Having grown up in a bohemian environment with a lineage of performers, its no great surprise that Christian Bale became involved in the dramatic arts. His sister Louise became involved in local recitals when he was a child, which provided the impetus for Bales talents to come to the fore. He often found himself hanging around waiting for her to finish, and before long he would be asked if he wanted to join in. His aptitude was immediately obvious, and before long Christian was performing in school plays and being presented with opportunities to try his hand in professional productions. At the age of ten, Bale acted alongside Rowan Atkinson of Mr. Bean fame in a West End production of The Nerd, and roles soon followed in TV movie Anastasia: The Mystery of Anna and the mini-series Heart of the Country. He never received any formal training the closest he came was a class at the YMCA 10 or 11 where pretended to be a fried egg but he would soon win the lead role in acclaimed war film Empire of the Sun. Coinciding with an illness that prevented his father from working, Bale reluctantly became a crucial source of income for his family:
Through no fault of anyone else. I mean, illnesses happen. But its too much weight when you have to stop being a child because of responsibilities. Whether theyre declared or not, you recognise that if you dont: disaster.
I watch movies and I watch sport. I also watch movies about sport, and if there were a sport about movies I'd watch that too. The internet was the closest thing I could find.
