Press
Last Update
- June 21th, 2003
The star of
Disney's 'Newsies' is hot news!
Teen Magazine, 1992.
Hot
off the press
Name: Christian Bale
Birthday: January 30, 1974
Birthplace: Wales
Hometown: Bournemouth, England
Graduate of: Bournemouth School for Boys
Physical stats: Brown hair, brown eyes, 5'11"
First Professional job: A play called Nerds
Pets: 3 dogs and 3 cats
Fave food: Indian
Fave movie: Rumblefish
Fave actors: Gary Oldman, Barbara Hershey
"I felt he jumped
right off the screen," says Newsies (and TV's Dirty Dancing)
director Kenny Ortega. "He was real and simple and beautiful."
And who wouldn't agree? Eighteen-year-old Christian Bale has something
everybody's talking about. Call it charisma, cachet or that plain
old "star quality," but whatever it is, it comes across
loud and clear--and we love it!
Christian comes from
England and prior to landing the lead in the recent film Newsies,
he played a young hero in Henry V. He made his film debut a few
years back in Spielberg's Empire of the Sun, in which he played
a privileged schoolboy named Jim. Because he happens to be in
the wrong place at the wrong time, Jim ends up in a Japanese internment
camp during World War II. Referring back to that memorable movie,
Christian laughs: "Everybody thinks I'm a spoiled little
English public school boy who's still about 4'11"!"
Hardly! Now tall and
way-handsome, Christian can command the screen, even when he's
kicking up his heels and belting out a tune, as he does in Newsies--a
very unexpected venture. "The first time I was told about
(the film), I said there's no way I'll be in it," Christian
confesses. As an actor only accustomed to acting, he was "very
worried" about the dancing and singing he would have to do.
But the film's director helped him to overcome his resistance
to musicals, and the next thing Christian knew, he was on a rigorous
rehearsal schedule that included singing, dancing, martial arts
and dialect study! The end result? According to co-choreographer
Peggy Holmes, Christian "takes something that my look staid
and conservative on someone else and just breathes life into the
movement."
For his next venture,
this fresh British babe (who still resides in England) won't be
exactly be doing another light-hearted musical, but he will a
go at a new accent. He spent the spring in Prague, Czechoslovakia,
shooting Swing Kids, the story of a group of young Germans on
the eve of World War II, and for this flick Christian plays an
eager Nazi convert.
When Newsies
producer Michael Finnell says, "Christian's magnetism immediately
comes across," you'd better believe it! If you've seen for
yourself, you already know. If you haven't, check it out! Advice
for the future: Keep tabs on this guy--He's headed for the top!
Source - The
Bale Collection