Christian Bale's Most Memorable Roles

The role Teaming up for a third time with director Christopher Nolan, Bale dusts off his Batsuit to play the millionaire by day, conflicted Caped Crusader by night who comes to Gotham's rescue when a clown-faced lunatic called the Joker (Heath Ledger) launches a deadly destruction spree.

What EW says Owen Gleiberman: ''Bale, all steely reserve, once again captivates as the haunted Caped Crusader who must shed morality to beat the devil at his game. But just as Tim Burton's 1989 Batman was anchored by the joy-buzzer glee of Jack Nicholson's party-down Joker, The Dark Knight takes its cue from its Joker and his deadly circus of chaos.''

The role No one would ever confuse the chiseled Method actor for music legend Bob Dylan, but director Todd Haynes hired him to portray one incarnation of the folksinger (alongside Cate Blanchett and Heath Ledger, who play Dylan at other times in his life) in this daring and edgy biopic.

What EW said Owen Gleiberman: ''One feels a redemption of the most ironic kind when Bale shows up as the born-again Christian Bob, singing the transcendent (if little-known) song "Pressing On" to a rec-room congregation in the early '80s.''