WHY WE'RE PSYCHO FOR CHRISTIAN BALE.

The American Psycho star tells his tactic for avoiding the press (we caught him!), his favorite thing about his true love, and the sexy celeb he wishes would call.

* Christian Bale has slipped so convincingly into his movie roles that it's a safe bet you've seen him in more films than you realize. The young thespian in 1987's Empire of the Sun? Bale, at 13. Winona Ryder's elegant suitor (her personal pick) in 1994's Little Women? Bale. Edward to Nicole Kidman's Isabel in 1996's Portrait of a Lady? The reporter in the 1998 glam-rock saga Velvet Goldmine? You got it--Bale.

But with the arrival of American Psycho last spring, there was no overlooking Christian Bale. Every moviegoing young woman with a pulse salivated over the hunky actor with perfectly sculpted pecs, abs, and glutes. No matter that he was playing an ax-and-chainsaw-wielding Wall Street serial killer.

That volatile role was one of the most buzzed-about gigs of the year. But the star turn presented one major problem for the shy Welsh-horn actor who's infamously private: Now he'd have to deal with sudden notoriety.

PRESSURE OF THE PRESS

Bale grew up in England, Portugal, and California with his three older sisters, his entrepreneur father, David (who recently married women's rights activist Gloria Steinem), and his mother, Jane. (Bale's parents divorced when he was young.) His mother had a brief stint as a circus performer, and Bale jokes, "It's the job I love to remind her of, My mum was a clown, and I was taught to walk the tightrope by a Polish trapeze artist."

Bale spent his teen years working steadily on the London stage and made his film debut in the WWII epic Empire of the Sun--Steven Spielberg handpicked Bale out of 4,000 kids to star in the film. While his acting was bailed as "one of the best juvenile performances ever captured on film," his encounters with adult reporters made him tremendously anxious. When unnerved, Bale used to excuse himself from interviews to go to the bathroom and would then simply leave the building.