Bale had made TV commercials and appeared on the London stage before starring in Empire of the Sun (1987), an adaptation of the J. G. Ballard novel. For a few years he was a song-and-dance man-child, in the quaint Newsies and Swing Kids. Bale has since acted mostly in small, independent films like Metroland and All the Little Animals. He was the titular crazed killer in the film adaptation of Bret Easton Ellis's bloody American Psycho, and when anti-movie-violence activists protested the film, Bale did not win them over when he explained, "I found the script really funny."
[1] Though born in Wales, he has English parents and an English identity. Only for the first two years of his life did he live in Wales. Bales currently resides in Los Angeles.
Father: David Bale (pilot, b. 1941, d. 30-Dec-2003, brain lymphoma)
Mother: Jenny James (circus performer)
Mother: Gloria Steinem (stepmother, married Bale's father in 2000)
Sister: Erin Kreunen (musician)
Sister: Sharon Bale (software designer)
Sister: Louise Bale (avant garde filmmaker, b. 22-Jul-1972)
Wife: Sibi Blazic ("Sandra", Winona Ryder's personal assistant, m. 29-Jan-2000, one daughter)
Daughter: Emmeline (b. 27-Mar-2005)
High School: Bournemouth School
Oscar for Best Supporting Actor 2011 for The Fighter
Golden Globe 2011 for The Fighter (supporting actor)
Assault 21-Jul-2008 (arrested in London, charge dismissed)
South African Ancestry Paternal
English Ancestry Maternal
FILMOGRAPHY AS ACTOR
Vice (12-Dec-2018)
Mowgli: Legend of the Jungle (25-Nov-2018) [VOICE]
Hostiles (2-Sep-2017)
The Promise (11-Sep-2016)
The Big Short (12-Nov-2015)
Knight of Cups (8-Feb-2015)
Exodus: Gods and Kings (3-Dec-2014)
American Hustle (12-Dec-2013)
Out of the Furnace (9-Nov-2013)
The Dark Knight Rises (19-Jul-2012)
The Flowers of War (16-Dec-2011)
The Fighter (10-Dec-2010) · Dicky Eklund
Public Enemies (18-Jun-2009) · Melvin Purvis
Terminator Salvation (14-May-2009)
The Dark Knight (16-Jul-2008)
3:10 to Yuma (7-Sep-2007)
I'm Not There (3-Sep-2007)
The Prestige (17-Oct-2006)
Rescue Dawn (9-Sep-2006) · Dieter
The New World (25-Dec-2005) · John Rolfe
Harsh Times (11-Sep-2005) · Jim
Batman Begins (15-Jun-2005)
The Machinist (18-Jan-2004) · Trevor Reznik
Equilibrium (18-Oct-2002)
Reign of Fire (9-Jul-2002)
Laurel Canyon (18-May-2002) · Sam
Captain Corelli's Mandolin (19-Apr-2001) · Mandras
Shaft (16-Jun-2000)
American Psycho (21-Jan-2000) · Patrick Bateman
Mary, Mother of Jesus (14-Nov-1999) · Jesus
A Midsummer Night's Dream (26-Apr-1999)
All the Little Animals (13-Sep-1998) · Bobby
Velvet Goldmine (21-May-1998) · Arthur Stuart
Metroland (30-Aug-1997) · Chris
The Portrait of a Lady (18-Oct-1996)
The Secret Agent (7-Sep-1996) · Stevie
Pocahontas (15-Jun-1995) [VOICE]
Little Women (21-Dec-1994) · Laurie
Royal Deceit (23-Feb-1994) · Amled
Swing Kids (5-Mar-1993)
Newsies (10-Apr-1992) · Jack Kelly
A Murder of Quality (1991)
Treasure Island (22-Jan-1990)
Henry V (8-Nov-1989) · Boy
Empire of the Sun (9-Dec-1987)
Mio in the Land of Faraway (16-Oct-1987)
Anastasia: The Mystery of Anna (7-Dec-1986)
AKA Christian Charles Phillip Bale