Christian Bale is the only brother to three older sisters. Considering his family's history, it is understandable that Christian would end up walking the path of a thespian. His mother was a dancer and a clown in a circus. One sister is a musician; another an award winning theatre director. Both his grandfathers were part-time actors. His great uncle, Rex Bale, was a lifelong professional actor with over twenty movies to his credit. Rex's cousin was the renowned Victorian stage actress and singer, Lilly Langtry.
Christian grew up in quite a number of locales, including Oxfordshire, Dorset in England, as well as Portugal, and California, exposing himself to a wide variety of cultures. He made his stage debut at the age of ten playing opposite British comedian Rowan Atkinson in The Nerd, and in 1986 he moved into television as Alexis in the miniseries Anastasia: The Mystery of Anna. The following year he nabbed the lead role in Steven Spielberg's adaptation of J.G. Ballard's World War II drama, Empire of the Sun.
Christian went on to successfully make the transition from child actor to adult with such films as, Newsies, The Secret Agent, and Little Women.