Jason Bateman

Jason Kent Bateman (born January 14, 1969 ) is an American actor.

He began his career as a child actor, appearing on television in the early 1980s on shows such as the NBC drama series Little House on the Prairie from 1981 to 1982 and The Hogan Family from 1986 to 1991.

Bateman first appeared in a cereal commercial for Golden Grahams in 1980 and began his television career on Little House on the Prairie as James Cooper, an orphaned boy who, along with his sister, is adopted by the Ingalls family.

Bateman earned the status of teen idol in the mid-1980s for his television work, most notably as David Hogan on The Hogan Family (originally titled Valerie and later, Valerie's Family, after Valerie Harper left the series).

He became the Directors Guild of America's youngest-ever director when, at age 18, he helmed three episodes of The Hogan Family.

From 1982 to 1984 he was a supporting character on the television show Silver Spoons as Ricky Schroder's "bad boy" best friend Derek Taylor.

He appeared in the Knight Rider third-season episode "Lost Knight" in 1984, and a number of other small television roles.

In 1984, in response to his popularity on Silver Spoons, the show's producers gave Bateman his own starring role as Matthew Burton on the NBC sitcom It's Your Move, from September 1984 to February 1985.

Bateman's early film roles include Teen Wolf Too (1987) and Necessary Roughness (1991) before taking supporting roles in Dodgeball (2004), The Break-Up (2006), Juno (2007), Up in the Air (2009), Bateman took starring roles in the comedies Extract (2009), The Switch (2010), The Change-Up (2011), Horrible Bosses (2011), Identity Thief (2013), Bad Words (2013) This is Where I Leave You (2014), Office Christmas Party (2016), Zootopia (2016), and Game Night (2018).

In 1987 he appeared with Burt Reynolds on the men's team in the inaugural week of game show Win, Lose or Draw.

In 1987 he gained international recognition in the motion picture sequel Teen Wolf Too, which was a box office failure.

In 1994 he played opposite Katharine Hepburn and Anthony Quinn in the television film This Can't Be Love.

During this period, he had roles on four series – Simon, Chicago Sons, George & Leo, and Some of My Best Friends – none of which lasted longer than one season.

He also directed an episode of Two of a Kind in 1999.

In 2002 he played the frisky sibling of Thomas Jane's character in the feature film The Sweetest Thing.

In 2003, Bateman was cast as Michael Bluth in the comedy series Arrested Development.

He was also nominated in 2005 for the Emmy Award for Outstanding Actor in a Comedy Series.

New episodes of Arrested Development have been released on Netflix with the original cast, including Bateman.

Bateman performed commentary on the 2004 Democratic National Convention for The Majority Report with Arrested Development co-star David Cross, and hosted NBC's Saturday Night Live on February 12, 2005.

Although critically acclaimed, the series never achieved high ratings and ended on February 10, 2006.

In 2006 he appeared as a guest star on the Scrubs episode "My Big Bird" as Mr. Sutton, a garbage man with a flock of vicious ostriches as pets.

The show was revived in spring 2013.

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 also acted in the drama films The Gift (2015), and Air (2023).

He has since directed and starred in The Family Fang (2015) and the Netflix crime drama series Ozark (2017–2022).

He is known for his starring roles in numerous comedy films and for portraying Michael Bluth in the Fox / Netflix sitcom Arrested Development and Marty Byrde in the Netflix crime drama series Ozark (2017–2022).

He has received several awards including a Golden Globe Award, a Primetime Emmy Award, and three Screen Actors Guild Awards.

In 2017, he received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Bateman was awarded the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series in 2019 for his direction of Ozark and has won three Screen Actors Guild Awards for his performance.

Since 2020 he has co-hosted the comedy podcast SmartLess with Will Arnett and Sean Hayes.

Bateman made his directorial debut with The Hogan Family episode "Educating Rita" (Season 5, Episode 10) at the time setting the record for the youngest director in the Directors Guild of America.

In 2020 he had a recurring role in (and directed two episodes of) the HBO miniseries The Outsider.

Bateman was born in Rye, New York, and was four years old when his family moved to Salt Lake City, Utah, and later to California.

His mother, Victoria Elizabeth, was a flight attendant for Pan Am who was originally from Shrewsbury in the United Kingdom.

His father, Kent Bateman, is an American actor, writer, and director of film and television.

His older sister is actress Justine Bateman.

Bateman, like many child actors, attended Brighton Hall School.

However, he never finished high school.

In an interview with Wired Magazine, Bateman admitted that he never received his diploma due to not finishing his finals while filming Teen Wolf Too.

Bateman told Best Life magazine that he and Justine supported their parents with their earnings from their television shows; he also revealed that he was managed by his father until Bateman was 20, when the business relationship was dissolved.