Christian Charles Philip Bale (born January 30, 1974) is an English actor. Known for his versatility and physical transformations for his roles, he has been a leading man in films of several genres. His accolades include an Academy Award and 2 Golden Globe Awards in addition to 4 British Academy Film Awards nominations. He had his first on screen credit in the miniseries Anastasia: The Mystery of Anna (1986), with Amy Irving, Rex Harrison, Olivia de Havilland, Omar Sharif, Jan Niklas, Susan Engel, Susan Lucci, Elke Sommer, Claire Bloom, Jennifer Dundas, and Julian Glover. He also appeared in the TV movies Treasure Island (1990), with Charlton Heston, Oliver Reed, Lee, Richard Johnson,Glover, and Pete Postlethwaite; TV movie A Murder of Quality (1991), with Denholm Elliott, Joss Ackland, Glenda Jackson, Billie Whitelaw, Diane Fletcher, and David Threlfall; and TV movie Mary, Mother of Jesus (1999), with Pernilla August, Melinda Kinnaman, Threlfall, Simone Bendix, and Geraldine Chaplin.
He made his feature film debut in Mio and the Land Faraway (1987), with Christopher Lee, Nicholas Pickard, Timothy Bottoms, and Susannah York. This was followed by roles in Steven Spielberg’s Empire of the Sun (1987), with John Malkovich, Miranda Richardson, Nigel Havers, Joe Pantoliano, Masatō Ibu, Leslie Phillips, Ben Stiller, and Robert Stephens; and Henry V (1989), with Kenneth Branagh (who also directed), Paul Scofield, Derek Jacobi, Ian Holm, Brian Blessed, Emma Thompson, Alec McCowen, Judi Dench, and Robbie Coltrane.
Films in the early to mid 1990s include Newsies (1992), with Bill Pullman, Ann-Margret, Michael Lerner, and Robert Duvall; Swing Kids (1993), with Robert Sean Leonard, Frank Whaley, Barbara Hershey, and Jessica Hynes; Gabriel Axel’s Prince of Jutland (1994), with Gabriel Byrne, Helen Mirren, Kate Beckinsale, Brian Cox, Steven Waddington, Tony Haygarth, Freddie Jones, Tom Wilkinson, Andy Serkis, Mark Williams, and Ewan Bremner; Gillian Armstrong’s Little Women (1994), with Winona Ryder, Byrne, Trini Alvarado, Samantha Mathis, Kirsten Dunst, Claire Danes, Eric Stoltz, John Neville, Mary Wickes, and Susan Sarandon; and voice role in Disney ‘s Pocahontas (1995), with Irene Bedard, Joe Baker, Billy Connolly, James Apaumut Fall, Mel Gibson, Linda Hunt, John Kassir, Judy Kuhn, Danny Mann, Russell Means, David Ogden Stiers, Michelle St. John, Gordon Tootoosis, and Frank Welker.
Films in the mid to late 1990s include Jane Campion’s The Portrait of a Lady (1996), with Nicole Kidman, Hershey, Malkovich, Mary-Louise Parker, Martin Donovan, Shelley Duvall, Richard E. Grant, Shelley Winters, Viggo Mortensen, Valentina Cervi, and John Gielgud; The Secret Agent (1996), with Bob Hoskins, Patricia Arquette, Gérard Depardieu, Jim Broadbent, and Eddie Izzard; Philip Saville’s Metroland (1997), with Emily Watson, Lee Ross, Elsa Zylberstein, and John Wood; Todd Haynes’s Velvet Goldmine (1998), with Ewan McGregor, Jonathan Rhys Meyers, and Toni Collette; All the Little Animals (1998), with John Hurt; and Michael Hoffman’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream (1999), with Rupert Everett, Calista Flockhart, Kevin Kline, Michelle Pfeiffer, Stanley Tucci, Anna Friel, Dominic West, Sophie Marceau, David Strathairn, Roger Rees, Max Wright, Gregory Jbara, Bill Irwin, Sam Rockwell, Bernard Hill, and John Sessions.
Films in the early to mid 2000s include Mary Harron’s American Psycho (2000), with Willem Dafoe, Jared Leto, Josh Lucas, Chloë Sevigny, Mathis, Matt Ross, Cara Seymour, Justin Theroux, Guinevere Turner, and Reese Witherspoon;John Singleton’s Shaft (2000), with Samuel L. Jackson, Vanessa Williams, Jeffrey Wright, Dan Hedaya, Busta Rhymes, Collette, and Richard Roundtree; John Madden’s Captain Corelli’s Mandolin (2001), with Nicolas Cage, Penélope Cruz, Hurt, David Morrissey, and Irene Papas; Laurel Canyon (2002), with Frances McDormand, Beckinsale, Natascha McElhone, and Alessandro Nivola; Reign of Fire (2002), with Matthew McConaughey, Izabella Scorupco, Gerard Butler, and Alice Krige; Equilibrium (2002), with Watson, Taye Diggs, Angus Macfadyen, Sean Bean, Matthew Harbour, and William Fichtner; Brad Anderson’s The Machinist (2004), with Jennifer Jason Leigh, Aitana Sánchez-Gijón, John Sharian, and Michael Ironside; and a voice role in the English dub of Hayao Miyazaki’s Howl’s Moving Castle (2004), with Emily Mortimer, Jean Simmons, Lauren Bacall, Billy Crystal, Josh Hutcherson, Blythe Danner, and Jenna Malone.
