Jason Bateman

Jason Bateman (birthname: Jason Kent Bateman), while best known as actor-director-producer for television (most notably for his myriad achievements in the acclaimed series, Ozark), has also amassed a solid and lengthy track record as an actor-director-producer in the movies, starting with his starring role as (suitably) a teen actor in the horror-comedy, Teen Wolf Too (1987).

Bateman next appeared as a co-star in the mildly successful ($26 million) ensemble sports comedy, Necessary Roughness (1991), followed by the poorly received Miramax drama, Breaking the Rules (1992), co-produced by Bateman’s father, Kent. After more minor comedies, Bateman nabbed a supporting role in Columbia Pictures’ higher-profile dud, The Sweetest Thing (2002), starring Cameron Diaz, Christina Applegate, and Selma Blair.

The first solid box-office hit with Jason Bateman in the cast was the big-screen version of Starsky & Hutch (2004), co-written and directed by Todd Phillips and co-starring Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson, grossing $170 million globally. Bateman rejoined Stiller in the large cast of the comedy hit ($168.4 million worldwide), Dodgeball (2004), written and directed by Rawson Marshall Thurber and co-starring Vince Vaughn, Rip Torn, Christine Taylor, and William Shatner.

Again with Vaughn, Bateman was part of the ensemble of the hit rom-com ($205.7 million), The Break-Up (2006), directed by Peyton Reed and with Jennifer Aniston, Ann-Margret, Judy Davis, Vincent D’Onofrio, and Jon Favreau. For his first vocal animation credit, Bateman joined the cast for the English-language version of Luc Besson’s Arthur and the Invisibles (2006), with the voices of Robert De Niro, Madonna, Snoop Dogg, David Bowie, Harvey Keitel, Anthony Anderson, Jimmy Fallon, and Mia Farrow.

Jason Bateman’s first above-the-title credit was in the poorly-reviewed comedy, The Ex (2006), with Zach Braff, Amanda Peet, Charles Grodin, Mia Farrow, Donal Logue, Amy Poehler, Amy Adams, and Fred Armisen. Bateman’s next movie project was writer-director Joe Carnahan’s successful action comedy, Smokin’Aces (2006), with Ben Affleck, Andy Garcia, Alicia Keys, Ray Liotta, Jeremy Piven, and Ryan Reynolds. Bateman was cast in the topical political thriller, The Kingdom (2007), starring Jamie Foxx, Chris Cooper, and Jennifer Garner, and co-produced by Michael Mann.

Director Jason Reitman’s Oscar-winning writer Diablo Cody’s Juno (2007) marked one of the first notable film roles for Jason Bateman, opposite Elliot (then Ellen) Page, Michael Cera, Garner, Allison Janney, and J.K. Simmons, and nominated for four Oscars (including picture and actress).

In writer-director Zach Helm’s commercially failed ($69.5 million) fantasy movie, Mr. Magorium’s Wonder Emporium (2007), Bateman played opposite co-stars Dustin Hoffman and Natalie Portman. Between several cameo movie appearances, Bateman then co-starred with stars Will Smith, Charlize Theron, and Eddie Marsan in the high-grossing ($629 million worldwide) and long-in-development comedy-drama, Hancock (2008).

Bateman played a supporting role in Universal Pictures’ well-received political thriller directed by Kevin Macdonald, State of Play (2009), starring Russell Crowe, Ben Affleck, Rachel McAdams, and Helen Mirren. Writer-director Jason Reitman once again cast Bateman in the multi-Oscar-nominated comedy-drama, Up in the Air (2009), starring George Clooney, and the Oscar-nominated pair of Vera Farmiga and Anna Kendrick. Though it failed at the box office, Extract (2009) marked Bateman’s first prominent starring (and big-face-on-poster) role with the brilliant comedy creator, Mike Judge (who wrote and directed).

Jason Bateman earned a major co-starring role opposite Vince Vaughn and Jon Favreau (who also co-wrote) in the hit rom-com ($171.8 million globally) Couples Retreat (2009), though it was lambasted by critics, with a 10% Rotten Tomatoes rating. Bateman’s growing star status was confirmed in the rom-com, The Switch (2010), co-starring Jennifer Aniston and earning $50 million worldwide.

Bateman then had an even bigger hit ($209.6 million globally) as a leader of the black comedy, Horrible Bosses (2011), co-starring Charlie Day, Jason Sudeikis, Aniston, Jamie Foxx, Colin Farrell, Kevin Spacey, and Donald Sutherland; this was followed by Bateman as a star of the sequel, Horrible Bosses 2 (2014), with new cast members Chris Pine and Christoph Waltz, and grossing a solid $108 million.

As co-star with Ryan Reynolds, Bateman had less success in the body-switching rom-com, The Change-Up (2011), followed by his supporting role in the successful ($16.8 million) action comedy, Hit & Run (2012), from star/co-director/writer Dax Shepard. Joining the ensemble including Hope Davis, Andrea Riseborough, and Alexander Skarsgård, Bateman starred in the anthology drama written by Andrew Stern, Disconnect (2012), premiering at the Venice and Toronto film festivals.

For the first time, Jason Bateman was a co-star and a lead producer on a hit studio movie ($174 million), Identity Thief (2013), with Melissa McCarthy, Jon Favreau, and Amanda Peet. While it didn’t click with audiences, Bateman scored his first feature movie as director-producer-star for the Black List-nominated Andrew Dodge script, Bad Words (2013), with Kathryn Hahn, Philip Baker Hall, and Allison Janney. Bateman then joined Hanh again (along with a notable cast including Tina Fey, Jane Fonda, Adam Driver, Rose Byrne, Timothy Olyphant, and Shepard) for writer Jonathan Tropper’s screen version of his own novel, This is Where I Leave You (2014).

Under co-star Joel Edgerton’s direction, Jason Bateman starred in the psychological thriller, The Gift (2015), written by Edgerton and co-starring Rebecca Hall and earning a robust $60 million worldwide. For his second feature as director, star, and lead producer, Bateman made the film version of Kevin Wilson’s novel, The Family Fang (2015), co-starring Nicole Kidman and Christopher Walken, and premiered at the Toronto Film Festival.

Co-starring in the biggest-grossing movie ($1.02 billion globally) of his career, Bateman played the voice of a sly fox in Disney’s Zootopia (2016), joining the vocal cast of Ginnifer Goodwin, Idris Elba, Bonnie Hunt, Tommy Chong, J.K. Simmons, Octavia Spencer, and Shakira. After a small role in the hit action comedy, Central Intelligence (2016), with Dwayne Johnson and Kevin Hart, Bateman starred in the hit ($114 million) holiday comedy, Office Christmas Party (2016), with Olivia Munn, Jillian Bell, Courtney B. Vance, Rob Corddry, Kate McKinnon, and Jennifer Aniston.

Another big comedy hit followed for star-producer Jason Bateman in Game Night (2018), co-starring Rachel McAdams and grossing a strong $117.7 million globally. Under star-director Ben Affleck, Bateman co-starred with Matt Damon in the sports biopic, Air (2023), and followed this with a role in star-writer-director Charlie Day’s satire, Fool’s Paradise (2023), with Ken Jeong, Kate Beckinsale, Adrien Brody, Jason Sudeikis, Edie Falco, Common, Ray Liotta, and John Malkovich.