Christian Bale is an English actor and a known supporter of philanthropic organizations such as Greenpeace and the World Wildlife Fund. He is best known for his in-depth character portrayals and outstanding body transformations. Bale is one of the most prominent names in Hollywood when it comes to method acting.
Bale’s net worth as of 2020 is estimated at around $120 million. Most of his earnings came from his acting career, TV show guesting, and probably some investments that are still unknown to the public.
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Net Worth
With his amazing talent and his serious dedication to the craft, it’s a no-brainer as to how Bale was able to reach this kind of figure. One of his biggest paychecks came from playing Batman in Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight trilogy. What could’ve been his largest payout playing the bat vigilante was when he was offered $50 million to reprise the role for the cinematic universe DC is building.
Christian Bale’s Brentwood Park Mansion
It was around early 2017 when the actor silently finalized his purchase of an $8.8 million property in Brentwood. The area is a subtle portion of the Westside of Los Angeles and there can be found some of the most exclusive celebrity houses.
This mansion sits on an 8,081 square-meter of land and contains 6 bedrooms, 7.5 bathrooms, an outside BBQ grill, a patio, an elegant library, a ping-pong table, a home theater, a spa, and a swimming pool.
The Santa Monica Cottage
Bale also owns a $13.5 million 8.5-acre ranch which he purchased back in 2008. The property is situated in the area of Sullivan Canyon and contains a 4,000-square-foot house with 4 bedrooms, 3.5 bathrooms, a pool, horse stables, and surrounded by large old trees.
Cars
Despite having the chance of playing the role of Bruce Wayne, Bale’s choice of vehicles is more inclined with efficiency considering he is a family man. He is known to own a Porsche Cayenne, a Toyota Tacoma, and a Dodge Challenger.
Early Life
Born on January 30, 1974, in Haverfordwest, Pembrokeshire, Christian Charles Philip Bale is the son of Jenny James (a circus performer) and David Bale (a talent manager, commercial pilot, and entrepreneur). He has 3 sisters and they spent most of their childhood relocating from one place to the other due to their parent’s occupations. Unfortunately, their parents separated in 1991 and the siblings were moved in separate ways with Christian moving with his father in California.
Wife and Children
Christian is married to Sibi Blažić, an American-Serbian make-up artist and a personal assistant to Bale’s friend Winona Ryder. She’s also a former model. In their 20 years of marriage, the couple was blessed with 2 children: Emmaline and Joseph.
In an interview with Sydney Morning Herald, the actor stated that he never believed in the concept of love until he met Sibi. “Everyone was divorced in my family so I didn’t have very healthy ideas about marriage. Then I met Sibi and suddenly it seemed a fantastic idea.”
Aside from her occupations mentioned above, one more interesting fact Bale shared about his wife is that she’s also a stuntwoman. In his interview with the Wall Street Journal, he said: “My wife was a stunt driver. She was chasing me through the city in Batman. She was driving one of the cop cars. She can do 180s and stunts and all that. She terrifies me. My wife terrifies me.”
Their relationship is kept private most of the time since Sibi preferred it that way. Nonetheless, that doesn’t stop Bale from being proud of his other half whenever he’s in public or giving award speeches such as this statement he gave upon receiving his Best Supporting Actor recognition from Critics Choice Award: “I truly believe you can’t celebrate something like this without having your partner with you. She’s had to be married to so many different characters over our marriage. I know that it would be impossible to do it without her. She’s such a good, strong woman. I owe everything to her.”
Movies
According to IMDB, Bale has a total of 53 acting credits under his belt. It may only seem a few, but his list mostly contains high caliber films and that is just perfect for a vigorous actor like him. We’ll revisit some of his most iconic roles in his entire filmography so far.
Vice: Dick Cheney
In this 2018 biopic film, Bale plays the Darth Vader of the Bush administration. It’s none other than former U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney. It wasn’t just his body transformation and all the prosthetics; it was his way of copying Cheney’s voice, attitude, and expressions. Basically, becoming Cheney himself.
