father’s connections he began to appear in televised product campaigns from the age of eight. A gradual career rise saw him advance to film roles in teen movies, in 1986 he made a debut in film with an appearance in Anastasia: The Mystery of Anna, followed by Mio in the Land Faraway and Heart of the Country. Despite being an outstanding performer Bale remained unknown to the world after his debut roles.
This soon changed as in 1987 and at the age of thirteen he was cast for the role of a child in the high budget film The Empire of the Sun, producers were not optimistic about his taking the role since Bale was fairly new to acting, after much deliberation they however let him film. After the premiere of Empire of the Sun the media threw a buzz over the new entrant, Bale’s performance was highly praised by tabloids and critics and he was honoured by the National Board of Review of Motion Pictures with a Best Performance by a Juvenile Actor award.
His first major success continued with more roles into the early 90’s in roles as Amled in ‘Prince of Jutland,’ Jim Hawkins in ‘Treasure Island,’ Tim Perkins in ‘Murder of Quality,’ Theodore Lawrence in ‘Little Women’ and Edward Rosier in ‘The Portrait of a lady.’
Bale was also featured in the films Secret Agent, Metroland, All the Little Animals, Velvet Goldmine, Midsummer Night's Dream and he closed his roles in the decade with a lead role of Jesus of Nazareth in the 1999 film titled Mary, Mother of Jesus. He begun the following year with a role in Captain Corelli’s Mandolin, followed by lead roles in Laurel Canyon, Reign of Fire, Equilibrium, Machinist, Rescue Dawn, New World, Harsh Times and Prestige.
Bale gained fame with the lead roles in the Batman films and in the Terminator sequels, in 2005 he was cast for the first Batman film titled Batman Begins and he went on to reprise the role of Bruce Wayne in The Dark Knight as well as in the video game remakes of the film. His next film in the sequel is Dark Knight Rises and it is set to air in 2010, in the Terminator film Bale played the lead role of John Connor
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