Jason Bateman has recently been enjoying some of the best years of his career. Away from the Hollywood spotlight, is he religious and, if so, which religion does he belong to?
There’s no clear proof of Jason Bateman belonging to a particular religious group or publicly practicing a faith. His sister, Justine Bateman, is a born again Christian and has discussed finding religion in adulthood, a possible sign that their family was not a practicing member of organized religion but any claims about Jason appear to be complete speculation.
For more about Jason Bateman’s background and his sister, Justine, finding God, read on.
Family Background
We know that Jason Bateman was born in New York and is the son of Kent Bateman, an American film producer, and Victoria Elizabeth, an English flight attendant.
He also has a sister, Justine Bateman, who starred alongside Michael J Fox in the 1980s show “Family Ties. While both Jason and Justine were TV stars from an early age, not a great deal of information about their home life has been made public, including their religious background.
There are several websites online claiming that Bateman is Christian but they don’t provide any sources for this assertion.
These same sites claim that his wife, Amanda Anka is Christian, likely based on speculation that her father, Paul Anka, is an Orthodox Christian.
However, Paul’s ex-wife Anna Anka states that Paul is non-religious so we can probably just ignore any unfounded claims at about Jason Bateman, his wife, or his father-in-law.
An interview with a religious film critic after the release of his directorial debut “Bad Words” also makes no mention of whether or not Bateman himself is religious.
Whether or not he does practice religion, the subject doesn’t seem to come up in any of his many interviews about his past struggles with addiction.
Justine Bateman
While Jason Bateman has not discussed religion at any length in the media, his sister, Justine, has been open about her difficulties after finding fame at an early age.
Justine was one of the stars of “Family Ties”, playing Mallory Keaton in the classic 80s sitcom. Like Jason, she struggled with the aftermath of finding stardom at such an early age.
She eventually came to the realization that being famous was unimportant and, now married and with two children, she moved away from mainstream Hollywood to working behind the scenes.
Justine has also written a book, “Fame: The Hijacking of Reality” about her experiences at the height of her fame and the lows that followed.
In her teens, Justine struggled greatly with her body image and endured bouts of bulimia, anorexia, and overeating, suffering from every extreme while trying to present the perfect version of herself to the world.
She entered a 12-step program and embraced religion as part of her personal process. In her words, she “needed a concept of God that worked for [her]” and “wound up giving [her] life to Jesus Christ”.
While Justine’s status as a born again Christian doesn’t necessarily mean that she did not have religion in her life at an early age, it’s possibly telling that she talks about finding, rather than rediscovering, God.
An ABC article on the cast of “Family Ties” also refers to Justine as a “converted Christian”, though there’s no mention of whether she was previously religious in any form.
So, while we can confirm that Justine Bateman is a Christian, we can find no definitive answer on whether or not her brother, Jason, is religious. Nor can we find any clear clues that might suggest that he is or isn’t.