"My 20s was not a comfortable period": Jason Bateman opens up about early career struggles

The American actor and director, Jason Bateman, revealed his early career struggles in the Conan O'Brien Needs a Friend podcast, uploaded on February 24 on Spotify. The 56-year-old has been seen in many hit movies and series, which include Ozark (2017-2022), Horrible Bosses (2011), Arrested Development (2003-2019), and more.

The actor also won many awards, the most recent being the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series for his work in Ozark in 2018, 2020, and 2022.

In the podcast with Conan O'Brien, the actor told his story of overcoming setbacks in Hollywood and challenges.

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Jason Bateman opens up about childhood anxiety and career pressures

The podcast was hosted by Conan O'Brien, who asked Bateman about his life and career. When asked Jason Bateman about his experience of being a child actor and his first serial commercial, the actor replied,

"I don't remember a lot, but I do remember being really filled with anxiety about being able to continue to make a living in a business that I was pretty aware that it was tenuous at best."

Bateman first starred in the drama series 'Little House on the Prairie' when he was 10 years old. He later did many series and movies, which included The Hogan Family, Teen Wolf Too, and Necessary Roughness.

In the podcast, Bateman also revealed that his parents were his managers until he was 20 years old, and his roles helped them earn more money than expected, which helped them decently live life. He also added that:

"My 20s was not a comfortable period"

While acting, Bateman tried his best to manage his professional and school life. Bateman further talked about his struggles with acting and schooling at the same time by adding:

"You need a work permit to work as a little kid before you're eighteen, and that work permit is renewed every six months based on you maintaining a C average in school, and so the pressure on midterms and finals every year was immense for me because it was 60% of your grades, and so studying for those and making the… And so if I fail in the midterms, I don't get my work permit, which means I'm kicked off the show, which means everyone on the show loses their job, we lose our house."

However, after schooling, Bateman never got his diploma, and he didn't attend college to continue his career in acting. After doing successful movies and TV series, Jason Bateman married Amanda Anka in 2001 when he was 32.

The actor also added his goals and vision that he imagined in his early life:

"I wanted to be a husband, a dad, and I wanted to direct a movie as an adult. That was what I always said to myself as a kid. And so I knew I had to do certain things to make those three things happen."

Jason Bateman made his dream of directing come true by directing an episode of The Hogan Family. He was named the youngest director in the Directors Guild of America.

Later, he directed Ozark, for which he won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series and The Family Fang. He is also a father of two children with his wife, Amanda Anka.

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Jason Bateman's net worth is estimated to be around $50 million. His upcoming projects include a Netflix series called Black Rabbit, which he is directing and starring in. The series is expected to be released in 2025.