Christian with his father David, sister Louise, and mother Jenny in 1988Christian Charles Phillip Bale (stage name Christian Morgan Bale) was born on January 30th, 1974, in Pembrokeshire, West Wales. Later he and his family, moved to England (though he also lived in Portugal for a while, and then, in the early nineties, moved to California). His mother Jenny was a clown and also a dancer in the circus, and his father David was a commercial pilot, he was also passionate about animal rights and the environment (also, his father was married three times, once before Christian was born). He also has three older sisters, Sharon (computer professional), Erin (musician), and Louise (theatre director, actress, and activist).

Like his father, Christian is passionate about animal and human rights, and, of course, the environment. The only meat he will eat is Fish and Chicken. He believes in only eating animals you would feel comfortable killing yourself.

He first got interested in acting because of Louise who would act in school plays, and by the age of 8 he had already been in a number of commercials including ones for Pac Man cereal and 'Lenor', a British Laundry detergent. At the age of 10 he made his stage debut in the West End Stage (where his sister, Louise, also acted) play 'The Nerd', along side with Rowan Atkinson. He later got roles in 'Anastasia: The Mystery of Anna', a made for TV movie about the life of Anna Anderson, a woman who claimed she was the daughter of Czar Nicholas, 'Heart of the Country' a mini-series about a family that loses everything after their father leaves them, and 'The Land of Faraway', a movie based on the book by Astrid Lindgren about a boy who gets taken away to a land where his father is the king.

His big break came in 1986 when he was cast out of 4,000 other actors for the part of Jim Graham in 'Empire of the Sun', a movie directed by Steven Spielberg and adapted from the novel written by J.G. Ballard about a young British boy who lives in Shanghai, China during WWII, and is separated from his parents and taken to a concentration camp. The movie got several Oscar Nominations, and Christian won the National Board of Reviews first award for Outstanding Juvenile Performance.

After EOTS, Christian went on to portray roles in movies such as 'Henry V' (1989), the movie version of the play by William Shakespeare starring Kenneth Branagh, 'Treasure Island' (1990), based on the novel, also starring Charlton Heston and Christopher Lee,  'A Murder of Quality' (1991), a movie about a murder in an all boys school, and in 1992 the Disney musical 'Newsies', one of Christian's most popular movies based on a 1899 newsboys strike in Manhattan, NY. He played the role of Jack Kelly, who dreamed of becoming a cowboy in Santa Fe. His sister Louise also had a role as Medda's (played by Ann-Margret) helper. The movie flopped, but now has a cult following on the web. After 'Newsies' he went on to do 'Swing Kids' (1993), 'Royal Deceit' (or 'Prince of Jutland') (1994), an unfinished movie made about the story which Shakespeare based Hamlet on, and then 'Little Women' (1994) based on the Novel by Louisa M. Alcott, in which he won rave reviews as the March family's neighbour Theodore Laurence. During the filming of Little Women, Christian became friends with co-star Winona Ryder, who calls him one of her favourite people.

After LW, he tried voice acting in another Disney musical 'Pocahontas' (1995) (though he never did sing), then acted in 'The Secret Agent' (1996), based on the book by Joseph Conrad about "an agent who is ordered to carry out a terrorist act in 19th century England." (official CB website)  'Portrait of a Lady' (1996), based on the classic novel by Henry James about a woman to travels to Europe to try and find herself, 'Metroland' (1998), about a man (Christian) who, after an old friend visits him, reminisces about his past, and questions his lifestyle decisions, 'Velvet Goldmine' (1998), a movie about a reporter (Christian) who is sent to investigate about the career of a 70's glam-rocker, 'All the Little Animals' (1998), a movie based on the novel by Walker Hamilton about a boy who runs away from his step-father and meets an anti-social man who cares more about animals than of people, 'A Midsummer Night's Dream' (1999), the glittery movie version of the play by Shakespeare, 'Mary, Mother of Jesus' (1999), a made for TV movie about the life of the Virgin Mary, and then got the role, after a struggle with Leonardo DiCaprio, of Patrick Bateman in the controversial movie 'American Psycho' (2000), directed by Mary Harron, and based on the graphic book by Bret Easton Ellis about an 80s wall street serial killer. For his acting in AP, he, once again,  got rave reviews.

As well as getting rave reviews for 'American Psycho', Christian also got the pleasure of having a new member enter his family. in September of 2000 Christian's father, David Bale, got married to the famous feminist Gloria Steinem. The ceremony was held in rural Oklahoma, and only close friends and family were invited.

Back to the movies. After his role in AP, he played the racist villain Walter Wade Jr. in 'Shaft' (2000), and in 2001 he played the role of a Greek fisherman named Mandras in 'Captain Corelli's Mandolin', a movie based on the book by Louis des Bernieres about an Italian captain named Antonio Corelli (Nicholas Cage) who, while in Greece during WWII, falls in love with the local doctors daughter named Pelagia  (played by Penelope Cruz) who just happens to be engaged to Mandras.

Christian and wife Sibi.In 2002 Christian co-starred in 'Reign of Fire' as Quinn Ambercromby, co-starring along side Matthew McConaughey. The movie is set in the future and is about fire-breathing dragons that emerge from beneath the earth only to wreak-havoc among the humans. Two other movies set to come out in 2002 are 'Equilibrium', co-starring with Emily Watson and Sean Bean in this movie (which is also set in the future) all emotions are illegal and people must take a drug to subdue them. Christian plays Clerick John Preston. 'Laurel Canyon', in which he plays a medical student coming back home with his girlfriend (Kate Beckinsale, who he also co-starred with in 'Prince of Jutland'), only to get sucked into his pot smoking record producing mother's lifestyle (played by Frances McDormand). He also has three new movies coming up; 'The Machinist' in which he plays a lathe operator who suffers from insomnia and hallucinations; 'Little Dieter Needs to Fly', the biodrama based on the life of Vietnam war hero Dieter Dengler; and 'Batman 5' about Bruce Wayne's (Christian Bale) early years as the caped crusader. 

On January 29th, 2000 he married his girlfriend Sandra (who prefers being called Sibi) Blasic an independent film producer, former model and assistant to Winona Ryder, who grew up in Chicago, and ended up going to school in LA. They met at a friends BBQ a year before, and it was love at first sight. After their marriage in Las Vegas, they moved to Edinburgh, Scotland, then in 2002 bought a house in Los Angeles. They live together with rescued animals. His old pet dog Mojo now lives with his parents.