Christian Bale said he deliberately tried to convince people he was American and was glad when people were shocked to discover he is actually British.
The Oscar-nominated, Welsh-born star picked up a Golden Globe for his role in Vice earlier this month and left many surprised after his acceptance speech.
Fans on Twitter said they expected to hear an American accent rather than that of a “British chimney sweep”.
Bale made his name playing American characters in films such as American Psycho and the Dark Knight trilogy and said he pretended to be from the US after finding it difficult to secure acting jobs in his homeland.
He told the Press Association as a young actor, he “couldn’t get any work in England, I don’t know what it was about me but nobody would bloody hire me”.
Bale said that while he could get jobs in the US, it was, “always in a sort of billowing sleeve and vest period thing with floppy hair and stuff”.
He added: “Great, but that’s not what I wanted to do for my whole life. But that was all that kept coming my way, but it was work, and in England it was no work.
“And so I said I’ve really got to just be able to convince people I’m American.”
Bale said he had spoken with an American accent during various interviews in order to keep up the act.
He said people not knowing much about him is “the ideal as an actor”, adding: “So it was lovely to see them getting surprised by that.”
Bale, who was born in Pembrokeshire, Wales, added: “But what was interesting was a lot of them got it very wrong and they go, ‘listen to his Welsh accent’.
“Yes, I was born in Wales but I don’t think I’ve got any ring of Welsh in my accent at all.”