Jason Bateman

Jason Bateman

Unlike many actors Jason Bateman has made the successful transition from award winning television star to big screen actor with hit movies such as The Kingdom, Juno and Paul.

He is back on the big screen this week with new comedy Horrible Bosses, which also stars Jennifer Aniston, Jason Sudeikis, Kevin Spacey, Colin Farrell and Jamie Foxx.

The movie is directed by Seth Gordon and looks set to be one of the must see comedies of the summer.

Bateman began his acting career in 1981 on popular show Little House on the Prairie as James Cooper Ingalls.

He went on to appear in a string of shows including It's Your Move and The Hogan Family where he became the Directors Guild of America's youngest ever director when, at the age of eighteen, he directed three episodes of the show.

His major breakthrough came in 2003 when he landed the role of Michael Bluth in hit comedy Arrested Development for Fox television.

The series revolves around the excessive lifestyle of the wealthy Bluth family as Michael tries to keep everyone together.

In 2005 Bateman won Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series - Musical or Comedy at the Golden Globes and there are rumours of a big screen adaptation of the show in the pipeline.

After appearing in The Sweetest Thing in 2002 he returned to movies in 2004 in Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson's spoof of Starsky and Hutch before moving onto Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story and Smokin' Aces.

2007 was the most successful year for Bateman as he starred in a string of highly successful movies. he first teamed up with Jamie Foxx and Jennifer Garner in war film set in Saudi Arabia The Kingdom.

After the mixed reviews of his next film Mr Magorium's Wonder Emporium Bateman went on to critical acclaim with Diablo Cody's debut script Juno.

The film, which follows the unplanned pregnancy of independent minded teenager Juno who plans to give the child up for adoption, was nominated for four Oscars including Best Picture, winning best original Screenplay.

Never sticking with one genre of movie he moved from the quirky indie comedy Juno to big budget blockbuster Hancock, his first film in the genre, in 2008.

As you may expect with a Will Smith movie Hancock was a box office smash - taking over $624 million that summer.

Up next was political thriller State of Play before moving onto drama Up In The Air, which went on to be Oscar nominated.

Since then we have seen the actor stick to comedy roles with the likes of The Invention of Lying, Coupes Retreat and The Switch.

2011 has already been a busy year for the actor after finding success with Paul earlier int he year.

The movie saw him team up with Simon Pegg and Nick Frost as he was on the hunt for alien Paul, brilliantly voiced by Seth Rogen.

The movie has so far been one of the best comedies of the year so far and comedy is still the focus for Batmen for the rest of the year.

Horrible Bosses sees him back this week as he joins an all star cast as he conspires to kill his boss.

For Nick (Bateman), Kurt (Sudeikis) and Dale (Day), the only thing that would make the daily grind more tolerable would be to grind their intolerable bosses (Spacey, Farrell, Aniston) into dust.

Quitting is not an option, so, with the benefit of a few-too-many drinks and some dubious advice from a hustling ex-con (Foxx), the three friends devise a convoluted and seemingly foolproof plan to rid themselves of their respective employers... permanently.

There’s only one problem: even the best laid plans are only as foolproof as the brains behind them.

He will be back in September with The Change-Up, in which he teams up with Ryan Reynolds and Olivia Wilde.

Horrible Bosses is released 22nd July.

FemaleFirst Helen Earnshaw


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