Jason Bateman

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Jason Kent Bateman was born on January 14th, 1969 in Rye, New York. Bateman is the son of Hollywood producer Kent Bateman and the younger brother of actress Justine Bateman. He started acting in commercials when he was ten years-old, which soon led to a recurring role as James Cooper Ingalls on the series Little House on the Prairie from 1981 to 1982. He was then seen in Silver Spoons starring Ricky Schroeder from 1982 to 1984. He was written out of the show despite his popularity, apparently at the behest of Schroeder’s management, but landed his own series, It’s Your Move, which ran from 1984 to 1985.

Bateman was then cast in Valerie as David Hogan from 1986 to 1991. The series went through some title and cast changes as negotiations with Valerie Harper came to an impasse and eventually became known as The Hogan Family. Jason even directed several episodes of the series and became the youngest director in the DGA.

1986 also saw him in Can You Feel Me Dancing? which was produced by his father and starred his sister. He then starred in 1987’s Teen Wolf Too, again working with his producer father.

After the end of The Hogan Family, Jason was seen in Necessary Roughness in 1991 and Breaking the Rules in 1992. Besides appearing in a slew of made-for-TV movies, Jason also added the short-lived sitcoms Simon and Chicago Sons to his resume before working with Bob Newhart in the 1997 series George and Leo.

In 2001, Bateman played a gay writer in Some of My Best Friends, a series which was sent to TV heaven after just eight airings. The following year, Bateman worked with Cameron Diaz and Christina Applegate on The Sweetest Thing.

He was then cast as Michael Bluth, the seemingly down-to-earth member of a rich family who fights to keep them together in 2003’s Arrested Development. Though the show won critical acclaim, and earned Bateman a Golden Globe, it was way too smart for the average TV audience and the Fox network had no idea how to promote it. It was canceled after three seasons.

Jason continued appearing on the big screen, appearing with Ben Stiller and Vince Vaughn in 2004’s Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story and with Stiller and Owen Wilson in Starsky & Hutch.

A busy 2006 saw him in the short-lived series The Jake Effect, working with Jennifer Aniston and Vince Vaughn on The Break-Up, working with an ensemble cast on Smokin’ Aces, and starring with Zach Braff and Amanda Peet in The Ex.

2007 saw him in Mr. Magorium’s Wonder Emporium with Dustin Hoffman and Natalie Portman, working with Elliot Page, Jennifer Garner and former Arrested Development co-star Michael Cera in Juno and appearing with Jamie Foxx on The Kingdom.

In 2008, Jason appeared with Will Smith and Charlize Theron in Hancock and worked with Jason Segel and Kristin Bell on Forgetting Sarah Marshall.

To say 2009 was a busy year for Bateman would be a massive understatement. He worked on State of Play with Russell Crowe, Ben Affleck and Rachel McAdams, starred in Extract with Mila Kunis, reteamed with Jason Reitman for Up in the Air with George Clooney, appeared in The Invention of Lying with Ricky Gervais and Jennifer Garner, starred in Couples Retreat with Vince Vaughn and Jon Favreau and voiced Larry Littlejunk in the animated series Sit Down Shut Up.

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