He played a boy adopted by the Ingalls family. Four decades later, audiences are still glad they took him in ❤️
Jason Bateman’s career began with a cereal commercial for Golden Grahams in 1980. A year later, at just 11 years old, he landed his first big television role, playing James Cooper Ingalls, an orphan boy taken in by Charles and Caroline Ingalls, on Little House on the Prairie. He appeared in 21 episodes between 1981 and 1982, and it launched one of the most successful careers in Hollywood.
But being a child star came with real weight. Bateman has recently opened up about what it was like to be the main earner in his family at such a young age, and about the stress of keeping his grades up to keep his work permit.
“There was a great deal of pressure,” Bateman said at a live taping of the Good One podcast at the Tribeca Festival four months ago.
It didn’t stop him. As a teenager, he starred in Silver Spoons and The Hogan Family, and at just 18, he became the youngest director in the history of the Directors Guild of America, directing three episodes of The Hogan Family. In 2003, he took on the role that redefined his career, Michael Bluth in Arrested Development, a performance that turned him into one of television’s most beloved comedic actors.
Then came another reinvention. In Ozark, which ran from 2017 to 2022, he starred as Marty Byrde and also directed several episodes, winning a Primetime Emmy for directing in 2019. This year, he earned another Emmy nomination, for his role in DTF St. Louis.
Looking back, he’s grateful for how it all turned out.
“I feel enormously fortunate that things have worked out for me,” Bateman told Vulture.
On screen, the Ingalls family took in an orphan boy named James. Four decades later, audiences are still glad they did. ❤️
