Jason_Bateman

Ads

Identity Thief www.identitythiefmovie.com/ Own The Unrated Version You Could Not See in Theaters on Blu-ray Now.

Dictionary.com's Mobile Apps www.dictionary.com/mobile Ad-Free, Offline Content, Audio Pronunciation and More! Take Millions of Words With You Everywhere. Download Now!

Jason Bateman

Jason Kent Bateman (born January 14, 1969) is a Golden Globe-winning and Emmy Award-nominated American actor. After starring in several 1980s sitcoms, Bateman became known for his role as Michael Bluth on the television sitcom Arrested Development. Since the show's end, he has also appeared in several Hollywood films, such as The Kingdom, Juno, and Hancock.

Biography

Early life

Bateman was born in Rye, New York, the son of Victoria, a flight attendant of Maltese heritage, and Kent Bateman, a film and television writer/director and founder of a repertory stage in Hollywood. His older sister is Family Ties star Justine Bateman.

Career

Bateman began acting in 1981, playing James Cooper Ingalls in the television drama, Little House on the Prairie. He appeared on an episode of Knight Rider in 1984. He earned the status of teen idol in the mid-1980s in shows such as Silver Spoons, It's Your Move, and Valerie (later renamed 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. In 2003 his career made a major comeback with the role of Michael Bluth on the FOX television comedy Arrested Development.

More recently, he has 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 has signed on to film a new comedy, Extract, due out in 2009. The movie will be written and directed by Mike Judge.

Bateman was awarded the Golden Globe in 2005 for "Best Performance by a Male Actor in a Comedy" for his work on Arrested Development. He hosted NBC's Saturday Night Live on February 12, 2005.

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

Personal life

Bateman has one older sister, actress Justine Bateman. Bateman told Best Life magazine that he and Justine 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.