Christian Charles Philip Bale (also known professionally as Christian Morgan Bale; born 30 January 1974) is a Screen Actors Guil Award-nominated, Saturn Award-winning Welsh-born actor whose film credits include Empire of the Sun, American Psycho, Equilibrium, The Machinist, Batman Begins and the upcoming film The Dark Knight and Terminator Salvation: The Future Begins where he will play the role as John Connor. Bale is known for his mastery of accents and harsh regimens of shedding and gaining weight (particularly for The Machinist, Batman Begins and, most recently, Rescue Dawn). Before he found success in playing Batman, he was heavily involved in independent films.