Christian Bale made his major motion picture debut at age 13 when he starred as Jamie Graham in Steven Spielberg’s 1987 film, Empire of the Sun.
Empire of the Sun is about a British boy (Bale is Welsh) living in China during World War II. In 1941, Japan has control of China and westerners are fleeing to safer lands. Christian Bale’s character loses his parents in the melee and winds up in a Japanese-run internment camp. Here he meets and befriends both Americans and Japanese and sheds light on their many similarities.
Bales performance in Empire of the Sun was lauded as a magnificent debut. The film was nominated for six oscars and won numerous other awards.
Source: IMDB