He achieved global fame starring as Bruce Wayne/Batman in Christopher Nolan’s Datk Knight Trilogy (2005, 2008, 2012), collectively with Michael Caine, Liam Neeson, Katie Holmes, Gary Oldman, Cillian Murphy, Wilkinson, Rutger Hauer, Ken Watanabe, Morgan Freeman, Heath Ledger, Aaron Eckhart, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Anne Hathaway, Tom Hardy, Marion Cotillard, and Joseph Gordon-Levitt.
Films in the mid to late 2000s include Harsh Times (2005), with Freddy Rodriguez, Eva Longoria, Terry Crews, Noel Gugliemi, J.K. Simmons, and Kenneth Choi; Terrence Malick’s The New World (2005), with Colin Farrell, Christopher Plummer, August Schellenberg, Wes Studi, David Thewlis, Q’orianka Kilcher, Ben Mendelsohn, John Savage, Noah Taylor, Eddie Marsan, and Jonathan Pryce; Werner Herzog’s Rescue Dawn (2006), with Steve Zahn, Jeremy Davies, and Toby Huss; The Prestige (2006), with Hugh Jackman, Caine, Scarlett Johansson, Rebecca Hall, Serkis, and David Bowie; James Mangold’s 3:10 to Yuma (2007), with Russell Crowe, Peter Fonda, Gretchen Mol, Ben Foster, Dallas Roberts, Alan Tudyk, Vinessa Shaw, and Logan Lerman; I’m Not There (2007), with Cate Blanchett, Marcus Carl Franklin, Richard Gere, Ledger, Ben Whishaw, Charlotte Gainsbourg, David Cross, Bruce Greenwood, Julianne Moore, and Michelle Williams; Terminator Salvation (2009), with Sam Worthington, Anton Yelchin, Moon Bloodgood, Bryce Dallas Howard, Common, Ironside, and Helena Bonham Carter; and Michael Mann’s Public Enemies (2009), with Johnny Depp, Cotillard, Billy Crudup, Stephen Dorff, Stephen Lang, Stephen Graham, Jason Clarke, David Wenham, Giovanni Ribisi, Rory Cochrane, Carey Mulligan, Channing Tatum, and Lili Taylor.
He won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor in David O. Russell’s The Fighter (2010), with Mark Wahlberg, Amy Adams, and Melissa Leo. He received his first Academy Award nomination for Best Actor in American Hustle (2013), with Bradley Cooper, Adams, Jeremy Renner, Jennifer Lawrence, Louis C.K., Michael Peña, Nivola, and an uncredited Robert De Niro; and another Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor in Adam McKay’s The Big Short (2015), with Steve Carell, Ryan Gosling, Brad Pitt, John Magaro, Finn Wittrock, Hamish Linklater, Rafe Spall, Jeremy Strong, and Marisa Tomei.
Other films in the early to mid 2010s include Zhang Yimou’s The Flowers of War (2011), with Ni Ni, Zhang Xinyi, Tong Dawei, Atsuro Watabe, Shigeo Kobayashi and Cao Kefan; Scott Cooper’s Out of the Furnace (2013), with Woody Harrelson, Casey Affleck, Forest Whitaker, Dafoe, Zoë Saldana, and Sam Shepard; Ridley Scott’s Exodus: Gods and Kings (2014), with Joel Edgerton, John Turturro, Aaron Paul, Ben Mendelsohn, Sigourney Weaver, Ben Kingsley, and Tara Fitzgerald; and Knight of Cups (2015), with Blanchett, Natalie Portman, Brian Dennehy, Antonio Banderas, Nick Offerman, Clifton Collins Jr., Thomas Lennon, and Ryan O’Neal.
He received another Academy Award nomination for Best Actor in Vice (2018), with Adams, Carell, Rockwell, Justin Kirk, Tyler Perry, Alison Pill, Lily Rabe, and Jesse Plemons. Otter films in the mid to late 2010s include Terry George’s The Promise (2016), with Oscar Isaac, Charlotte Le Bon, Daniel Giménez Cacho, Shohreh Aghdashloo, Marwan Kenzari, Angela Sarafyan, and James Cromwell; Hostiles (2017), with Rosamund Pike, Studi, Ben Foster, Lang, Plemons, Cochrane, Adam Beach, Kilcher, Jonathan Majors, and Timothée Chalamet; a voice and motion capture role in Mowgli: Legend of the Jungle (2018), with Rohan Chand, Matthew Rhys, Freida Pinto, with the voices and motion captures of Blanchett, Benedict Cumberbatch, Naomie Harris, and Serkis (who also directed); and Ford v Ferrari (2019), with Matt Damon, Jon Bernthal, Caitríona Balfe, Tracy Letts, Josh Lucas, Noah Jupe, Remo Girone, and Ray McKinnon.
