Jason Bateman

Jason Bateman
Jason Bateman, December 2007
Born	Jason Kent Bateman
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1981–present
Spouse	Amanda Anka (2001– present)

Jason Kent Bateman (born January 14, 1969) is an American actor. After starring in several 1980s sitcoms, Bateman played the role of Michael Bluth on the television sitcom Arrested Development. Since the show's end in 2006, he has appeared in several Hollywood films including The Kingdom, Juno, Hancock, Extract, and Couples Retreat.

Early life

Bateman was born in Rye, New York, the son of Victoria Elizabeth, a former flight attendant for Pan Am, and Kent Bruce Bateman, an actor, film and television writer/director, and founder of a repertory stage in Hollywood. His mother is of Maltese heritage. Bateman's older sister is Justine Bateman of Family Ties fame; he also has three half-brothers. His family moved to Salt Lake City, Utah when he was four.

Career

Early work

Bateman began acting in 1981, playing James Cooper Ingalls in the television drama, Little House on the Prairie. He appeared in the Knight Rider third-season episode "Lost Knight" in 1984. He earned the status of teen idol in the mid-1980s in shows such as Silver Spoons, It's Your Move, and most notably Valerie (later renamed Valerie's Family and then The Hogan Family after Valerie Harper left the series), and became the Directors Guild of America's youngest-ever director when he helmed three episodes of The Hogan Family at the age of 18. After the series ended its run, his career slowed down for nearly a decade. During this period, he had major roles on four series — Simon, Chicago Sons, George & Leo, and Some of My Best Friends — none of which lasted for longer than one season. In 2002, he landed the role as the frisky sibling of Thomas Jane's character in the feature film The Sweetest Thing.

Arrested Development

In 2002, Bateman was cast as Michael Bluth in the comedy series Arrested Development. Although critically acclaimed, the series never achieved high ratings. It ended in a two-hour series finale (four episodes in a row) on February 10, 2006, broadcast opposite the opening ceremony of the 2006 Winter Olympics. Bateman won several awards for his work on the series, including a Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Television Series Musical or Comedy. He was also nominated in 2005 for the Emmy Award for Outstanding Actor in a Comedy Series.

Recent work

In 2004, he appeared in Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story as ESPN 8 ("The Ocho") commentator Pepper Brooks, and in Starsky & Hutch as Kevin, Vince Vaughn's business partner. Bateman reunited with Vaughn in 2006's The Break-Up, and also did commentary on the 2004 Democratic National Convention for The Majority Report with Arrested Development co-star David Cross. In 2006, he appeared as a guest star on the sitcom Scrubs as Mr. Sutton, a garbage man with a flock of vicious ostriches as pets, and as former lawyer Rupert "Rip" Reed in Smokin' Aces. In 2007, he starred in The Kingdom, Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium and Juno, where he again worked with his Kingdom co-star Jennifer Garner, and his Arrested Development co-star Michael Cera. In 2008, he starred with Will Smith and Charlize Theron in the superhero film Hancock.

Bateman co-starred in the 2009 films Extract, written and directed by Mike Judge, and Couples Retreat, a comedy chronicling four couples who partake in therapy sessions at a tropical island resort (Kristen Bell played his wife).

He hosted NBC's Saturday Night Live on February 12, 2005.

He ranked at #60 on VH1's 100 Greatest Kid Stars.

In 2009, Bateman became a regular voice actor for the short-lived Fox comedy series Sit Down, Shut Up. He voiced Larry Littlejunk, the gym teacher and only staff member that can teach. The series premiered on April 19, 2009, airing its last episode in September. Kenan Thompson, Kristin Chenoweth, Will Forte, Tom Kenny, Nick Kroll, Cheri Oteri, Will Arnett, and Henry Winkler were the other main cast members.

Bateman will reprise his role as Michael Bluth in 2011 in the Arrested Development movie. All the main cast will reprise their roles. The film will be directed by Ron Howard, the executive producer and uncredited narrator of the show, and will be written by the show's creator Mitchell Hurwitz and co-executive producer James Vallely.

Awards

Bateman has won a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor (Musical or Comedy)and two Satellite Awards for Best Actor in a Comedy Series for his performance as Michael Bluth. He has also been nominated for three Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Performance by a Cast in a Comedy Series and Best Performance by an Actor in a Comedy an Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series. He has also been nominated for Peoples' Choice Award for Best Male Star of the Year. He, along with the cast and crew of Arrested Development won the TV Land Award for Future Classic.

