Christian Bale: Boxing helped me shape up

The 36-year-old Hollywood actor is best known for his roles in films such as American Psycho and The Dark Knight, and his latest movie is The Fighter, which studies the early years of boxer "Irish" Micky Ward and his brother who helped train him before he went professional in the mid 1980s.

The talented star portrays Micky’s unruly brother and trainer in the film, with Mark Wahlberg playing Micky. Christian was thrilled to get involved in the gritty sports drama and didn’t mind pushing his body to the limit for it and losing weight, admitting there’s no better way to shed weight than throwing punches.

"It's no easier for me than anybody else. I'm starving, I'm hungry as hell. But there's nothing like boxing to get you into shape and drop pounds," he explained.

The star is pleased to get involved in macho films about traditionally tough subjects like boxing, as he thinks movies can be “sissy” when they deal with glamorous fields. Christian always challenges himself to look for tough roles to make sure he feels masculine.

 “I love what I do but if you don’t push it far enough [it can be sissy]”, he told Extra.