Acting 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 taken advantage of by his father, and pimped by his brother. 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. Cocktail Party, 2007 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).
Writer 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.
Producer (left) and
Felicia Day at
IAWTV meeting during Digital Hollywood 2009. 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). Her production company is Section 5. Her subsequent feature films, LOOK and FEEL, premiered at the CREDO23 Film Festival March 2025.
Other work During a hiatus from the entertainment business, Bateman established a clothing design company in 2000. She managed it until its closure in 2003. Justine Bateman Designs was known for one-of-a-kind hand knits. It sold to BendelsNY,
Saks Fifth Avenue, and
Fred Segal. She served on the national board of directors of the
Screen Actors Guild until July 2009, when she resigned just before the end of her initial three-year term, in a vehement protest to a newly signed film and television contract between SAG and AFTRA. During the 2020s, she helped spearhead the artistic community's movement to limit "exploitive"
AI in film, defining it as a medium that re-configures and regurgitates past human efforts. Bateman is the founder of CREDO23, an "organics stamp" for films and series that assure the audience that no generative AI was used. ==Personal life==