Rise to Fame
He started on Silver Spoons at 13 and was the DGA's youngest director ever at 18. Then he lost about a decade, he has said, to alcohol and cocaine. By the time Arrested Development came along in 2003, the work had dried up. Playing the straight man to one of the most chaotic ensemble casts in TV history earned him a Golden Globe and rebuilt the credibility he'd spent his 20s burning through.
In the Spotlight
Ozark reframed him entirely. Four seasons as a money-launderer convinced he's the calmest person in any room earned him three Emmy nominations for acting and one win for directing (2019). He won for directing, not acting. His production company Aggregate Films, which has a Netflix overall deal, produced Ozark, Lessons in Chemistry, and The Outsider. SmartLess, the podcast he co-hosts with Will Arnett and Sean Hayes, sold to SiriusXM for a reported $100 million. He's been building an operation the acting work is funding.
Side Notes
He dropped out of high school because Teen Wolf Too was filming. His wife Amanda is Paul Anka's daughter; they met as teenagers at an LA Kings game and reportedly didn't date seriously until the late 90s. He has said she gave him the ultimatum that ended the drinking and cocaine. His sister Justine was the more famous Bateman through most of the 80s, riding Family Ties while his shows kept getting cancelled. The siblings' dynamic got its own Arrested Development episode: she played a prostitute named Nellie.