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Christian Bale’s Accent Is Always a Shock

Christian Bale.
Christian Bale. Photo: Handout/NBCUniversal via Getty Images

The first thing that comes to your mind when you hear the name “Christian Bale” says a lot about who you are as a person. If a monologue about skincare begins playing in your head, you are probably a bro of a certain age, who may or may not be featured on the Midtown Uniform Instagram. Gravelly dialogue about how Gotham needs justice means you are likely a bro of a different age. But these voices, as well as the ones the actor used for The Fighter, American Hustle, and the animated Disney feature Pocahontas, are far different from what Christian Charles Philip Bale actually sounds like in person. The more you know!

At the 2019 Golden Globes, the actor took home a trophy for his work in Vice. He even thanked Dick Cheney, the former Vice President he portrayed, while accepting the award: “Thank you to Satan for giving me inspiration on how to play this role,” he quipped. He also, uh, took shots at himself when explaining what director Adam McKay was looking for in the lead role: “Somebody who can be absolutely charisma-free and reviled by everybody, and so it’s got to be Bale in it.” As a result, the actor now says he’ll be “cornering the market on charisma free asshole.”

But hey, wait, hold up … as one of my colleagues earnestly asked, Christian Bale is British???

Not quite! The actor is Welsh; his early work includes roles in a TV movie adaptation of Treasure Island and later, Newsies. He later graduated to playing Jesus in Mary, Mother of Nazareth (The range! Jesus and Satan in one!) and the one and only Patrick Bateman. Because he is a notorious method actor, he often immerses himself in every detail of a role until a film is completed. So it’s entirely possible that people who have worked with the actor for months have never heard his actual accent.

But that begs a series of questions: Who is the real Christian Bale? Is his real voice actually entirely different from this lilt? The world may never know.

Christian Bale’s Accent Is Always a Shock