Christian Bale entered a new phase of his career with his turn as New York investment banker Patrick Bateman in American Psycho, which was released on April 14, 2000. Considering what we know now about Bale’s dedication to his craft, playing a perfectionist like Bateman made for scary-good casting as the businessman’s drive to be the best leads him down a dark path as a serial killer.
Set in 1987, Mary Harron’ satirical commentary on yuppie culture — based on Bret Easton Ellis’ 1991 novel of the same name — is just as potent as ever. Exploring themes of empty consumerism, social isolation, and toxic masculinity before that phrase entered the cultural lexicon, American Psycho gives the audience a lot to ponder in addition to operating as an entertaining horror film.
It’s also worth revisiting to see some of the biggest stars of the past, present, and future in key supporting roles. Jared Leto plays a rival who meets an untimely end; Reese Witherspoon plays Bateman’s fiancée, whom he’s only with to keep up appearances; Chloë Sevigny is his secretary, who becomes suspicious of his late-night proclivities; Willem Dafoe is a private investigator suspicious of the slick banker.
Seeing as it’s now been 25 years since the release of the film (which has lived on through a cult following and internet memes), it’s high time to see what the cast that brought American Psycho to life has been up to. Let’s crank up “Sussudio,” snack on some sea urchin ceviche, and read on.
Christian Bale (Patrick Bateman)
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In 2000, Christian Bale was not the A-lister he is today. As he was more well-known for his child and teenage roles in Empire of the Sun (1987), Newsies (1992), and Swing Kids (1993), American Psycho director and co-writer Harron had to fight to get him cast as Patrick Bateman, especially because the studio execs wanted Leonardo DiCaprio for the role.
Bale followed up American Psycho with the apocalyptic dragon-filled epic Reign of Fire (2002), then dropped a startling amount of weight for 2004’s The Machinist. Soon after, though, Bale bulked back up as Christopher Nolan came calling with Batman Begins (2005), which was followed by leading roles in Werner Herzog’s Rescue Dawn (2006) and the underrated remake of Western 3:10 to Yuma (2007) alongside Russell Crowe.
After reprising the character of Bruce Wayne/Batman in 2008’s critically acclaimed box office smash The Dark Knight, then taking on the role of John Connor in 2009’s Terminator Salvation (which he became infamous for in the ensuing years), Bale won the Best Supporting Actor Oscar in 2011 for his performance as boxer/trainer Dickie Eklund in The Fighter (2010). A year later, he returned to don the Batsuit one last time for The Dark Knight Rises (2012), and soon after, received additional Oscar nods for his work in American Hustle (2013) and The Big Short (2015).
In 2018, Bale showed his penchant for dramatic physical transformation yet again, as he reteamed with Big Short director Adam McKay to play former Vice President Dick Cheney in the well-received Vice, for which he won a Golden Globe and earned his fourth Oscar nomination. In 2019, though, he said he would no longer undergo weight changes for movie roles.
The actor returned to the comic book world in the 2020s, making his debut in the MCU and earning strong notices as the villain Gorr the God Butcher in 2022’s Thor: Love and Thunder. He lent his voice to the English dub of Hayao Miyazaki’s The Boy and the Heron in 2023 and is set to star as Frankenstein’s monster in Maggie Gyllenhaal’s The Bride! in 2026.
Bale has been married to his wife, Sibi Blažić, since 2000. They have two children together.
Willem Dafoe (Donald Kimball)
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By the time he appeared in American Psycho, Willem Dafoe had already acted in a wide range of films and scored an Academy Award nomination for 1986’s Platoon. So what did he do afterward? He followed up American Psycho by transforming into Max Schreck in Shadow of the Vampire (2000), for which he earned his second Oscar nomination.
Dafoe has gone on to play the supervillain Green Goblin in 2002’s Spider-Man and its respective sequels; collaborate with directors Lars von Trier and Wes Anderson on numerous occasions; and make a disparate group of independent films, often displaying his knack for glowering villainy combined with quiet sensitivity. He reteamed with Christian Bale for 2013’s Out of the Furnace, and appeared alongside Keanu Reeves in the 2014 action thriller John Wick.
