Christian Bale

Alt	Christian Bale in a black suit at a movie premiere.
Caption	Bale in June 2009
Birth name	Christian Charles Philip Bale
Birth date	January 30, 1974
Birth place	Haverfordwest, Pembrokeshire, Wales, United Kingdom In addition to starring roles in big budget Hollywood films, he has long been heavily involved in films produced by independent producers and art houses.

In The Prestige, an adaptation of the Christopher Priest novel about a rivalry between two Victorian stage magicians, Bale was reunited with Batman Begins Michael Caine and director Christopher Nolan. The cast of The Prestige also included Hugh Jackman, Scarlett Johansson, Piper Perabo, and David Bowie. I'm Not There, a film in which Bale again worked alongside Todd Haynes and Heath Ledger (who would go on to play The Joker in The Dark Knight), is an artistic reflection of the life of Bob Dylan. He starred opposite Russell Crowe in a commercially and critically successful Western film, .

Bale was originally cast to play George W. Bush in Oliver Stone's film W., but dropped out due to the prosthetics involved. Bale played John Connor in Terminator Salvation and FBI agent Melvin Purvis in Michael Mann's Public Enemies.

Terminator Salvation incident

In July 2008, Bale had an angry tirade on the sets of Terminator Salvation, while filming in New Mexico. In February 2009, the audio recording of the incident was released. The tirade was directed at Shane Hurlbut, director of photography for the film. According to Bale, Hurlbut had, for the second time, ruined his concentration by walking onto the set during a scene. The recording is of a highly agitated Bale directing profanities at Hurlbut, threatening and belittling him, and finally threatening to quit the film if Hurlbut repeated his offence without being fired for it. It was reported that Warner film executives sent the tape to the insurer of the film in case Bale decided to quit the movie. In an interview with E! Online, assistant director and producer of Terminator Salvation, Bruce Franklin, said it was an isolated incident. "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 ... [A]nd 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", Franklin said.

Actors Whoopi Goldberg and Terry Crews, directors Darren Aronofsky and Ron Howard, as well as Ain't It Cool News website creator Harry Knowles have also publicly defended Bale's actions, some of them citing the practice that crew members are to remain still while the camera is rolling. The incident also inspired experimental band The Mae Shi to write the song, "R U Professional", which features samples from the recording. Stephen Colbert parodied the incident on the 4 February 2009 episode of The Colbert Report, in which guest Steve Martin repeatedly walked in front of the camera and was berated by Colbert. The incident was re-enacted on Late Night with Conan O'Brien, with Inside the Actor's Studio host James Lipton giving performances of both Bale and the crewmember. An episode of the animated comedy series Family Guy also mixed in the voice of Peter Griffin interacting with Bale and reacting to Bale's comments as if they were directed at him to comedic effect.

After remaining silent for most of the week, Bale gave a public apology on 6 February 2009, to a Los Angeles radio station, KROQ. He stated that the outburst was "inexcusable" and that it was motivated by the day's shooting intensity. Bale said he "acted like a punk", and that he and Hurlbut talked after the incident and "resolved this completely". Bale acknowledged that the two worked together for several hours after the incident, and "at least a month after that... I've seen a rough cut of the movie and he has done a wonderful job. It looks fantastic".

Writer/director Joe Carnahan confirmed in November 2007 that Bale is also involved in the upcoming movie Killing Pablo in which he is to play Major Steve Jacoby. According to a Nuts magazine interview, Bale stated that he will be in the running to play the role of Solid Snake in a film adaptation of Metal Gear Solid. In early 2010, Bale was confirmed to be starring in a romantic love story that will be directed by Terrence Malick and will also star Javier Bardem, Rachel McAdams and Olga Kurylenko. Niels Arden Oplev, director of The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, is to have Bale as lead in his current project The Last Photograph, which Oplev hopes to start filming early 2011.

Personal life

On 29 January 2000, Bale married Sandra "Sibi" Blažić (born 1970), former 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. it was Steinem's first marriage (at the age of 66), and the couple were together until David Bale's death in 2003, aged 62.

Bale has stated that he is a big fan of late comedian Chris Farley and of Farley's film Beverly Hills Ninja.

Film and television credits

Other awards and nominations

{| class="wikitable sortable" |- ! Year ! Award ! Award category ! Title of work ! Result |- | 2009 | West Point Cadet Choice Awards | Best Exemplification of Leadership | | Won |}

References

External links

Category:1974 births Category:Alumni of Bournemouth School Category:English child actors Category:English expatriates in the United States Category:English film actors Category:Living people Category:People from Haverfordwest Category:People from Bournemouth Category:People from the Greater Los Angeles Area