Born in Haverfordwest, Pembrokeshire, Wales on January 30, 1974, Christian Charles Philip Bale has been acting since he was just a wee lad and was first acclaimed for his performance in Stephen Spielberg’s “Empire Of The Sun” (1987).  He was raised in England, Portugal and California and has been making international movies throughout his career.  At 31 years of age he is just hitting his stride but is destined for an Academy Award.  His résumé is eclectic and always interesting as it would seem that there’s nothing he won’t do in pursuit of perfection for a role.  The burden of proof can be found in his performances in just two movies: as Patrick Bateman in 2000’s terrifying “American Psycho” and as Trevor Reznik in 2004’s Spanish film “The Machinist”.

Christian transformed his 6’2” naturally trim physique into muscular perfection in “American Psycho” and for this year’s “Batman Begins”.  In the chillingly suspenseful “The Machinist” (with the equally artistic Jennifer Jason Leigh) he lost an unbelievable 63 lbs. to become a man who was literally dying of insomnia.  He is so emaciated in that film that he’s almost unrecognizable.  When I watched it recently I was so shocked that I’m sure I wore a look of utter horror and disbelief on my face through the entire viewing.  In fact, he looked like a Holocaust survivor and he just might be bordering on insanity to push himself that far for the sake of his art.  But there is no denying he’s brilliant in the movie as he is in most films he’s appeared in.  He is a very good-looking man who can do any accent required and seem either coolly reserved or passionately engaged in his interpersonal relationships.  He is convincing in anything from Shakespeare (“Henry V” and “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”) to Shaft and everything in between.  I prefer his “little” films to the more mainstream work and recommend “Metroland” (he uses his own accent in this one), “Velvet Goldmine”, “All The Little Animals” (with the exceptional John Hurt), “Laurel Canyon”, “Reign Of Fire” (with last month’s spotlight featured Gerard Butler) and “Equilibrium”.

Aside from his obvious gift, I admire Bale because he’s an avid reader (which I find very sexy), he can sing and dance (he did his own singing for “Newsies” and dancing for “Swing Kids”), is a devoted animal lover and he’s active in many non-profit organizations such as Greenpeace, the World Wildlife Foundation and the Happy Child Mission.  Married since 2000 with one daughter, he is the stepson of feminist icon Gloria Steinem and has three sisters which certainly makes him a man capable of understanding women and that is no small feat.

Christian is quoted as saying that “an actor should never be larger than the film he’s in”, but I’m afraid that his talent is so huge that he will always be the best thing about any project that he chooses to get involved with. He signed on to do another Batman film - “Batman Begins” by the way is the best Batman film bar none to date - and will next be seen as Jim David in “Harsh Times” with the Desperate Housewife Eva Longoria and Six Feet Under’s Freddy Rodriguez and as John Rolfe in Terrence Malik’s “The New World” with Colin Farrell.  I can’t wait for that one!  What is really exciting is the fact that Bale should have at least 40 more years in which to wow us with his astonishing talent and I am looking forward to the journey.

Christian Bale is so unique that he’s inspired a website called Christian Bale is a Scumbag but the best ones can be found at www.christianbale.net and The Bale Collection at www.efanguide.com/~cbale/home.html.