TBT: Adorable 13-Year-Old Jason Bateman on the Set of 'Silver Spoons'

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ETONLINE

Jason Bateman stars alongside Tina Fey and Jane Fonda in the family dramedy This Where I Leave You, in theaters Friday, so naturally we thought we'd dig into the ET vault and find the first time we sat down with the funny man. Turns out that we've watched Jason Bateman grow up in front of our cameras!

We first met Jason in 1982 on the set of Silver Spoons. At just 13-years-old he landed a supporting role playing a bully opposite Ricky Schroeder. While the show would eventually last five seasons on NBC (Jason stuck around for two of them), a young Bateman had his sights high on a long acting career.

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"If it doesn't happen then I guess it wasn't meant to be," the then 13-year-old told ET about the prospects of the show being picked up. "Everything is meant to happen, everything has a purpose. I guess something bigger and better will come along."

Little did he know that he was a leading man in the making. The son of director and producer Kent Bateman, and younger brother of Family Times sweetheart Justine Bateman, Jason forged his own career path working furiously for the next decade including 1986's Valerie/The Hogan Family. The movie offers also started pouring in and Bateman was eventually cast as the lead in 1987's Teen Wolf Too.

"I don't feel as if I'm stretched too far," he told us on the set in 1987. "I'm 18 and I still got a lot of energy... Well I don't really jump out of bed in the morning."

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But we of course know him best as Michael Bluth in Arrested Development and a slew of films including Juno (2007), Up In The Air (2009), The Switch (2010), Horrible Bosses (2011) and Identity Thief (2013). The former child star turned A-lister has clearly hit his stride and we've been there since the beginning.

Watch the video for some rare moments with Jason over the years. We were also with the actor on the set of first season of Arrested Development:

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