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Christian Bale is an English actor, well known for his role as Bruce Wayne/Batman in “The Dark Knight” series. Here are 50 interesting facts about the actor –
- Christian Charles Philip Bale was born on January 30, 1974.
- His father David Bale was a former commercial pilot and mother Jenny was a circus performer.
- He has three sisters – Erin Bale – a musician, Sharon Bale – a computer professional and Louise Bale – a director/actress.
- His grandfather was a stand-up comedian and children’s entertainer.
- He is married to Sandra Blazic, a former model, make-up artist.
- The couple has two children: a daughter Emmaline, and son Joseph.
- He currently resides in Los Angeles, California with his family.
- He met his wife through actress Winona Ryder, as Jenny is the personal assistant to the actress.
- His father died on Dec. 30, 2003 at the age of 62, from brain lymphoma.
- He spent his childhood in Wales but like to call himself as English. He had stated once ”I was born in Wales but I’m not Welsh – I’m English.”
- His first acting role was in 1982 in a commercial for fabric softener Lenor.
- In 1983 he starred as a child rock star in Pac-Man cereal commercial.
- A year later he made his stage debut in “The Nerd” opposite Rowan Atkinson on London’s West End.
- He was among the 4000 other auditioners for the role of Jim Graham in “Empire of the Sun.” Steven Spielberg chose him for the role.
- He earned critical acclaim for his performance in movie and first ever “Best Performance by a Juvenile Actor” award.
- He admitted to having a crush on Drew Barrymore when she visited her god father Steven Spielberg at the sets of “Empire of the Sun” in 1987. He was thirteen and she was twelve.
- While filming “Empire of the Sun” Steven Spielberg referred to Bale as the young Steve Mcqueen.
- He was handpicked by director Mary Harron to star in the 2000 movie “American Psycho.”
- To portray as Patrick Bateman, he took inspiration from Nicholas Cage’s performance in “Vampire King” (1998).
- He was warned by many that acting in “American Psycho” would be a career suicide, but it only made him more eager to do it.
- He maintained his American accent throughout the shoot of the movie. At the wrap up party, when he spoke in his British accent, many thought it was for his another film. Everyone thought he was an American all the time.
- This movie marks his first physique transformation for the characters he is to portray. The other movies include “Reign of Fire,” “The Machinist,” “Batman” series and “Rescue Dawn.”
- He is an avid animal lover. He has two dogs and three cats as his pets. All of them strays that he found.
- In 2004, he lost 63 pounds for the role of Trevor Reznik in the movie “The Machinist.”
- The director Brad Anderson did not order Bale to reduce such a vast amount of weight for the character Reznik, however he was shocked and excited on looking at Bale on the first day of the shoot.
- His diet consisted of an apple per day and a can of tuna.
- He took up smoking to help himself curb appetite when crash dieting.
- He faced many problems due to extreme weight loss. He found running very difficult as he lacked muscles in his legs.
- When he acted in “The Batman Begins” as Bruce Wayne, he became the seventh actor to play the role.
- In a scene when Morgan Freeman and Michael Caine greet him at his bed, he actually fell asleep after getting ready for the scene. Michael Caine poked his ribs to wake him up and said,” Look at that! He’s bloody fallen asleep.”
- Bale performed all his stunts himself, however he was not allowed anywhere near the Batmobile.
- In the fight scene where Liam Neeson and Bale were fighting on the frozen lake they could actually hear the ice cracking under their feet. The next day the ice had completed melted.
- He was considered underweight because of his extreme weight loss for his previous film “The Machinist”. He was given 6 months to beef up and he did beef up to be dubbed by his friends as Fatman. He again lost 20 pounds to have a chiseled body for Batman role.
- In an interview with Terry Gross in “Fresh Air With Terry Gross,” he maintained the American accent because the Batman was an “American Icon” and he didn’t want to ruin it with his accent.
- He is the second actor after Michael Keaton to play Batman in more than one live action movie.
- Two of his famous character names “Bateman” and the “Batman” have only one letter difference.
- He is the youngest actor ever to portray the role of Batman.
- His sister Louise Bale played Batman’s mother in “The Death of Batman” in 2003.
- He auditioned for the role of Jack Dawson in “The Titanic” in 1997 and almost got it.
- He auditioned for the role of Will Turner in the “Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of Black Pearl, which eventually went to Orlando Bloom.
- He was chosen as one of the 100 sexiest stars in the film industry by Empire Magazine in 2007.
- He was considered for the role of James Bond in the movie Casino Royale but lost to Daniel Craig.
- He was a huge fan of Terminator movies before being cast as John Connor in Terminator Salvation.
- On the sets of “Terminator Salvation” he verbally assaulted the cinematographer Shane Hurlbut for interrupting him during an intense scene. It was recorded and heard all over the internet.
- Assistant director Bruce Franklin stated about the incident in an interview, “If you are working in a very intense scene and someone takes you out of your groove ... It was the most emotional scene in the movie ... and for him to get stopped in the middle of it. He is very intensely involved in his character. He didn’t walk around like that all day long. It was just a moment and it passed.”
- He played Dicky Eklurd in the movie “The Fighter” in 2010 alongside Mark Wahlberg. For the role he lost 30 pounds.
- He received Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor and Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. He received 30 other awards for his performance in 2011.
- He loves video games as any other and Super Mario is his all time favorite growing up.
- He along with his wife supports environmental groups such as “Greenpeace” and “World Wildlife Fund.”
- He is also on Board of Trustees of the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund.
