Please Rewind Talent Wall

Jason Bateman

Jason Bateman has built a career around straight-faced control. Whether he is playing comedy or drama, he tends to keep something in reserve, letting a small pause or wary reaction carry more weight than a louder choice. It is a style that has served him across television, film and his work behind the camera. Born in Rye, New York, in 1969, Bateman began working young, appearing in a Golden Grahams commercial before joining Little House on the Prairie. Roles in Silver Spoons, It’s Your Move and The Hogan Family made him a familiar television presence during the 1980s. That early success also brought pressure: his acting income helped support his family, and he later described feeling anxious about the need to keep working. At 18, he directed three episodes of The Hogan Family and became the Directors Guild of America’s youngest-ever director. A defining adult role arrived with Michael Bluth in Arrested Development. Bateman’s measured delivery proved an ideal fit for the show’s escalating absurdity, earning him a Golden Globe and an Emmy nomination. The series later returned with its original cast, giving him another chance to play the put-upon center of a spectacularly unruly family. His film work has moved freely between broad comedy and more restrained material. He appeared in Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story, Starsky & Hutch and The Break-Up before a busy 2007 that included Smokin’ Aces, The Kingdom, Mr. Magorium’s Wonder Emporium and Juno—the Please Rewind movie represented on this profile. Later credits include Hancock, Extract, Horrible Bosses, The Gift, Game Night and Air. He also voiced Nick Wilde in Zootopia. Bateman made his feature directing debut with Bad Words, in which he also starred, and later directed and starred in The Family Fang. On television, Ozark brought his acting and directing together in darker territory. He played Marty Byrde, directed seven episodes and won a Primetime Emmy for directing the second-season premiere. That combination of dry composure, unease and behind-the-camera precision neatly captures the range of his career.