Background and career
Justine Bateman (born February 19, 1966) is an American filmmaker, author and actress. Her acting work has included Family Ties, Satisfaction, Men Behaving Badly, The TV Set, Desperate Housewives, and Californication. Her feature film directorial debut, Violet, starring Olivia Munn, Luke Bracey, and Justin Theroux, premiered at the 2021 SXSW Film Festival. Bateman also wrote, directed and produced the film short Five Minutes, which premiered at the 2017 Toronto International Film Festival. She regularly makes guest appearances on USA television including Fox News and Today and is the author of the books Fame: The Hijacking of Reality (2018) and Face: One Square Foot of Skin (2021).
Bateman was born to Victoria Elizabeth, a former flight attendant for Pan Am who was born in Malta and later grew up in Birmingham and Shrewsbury in the United Kingdom, and Kent Bateman, an American film producer and director. She is the older sister of actor Jason Bateman. Bateman attended Taft High School in Woodland Hills, California. She could not attend college immediately after high school, due to her contractual obligations with Family Ties.
Bateman's most prominent acting role began when she was a teenager, playing the role of superficial Mallory Keaton on the television sitcom Family Ties beginning in 1982; she continued the role throughout the show's run which ended in 1989. She hosted an episode of Saturday Night Live during its 13th season in 1988. In the 1996–97 NBC American version of the British TV comedy Men Behaving Badly, featuring Rob Schneider and Ron Eldard, she starred as Sarah, Eldard's character's girlfriend. Bateman returned to TV with the 2003 Showtime mini-series Out of Order, alongside Eric Stoltz, Felicity Huffman and William H. Macy. In the third-season Arrested Development episode "Family Ties," which was broadcast in February 2006, Bateman's character is initially believed to be Michael Bluth's sister, but she turns out to be a prostitute hired by Michael's father George Bluth, and pimped by Michael's brother Gob Bluth. Michael Bluth was played by Bateman's brother Jason. Recurring roles included Men in Trees, Still Standing, and Desperate Housewives. In 1988, Bateman starred in the lead role in the motion picture Satisfaction. The film, about an all-girl musical band, also featured Julia Roberts, Liam Neeson, and Britta Phillips. Bateman starred as the lead vocalist and also performed the vocals on the soundtrack. Other films include The Night We Never Met, with Matthew Broderick, and The TV Set, with David Duchovny and Sigourney Weaver.
Bateman has acted in several web series. She acted in John August's Remnants, Illeana Douglas' IKEA-sponsored Easy to Assemble (for which in 2010 Bateman was among the winners of the Streamy Award for Best Ensemble Cast and was nominated for a Streamy Award for Best Actress in a Comedy Web-Series), and Anthony Zuiker's digi-novel series Level 26: Dark Prophecy, in which she plays a tarot card reader. Bateman's theater experience includes Arthur Miller's The Crucible (Roundabout Theater), David Mamet's Speed the Plow (Williamstown Theater Fest), and Frank Wedekind's Lulu (Berkeley Rep).
Bateman wrote her feature film directorial debut, Violet, premiered at the 2021 SXSW Film Festival. Bateman also wrote her short film directorial debut, Five Minutes. It premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2017. She made her first script sale to Disney's Wizards of Waverly Place. She also co-wrote the adaptation of Lisi Harrison's teenage book series The Clique for a Warner Bros. internet series. Bateman's first book, Fame: The Hijacking of Reality, was published in 2018 by Akashic Books. Her second book, Face: One Square Foot of Skin, was also published by Akashic Books in 2021.
Bateman co-produced and co-presented with fashion maven Kelly Cutrone on their internet talk show Wake Up and Get Real (WUAGR). Described as an alternative to the television series The View, WUAGR was last broadcast in June 2011. She was also a producer on the internet series Easy to Assemble (which garnered more than 5.1 million views during its second season). Bateman produced the film short, Z, Five Minutes (Toronto Film Festival 2017 premiere), and Push, and the feature film, Violet (SXSW 2021 Film Festival Premiere). She also produced the upcoming avant-garde feature films, LOOK and FEEL. Her production company is Section 5.