Films in the 2020s include the MCU entry Thor: Love and Thunder (2022), with Chris Hemsworth, Tessa Thompson, Jaimie Alexander, Taika Waititi (who also directed, Crowe. and Portman; Amsterdam (2022), with John David Washington, Margot Robbie, Chris Rock, Anya Taylor-Joy, Saldaña, Mike Myers, Michael Shannon, Timothy Olyphant, Andrea Riseborough, Taylor Swift, Matthias Schoenaerts, Nivola, Rami Malek, and De Niro; The Pale Blue Eye (2022), with Harry Melling, Gillian Anderson, Lucy Boynton, Gainsbourg, Toby Jones, Harry Lawtey, Simon McBurney, Timothy Spall, and Duvall; a voice role in the English dub of The Boy and the Heron (2023), with Luca Padovan, Robert Pattinson, Karen Fukuhara, Gemma Chan, Mark Hamill, Florence Pugh, Dafoe, and Dave Bautista; The Bride! (2026), with Jessie Buckley, Peter Sarsgaard, Annette Bening, Jake Gyllenhaal, and Cruz; and Madden (2026), with Cage, Kathryn Hahn, John Mulaney, Sienna Miller, Joel Murray, and Shane Gillis.
Each review will be linked to the title below.
(*seen originally in theaters)
(**seen rereleased in theaters)
- Anastasia: The Mystery of Anna (1986) – directed by Marvin J. Chomsky – miniseries
- Heart of the Country (1987) – directed by Brian Farnham – miniseries
- Mio in the Land of Faraway (1987) – directed by Vladimir Grammatikov
- Empire of the Sun (1987) – directed by Steven Spielberg
- Henry V (1989) – directed by Kenneth Branagh
- Treasure Island (1990) – directed by Fraser Clarke Heston – TV movie
- A Murder of Quality (1991) – directed by Gavin Millar – TV movie
- Newsies (1992) – directed by Kenny Ortega
- Swing Kids (1993) – directed by Thomas Carter
- Prince of Jutland (1994) – directed by Gabriel Axel
- Little Women (1994)* – directed by Gillian Armstrong
- Pocahontas (1995) – directed by Mike Gabriel & Eric Goldberg
- The Portrait of a Lady (1996) – directed by Jane Campion
- The Secret Agent (1996) – directed by Christopher Hampton
- Metroland (1997) – directed by Philip Saville
- Velvet Goldmine (1998) – directed by Todd Haynes
- All the Little Animals (1998) – directed by Jeremy Thomas
- A Midsummer Night’s Dream (1999) – directed by Michael Hoffman
- Mary, Mother of Jesus (1999) – directed by Kevin Connor – TV movie
- American Psycho (2000) – directed by Mary Harron
- Shaft (2000) – directed by John Singleton
- Captain Corelli’s Mandolin (2001) – directed by John Madden
- Laurel Canyon (2002) – directed by Lisa Cholodenko
- Reign of Fire (2002) – directed by Rob Bowman
- Equilibrium (2002) – directed by Kurt Wimmer
- The Machinist (2004) – directed by Brad Anderson
- Howl’s Moving Castle (2004)** – directed by Hayao Miyazaki – English dub
- Harsh Times (2005) – directed by David Ayer – also executive producer
- Batman Begins (2005)* – directed by Christopher Nolan
- The New World (2005) – directed by Terrence Malick
- Rescue Dawn (2006) – directed by Werner Herzog
- The Prestige (2006) – directed by Christopher Nolan
- 3:10 to Yuma (2007)* – directed by James Mangold
- I’m Not There (2007) – directed by Todd Haynes
- The Dark Knight (2008)* – directed by Christopher Nolan
- Terminator Salvation (2009) – directed by McG
- Public Enemies (2009)* – directed by Michael Mann
- The Fighter (2010) – directed by David O. Russell
- The Flowers of War (2011) – directed by Zhang Yimou
- The Dark Knight Rises (2012)* – directed by Christopher Nolan
- Out of the Furnace (2013) – directed by Scott Cooper
- American Hustle (2013) – directed by David O. Russell
- Exodus: Gods and Kings (2014) – directed by Ridley Scott
- Knight of Cups (2015) – directed by Terrence Malick
- The Big Short (2015) – directed by Adam McKay
- The Promise (2016) – directed by Terry George
- Hostiles (2017) – directed by Scott Cooper
- Mowgli: Legend of the Jungle (2018) – directed by Andy Serkis
- Vice (2018) – directed by Adam McKay
- Ford v Ferrari (2019) – directed by James Mangold
- Thor: Love and Thunder (2022)* – directed by Taika Waititi
- Amsterdam (2022) – directed by David O. Russell – also producer
- The Pale Blue Eye (2022) – directed by Scott Cooper – also producer
- The Boy and the Heron (2023)* – directed by Hayao Miyazaki – English dub
- The Bride! (2026)* – directed by Maggie Gyllenhaal
- Madden (2026) – directed by David O. Russell
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