Well... as far as not having runaway blockboster movies on his resume, I'd agree. Granted, not a huge star, but enough films to have an established onscreen personality.
Christian Bale did still have several well-known movies prior to his Batman movies, such as Empire of the Sun, American Psycho, Reign of Fire, and (sometime during his 3 Batman films), Terminator Salvation.
I previously knew and liked him best for an early role he played in the movie Swing Kids.