Personal life

Bateman told Best Life magazine that he and sister Justine Bateman supported their parents with the paychecks they earned on their television shows, and that his father was his manager until Jason fired him at the age of 20.

Since 2001, Bateman has been married to actress Amanda Anka, daughter of singer and actor Paul Anka. Their first child, Francesca Nora Bateman, was born October 28, 2006. In late 2005, he had surgery to remove a benign polyp from his throat. The surgery and required recovery time halted production on Arrested Development, though enough episodes had been completed to get the show through November sweeps.

Bateman is a fan of the Los Angeles Dodgers and wore Dodgers clothing in the 2008 film Hancock. Keith Olbermann stated on his May 14, 2009, MSNBC show, Countdown with Keith Olbermann, that he and Jason Bateman are friends and they occasionally attend baseball games and drink lemonade in New York with mutual friend, David Cross.

Bateman has also confessed his homoerotic fantasys about Wikipedia moderator Franamax. They are due to be married in July.

Filmography

Films

Year	Film	Role	Notes
1987	Teen Wolf Too	Todd Howard
1991	Necessary Roughness	Jarvis Edison
1992	Breaking the Rules	Phil Stepler
1999	Love Stinks	Jesse Travis
2001	Sol Goode	Spider
2002	The Sweetest Thing	Roger Donahue
	One Way Out	John Farrow	Direct-to-video
2004	Starsky and Hutch	Kevin
	Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story	Pepper Brooks
2006	The Break-Up	Riggleman
2007	The Ex	Chip Sanders
	Arthur and the Invisibles	Darkos	Voice only
	Smokin' Aces	Rupert 'Rip' Reed
	The Kingdom	Adam Leavitt
	Juno	Mark Loring
	Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium	Henry Weston, the Mutant
2008	The Promotion	Retreat Leader
	Forgetting Sarah Marshall	Animal Instincts Detective
	Hancock	Ray Embrey
2009	State of Play	Dominic Foy
	The Invention of Lying	Doctor
	Up in the Air	Craig Gregory	Post-production
	Extract	Joel
	Couples Retreat	Jason
2010	The Baster	Wally	Post-production
	Paul	Agent Lorenzo Zoil	Filming

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1981-1982	Little House on the Prairie	James Cooper Ingalls	21 episodes
1982-1984	Silver Spoons	Derek	23 episodes
1983	Just a Little More Love		Television film
1984	The Fantastic World of D.C. Collins	Addison Cromwell	Television film
	Knight Rider	Doug Wainwright	Single episode
1984-1985	It's Your Move	Matthew Burton	Eighteen episodes
1985	Robert Kennedy & His Times	Joe Kennedy III	Television miniseries
	Right to Kill?		Television film
1986	Mr. Belvedere	Sean	Single episode
	Can You Feel Me Dancing?	Larry Nichols	Television film
	St. Elsewhere	Tim Moynihan	Single episode
	The Thanksgiving Promise	Steve Tilby	Television film
1986-1991	The Hogan Family	David Hogan	110 episodes
1987	Bates Motel	Tony Scotti	Television film
1988	Moving Target	Toby Kellogg	Television film
	Crossing the Mob	Philly	Television film
1992	A Taste for Killing	Blaine Stockard III	Television film
1994	Black Sheep	Jonathan Kelley	Television film
	Confessions: Two Faces of Evil	Bill Motorshed	Television film
	This Can't Be Love	Grant	Television film
1995	Hart to Hart: Secrets of the Hart	Stuart Morris	Television film
	Burke's Law	Jason Ripley	Single episode
	Simon	Carl
1996	Ned & Stacey	Bobby Van Lowe	Single episode
1997	Chicago Sons	Harry Kulchak	Star of the series
	George & Leo	Ted Stoody	Three episodes
2000	Rude Awakening	Ryan	Single episode
2001	Some of My Best Friends	Warren Fairbanks	Eight episodes
2003	The Twilight Zone	Scott Crane	Single episode
2003-2006	Arrested Development	Michael Bluth	53 episodes
2005	King of the Hill	Dr. Leslie	Single episode
	Justice League Unlimited	Hermes	Single episode
	The Fairly Oddparents	Tommy	Single episode
2006	Scrubs	Mr. Sutton	Single episode
	The Jake Effect	Jake Galvin	Seven episodes; never aired on television
2009	Sit Down, Shut Up	Larry Littlejunk	Seven episodes

External links

• Jason Bateman at IMDb
• Jason Bateman at AllMovie