In 2020, the New York Times ranked him at No. 18 on its list of the “25 Greatest Actors of the 21st Century (So Far).” His storied career also includes voicing animated characters (Gill in 2003’s Finding Nemo and 2016’s Finding Dory, for instance); voice-over work for national advertisements; serving as a member of the main competition jury at the Cannes Film Festival; earning additional Oscar nominations for his work in The Florida Project (2017) and as Vincent van Gogh in At Eternity’s Gate (2018); and — how’s this for range? — playing underwater scientist Nuidis Vulko in Aquaman (2018) and Zack Snyder’s Justice League (2021).
After reprising his role of Norman Osborne/Green Goblin in the MCU’s Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021), Dafoe made his hosting debut on Saturday Night Live in January 2022 and appeared in such films as Poor Things (2023), Beetlejuice Beetlejuice (2024), and Nosferatu (2024).
Dafoe married his wife, actress Giada Colagrande, in 2005. He has a son from a previous marriage to director Elizabeth LeCompte.
Jared Leto (Paul Allen)
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What can you say about Jared Leto? After his performance as Paul Allen in American Psycho, the actor dropped a significant amount of weight to play a character in the throes of heroin addiction in Darren Aronofsky’s Requiem for a Dream (2000); grew in culturally appropriated cornrows for David Fincher’s Panic Room (2002); and then focused increasingly on his rock band Thirty Seconds to Mars, which released a couple of platinum sellers in the mid-2000s.
By 2013, it was back to acting, and his performance as a transgender woman living with drug addiction in Dallas Buyers Club earned him an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor. While continuing to record and perform with Thirty Seconds to Mars, Leto soon ended up playing the Joker in 2016’s Suicide Squad, a role that felt made for him, and, a year later, played another villain in Denis Villeneuve’s Blade Runner 2049.
In 2021, the divisive actor played a serial killer in The Little Things and Italian fashion designer Paolo Gucci in Ridley Scott’s biographical drama House of Gucci. The next year, Leto appeared alongside Anne Hathaway on the small screen in WeCrashed, an eight-episode Apple TV+ miniseries about the rise and fall of the co-working operation WeWork. Upcoming roles include Ares in Tron: Ares (2025) and Skeletor in Masters of the Universe (2026).
Leto was in a relationship with Cameron Diaz from 1999 to 2003 and Valery Kaufman from 2015 to 2022.
Reese Witherspoon (Evelyn Williams)
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Before Reese Witherspoon took on a supporting turn in American Psycho as Patrick Bateman’s fiancée, she was a former child and teen actress coming off widespread acclaim for her role as Tracy Flick in the dark comedy Election (1999).
But, just a year later, everything changed for Witherspoon’s career with the smashing success of the comedy Legally Blonde (2001), in which she starred as the ebullient Elle Woods. She successfully navigated rom-com land for 2002’s Sweet Home Alabama (which also featured her American Psycho costar Josh Lucas), and reappeared as Elle in Legally Blonde 2: Red, White & Blonde.
In 2005, Witherspoon played June Carter Cash in Walk the Line, for which she sang on camera for the first time and earned a Best Actress Oscar. She soon voiced the lead character in the animated hit Monsters vs. Aliens (2009) — a little foreshadowing for her later success as Rosita in Sing (2016) — and then embarked on a drift through more films built around romances and love triangles, most of which weren’t as successful.
Witherspoon reinvented her career in the 2010s, when she founded the production company Pacific Standard (later renamed Hello Sunshine) and received a second Oscar nomination for playing Cheryl Strayed in Wild (2014). In 2017, she co-produced and starred in the acclaimed HBO series Big Little Lies, for which she won an Emmy for producing. Witherspoon also produces and stars on The Morning Show for Apple TV+.
So what’s next for the multihyphenate? Witherspoon is executive producing the Legally Blonde prequel series, Elle, for Prime Video, which will likely premiere before the end of 2025. She is also expected to reprise her role as Tracy Flick in Paramount+’s Election sequel, Tracy Flick Can’t Win, which will be written by the 1999 film’s director and co-writer, Alexander Payne.
Witherspoon has two children with her first husband, Ryan Phillippe, and another with her second husband, Jim Toth.
Josh Lucas (Craig McDermott)
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Josh Lucas followed up American Psycho by appearing alongside Russell Crowe in 2001’s A Beautiful Mind and playing a handsome guy role in Sweet Home Alabama. He was also in Ang Lee’s Hulk, and, by 2006, was appearing in the uplifting period basketball film Glory Road, a role for which he gained considerable weight.
