Christian Bale
Christian Charles Philip Bale (born 30 January, 1974) is an English actor. In addition to starring roles in big budget Hollywood films, he has for long been heavily involved in films produced by independent producers and art houses.
Bale first caught the public eye when he was cast in the starring role of Steven Spielberg’s Empire of the Sun at the age of 13, playing an English boy who is separated from his parents and subsequently finds himself lost in a Japanese internment camp during World War II. Since then, he has portrayed a wide range of characters. Bale is especially noted for his cult following: the tenth anniversary issue of Entertainment Weekly hailed him as one of the “Top 8 Most Powerful Cult Figures of the Past Decade”, citing his cult status on the Internet. EW called Bale one of the “Most Creative People in Entertainment” in anticipation of the release American Psycho (2000).
It was reported that Bale had previously auditioned for the role of Robin
in Batman Returns (1992) and later Batman Forever (1995), but lost out to Chris O’Donnell. However, this rumor was later dispelled by Bale himself in a magazine interview in 2008. In 2004, after completing filming for The Machinist, Bale won the coveted role of Batman and his alter ego Bruce Wayne for the Christopher Nolan’s Batman Begins, a reboot of the Batman franchise without any ties to the Tim Burton or Joel Schumacher films. Bale beat out Jake Gyllenhaal, the closest competition for the role, a situation reversed when Bale lost the part of Anthony Swofford in Jarhead (2005) to Gyllenhaal.
Still fresh off The Machinist, it became necessary for Bale to bulk up to match Batman’s muscular physique. He was given a deadline of six months to do this. Bale recalled it as far from a simple accomplishment: “…when it actually came to building muscle, I was useless. I couldn’t do one push up the first day. All of the muscles were gone, so I had a real tough time rebuilding all of that.” With the help of a personal trainer, Bale succeeded in meeting the deadline, gaining a total of 100lbs (46 kg) in six months. He went from about 130lbs to 230lbs. He then discovered that he had actually gained more weight than the director desired, and dropped his weight to 190lbs by the time filming began.
Bale had initial concerns about playing Batman, as he felt more ridiculous than intimidating in the Batman suit.
On 29 January, 2000, Bale married Serbian-American Sandra “Sibi” Blažić (born 1970), a one-time model, make-up artist and personal assistant to Winona Ryder; the couple have a daughter, Emmeline, who was born on 27 March 2005, in Santa Monica, California. Since 1992, Bale has resided in Los Angeles.
Bale has three elder sisters – Erin Bale, a musician; Sharon Bale, a computer professional; and Louise Bale, a theatre actress and director. The Bale family is deeply rooted in show business, especially theatre. Bale is a 
distant relative of British actress Lillie Langtry, while his uncle, Rex Bale and maternal grandfather were actors as well.
Like his late father, businessman David (1941–2003), Christian Bale actively supports such environmental groups such as Greenpeace and the World Wildlife Fund. Feminist activist Gloria Steinem became Bale’s stepmother, and a first-time bride (at the age of 66), when she married David Bale on 3 September 2000. The marriage ended with the death of David Bale in 2003.
During an interview promoting his 2009 film Public Enemies Bale said he is a video game fan, specifically of the Metal Gear Solid series. When questioned if he was in the running to play Solid Snake, Bale stated that he prefers to devote his spare time to more constructive things and dislikes talking about his personal life.