The Prestige: Alfred Borden
Aside from teaming up for the famous The Dark Knight trilogy, Bale and Nolan also worked on another cinematic gem and that was 2006’s The Prestige from which he starred alongside the likes of Hugh Jackman, Michael Caine, and Scarlett Johansson.
The film follows the story of 2 magicians trying to outwit each other’s tricks. It covers everything from friendships, betrayals, and sacrifices to achieve the greatest magic trick of all time.
The Fighter: Dicky Ecklund
Released in 2010, this boxing biopic drama stars Bale together with Mark Wahlberg and Amy Adams. He plays the former boxer turned drug addict Dicky Ecklund. While Wahlberg is the actual star of the show, Bale convincingly stole the limelight from him with his body transformation and thorough portrayal of this character. As a result, it earned him a trophy from Academy Awards in the Best Supporting Actor category.
Equilibrium: John Preston
It may not be a hit towards critics, but this 2002 dystopian film showcases one of Bale’s most action-packed performances. The narrative shows us a future wherein emotions can be punishable by death and any form of art is also forbidden. He plays the role of J. Preston; a high-ranking government agent tasked to destabilize and punish those who went against the world order. Until he skipped a daily dose of an anti-emotion drug and finally saw the outcome of what this new world order has done. Taking the necessary steps to restore real peace, Preston leads a revolution against a government he once worked for.
American Psycho: Patrick Bateman
You’ll know that the actor is so good that even his villainous side gets recognized by many. Even Vouge tried to make a parody out of his character’s morning routine with Margot Robbie playing the role.
This horror-mystery movie released back in 2000, follows the story of Patrick. As his grip towards sanity slowly slips away, the film then shows how Bateman indulges himself in a wild uncontrollable killing spree.
The Machinist: Trevor Reznik
This could probably Bale’s most incredible yet terrifying body transformation. Our guy took on a diet of 1 apple and 1 can of tuna per day to lose around 60+ pounds of body weight. The result? An outstanding character portrayal.
The film’s story tells the life of an insomniac lathe operator named Trevor and his route towards insanity. He sees images or people that seem to threaten his existence only to discover that these are just his mind’s creations.
The Dark Knight Trilogy: Bruce Wayne / Batman
This list won’t be complete without probably his most iconic and memorable role to date. So, after losing so much weight for The Machinist, Bale was left with 6 months to prepare for the role of the bat vigilante. He had to take on a serious additional mass which he achieved from pizzas and ice cream accompanied by going into the gym.
Coming from the catastrophic Joel Schumacher’s Batman & Robin starring George Clooney, many have doubted this new take on the famous DC antihero. Finally, in 2005 and for the years that follow, critics and audiences were proven wrong and this whole 3-part T.D.K. saga was branded as one of the best comic book movies ever made in history.
Nolan had intended this version of Batman to be the realistic side of a comic book character. Full artillery of incredible actors was on-boarded, a couple of great Batman story experts, Hans Zimmer to handle the music, and Nolan’s signature intelligent filmmaking are all that it took to give us one of the best cinematic experiences of all time.
Now, for everyone wondering why Bale and Nolan only stopped with 3 films, here’s the actor’s answer via his interview with the Toronto Sun: “Chris had always said to me that if we were fortunate to be able to make three, we would stop. ‘Let’s walk away after that,’ he said. Then when they inevitably came to us and said, ‘How about a No. 4?’ I said, ‘No. We have to stick to Chris’ dream, which was always to, hopefully, do a trilogy. Let’s not stretch too far and become overindulgent and go for a fourth.’ That’s why we, well Chris, stepped away. After that, I was informed my services were no longer required.”
His Another Comic Book Movie Appearance?
Recently, it has been confirmed that Christian Bale will appear in Marvel Studios’ Thor Love and Thunder from which he is expected to play the villain Gorr: The God Butcher. As of the moment, there are no more updates regarding this one since the shooting hasn’t yet started until next year. The film is given the release year of 2022 so let’s hope that most theaters are back in business by that time.