Lucas costarred with Matthew McConaughey in 2011’s The Lincoln Lawyer, and that same year played Charles Lindbergh in Clint Eastwood’s biopic J. Edgar.
After starring in one season of a TV adaptation of John Grisham’s The Firm, Lucas joined the cast of The Mysteries of Laura, and later appeared on Yellowstone as the younger version of Kevin Costner’s John Dutton. Following his run on Yellowstone, he joined the main cast of Apple TV+’s ’60s-set dramedy Palm Royale alongside Kirsten Wiig. Lucas is also a frequent voice actor, and, for many years, has done advertising work for the Home Depot.
Lucas has a son with ex-wife Jessica Ciencin Henriquez; he is currently engaged to meteorologist Brianna Ruffalo.
Justin Theroux (Timothy Bryce)
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“You ain’t seen nothin’ yet. Raised lettering, pale nimbus. White.” Whether flaunting his latest business card design or doing drugs in a bathroom stall — “I want to get high off this, not sprinkle it on my f—ing oatmeal” — Justin Theroux makes investment banker Timothy Bryce the picture of brash 1980s yuppie excess.
Theroux went on to two notable 2001 performances — one as a film director in David Lynch’s dark and dreamy noir Mulholland Drive, and remember the evil DJ spinning Frankie Goes to Hollywood in Zoolander? Yes, that’s him.
The actor later appeared in Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle (2003), Michael Mann’s movie reboot of Miami Vice (2006), and the 2007 dramedy Broken English. Theroux turned to screenwriting in 2008, collaborating with Ben Stiller on the script for Tropic Thunder and writing Iron Man 2 (2010). He also starred in David Gordon Green’s stoner comedy Your Highness (2011) and the David Wain film Wanderlust (2012).
In subsequent years, Theroux frequented the small screen, starring on the acclaimed HBO series The Leftovers; costarring in Maniac on Netflix; taking a lead role on the Apple TV+ adaptation of The Mosquito Coast; scoring a main role in White House Plumbers; and recurring on Netflix’s sports comedy series Running Point.
Theroux entered a high-profile relationship with Jennifer Aniston in 2011, marrying in 2015 and ultimately divorcing in 2018. He married actress Nicole Brydon Bloom in 2025.
Chloë Sevigny (Jean)
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Chloë Sevigny’s supporting turn in American Psycho came on the heels of her Oscar-nominated work in 1999’s Boys Don’t Cry, which itself was the culmination of a decade that found her rising to prominence as a fashion model and actor in independent films.
Sevigny continued to access the world of fashion, collaborating with her friend Tara Subkoff for the conceptual fashion imprint Imitation of Christ, and she also worked with notable auteur directors including Olivier Assayas (2002’s Demonlover), Lars von Trier (2003’s Dogville), and Werner Herzog (2009’s My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done). In 2003, Sevigny’s work in the Vincent Gallo film The Brown Bunny sparked controversy when she was depicted performing fellatio on screen.
In 2006, she began a five-season run on HBO’s Big Love, which also featured her American Psycho costar Matt Ross. Sevigny received a Golden Globe for her work on the series. Elsewhere on television, she’s been seen on Will & Grace, American Horror Story, Portlandia, The Mindy Project, Russian Doll, and various miniseries, including The Girl From Plainville, Feud: Capote vs. The Swans, and Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story.
Sevigny also still works on the big screen, with appearances in Jim Jarmusch’s The Dead Don’t Die (2019) and Luca Guadagnino’s Bones and All (2022).
Sevigny married art gallery director Siniša Mačković in 2020; they have a son together.
Samantha Mathis (Courtney Rawlinson)
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Samantha Mathis, who played Courtney in American Psycho, the fiancée of Luis Carruthers and paramour of Patrick Bateman, followed up that supporting role with the splashy TNT miniseries The Mists of Avalon, and stayed on the TV side of things for 2004’s Salem’s Lot and appearances on various versions of Law & Order.
Mathis costarred in The Punisher (2004) alongside Thomas Jane; returned to television for roles on House, Lost, and Grey’s Anatomy; and joined the cast of FX horror drama The Strain in 2015. That same year, Mathis became the National Vice President of SAG-AFTRA and was re-elected in 2017. Later, Mathis was featured in a recurring role on the Showtime hit Billions.
Mathis dated River Phoenix after working together on the 1993 film The Thing Called Love. She was with him on the day of his drug overdose and death, an incident she finally spoke about in detail in 2018.
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