Being a child actor isn’t easy, even more so if your family is counting on you to bring home the bacon to help support the family.
That’s what Jason Bateman, 56, revealed on the Monday, Feb. 24 episode of the Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend podcast.
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“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 … was tenuous at best,” Bateman confessed to Conan O’Brien.
Although his parents had jobs, they made more money serving as the young actor’s managers.
Bateman began his acting career at the age of 10 and landed roles in the ‘80s TV series Little House on the Prairie and The Hogan Family, as well as parts in the films Teen Wolf Too in 1987 and Necessary Roughness in 1991.
“My parents were my managers, and they were making more money doing that than what they were: My mom was a flight attendant for Pan Am. My dad was a freelance writer, director, producer,” explained Bateman. “And, you know, 15% of what I was making at that time just ended up being more than what they were making in their careers.”
It helped that his sister, Justine Bateman, also had an acting career, starring on Family Ties from 1982 through 1989 when she was a teenager.
“It became an important component,” Bateman told O’Brien. “We were living in a certain condo that we wouldn’t be able to live in if they were just using their salaries.”
Adding to the pressure was the requirement that child actors have to maintain at least a C average in school to update their work permit every six months.
“The pressure of midterms and finals every year was immense for me, because it was 60% of your grade,” Bateman added. He went on to explain how he’d think “if I fail my midterm, 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.”
Next: Jason Bateman’s Rarely-Seen Daughter Is All Grown Up on Outing With Dad
