Beale was born in Penang, British Malaya, son of Lt-Gen Sir Peter Beale and Julia née Winter, where his father served as an army medic who later became Surgeon-General of HM Armed Forces [REF].
It was believed that he gave his first theatre performance at age 14 playing Desdemona in Othello at the independent school Clifton College's Redgrave Theatre; However, Beale has corrected this, stating that his first stage performance was as Hippolyta in A Midsummer Night's Dream at primary school [REF].