'Easy' Rider

After Louise, one of Bale's three sisters, gets cast in a musical on London's West End, the young chap is inspired to give acting a try. "I thought it was really good fun, and it looked easy," Bale tells The New York Times of his start, which gives way to several commercial gigs and his London stage debut at age 10 in The Nerd, opposite Rowan Atkinson.

December 21

Return to Hollywood

Though he plays second fiddle to stars Winona Ryder and Claire Danes, Bale makes a memorable comeback with Little Women. "Handsome Christian Bale makes a dreamboat out of Laurie, the boy next door to the March family," writes The New York Times of his performance. In 1998, he tackles another period piece with Velvet Goldmine, playing a newspaper reporter researching the disappearance of a '70s glam rock star.

April 14

All-American Antihero

After Leonardo DiCaprio drops out, Bale takes over the role of yuppie serial killer Patrick Bateman in American Psycho. "It's really an analysis of the '80s, of men at their worst, of violence and of this sort of vacuousness," he says of the black comedy. "Bateman was never intended to be a real character. He says himself that he's an abstraction."

June 15

Becoming Batman

Bale puts on the bat suit and 100 lbs. of muscle for director Christopher Nolan's gritty reboot, Batman Begins. "As sleek as a panther, with cheekbones that look sharp enough to give even an ardent lover pause, Mr. Bale makes a superbly menacing avenger," raves The New York Times. The film, which grosses over $200 million, spawns the 2008 sequel, The Dark Knight, which rakes in $158.3 million to become the highest-grossing opening weekend of all time.

February

The Rant That Goes Viral

While filming Terminator Salvation, a 4-minute long recording of Bale angrily reprimanding a crew member, in which he drops the F-word 36 times, leaks onto the Web. "I was out of order, beyond belief," he later says of the on-set incident. "I acted like a punk. I regret that...It is inexcusable."