Jason Bateman: Child stars aren’t a good idea

Jason Bateman doesn’t think it’s a good idea for children to get into acting. The Hollywood actor — who started out in showbiz at the age of 12 with a starring role in the sitcom Silver Spoons — admits having a career at such a young age did have some negative effects on him.

“It’s not a good idea. For one an acting career is quite unstable and also because things in this business are very unfair,” he said.
 
“Most of all I think it’s highly questionable to put a child in front of a camera and ask that child to pretend to be someone else. Children need to find out who they really are first. When you’re growing up child acting isn’t very clever. I personally didn’t survive it completely undamaged.”
 
Bateman recently insisted he will accept “any offers” because he has bills to pay.
 
“I do what I am given, I got to pay the bills at home. Any offers that come my way – I will do them unless they are really horrible,” he said in an interview with UK TV show Daybreak.
 
“If somebody here gets sick on the sports or weather desk I am here until tomorrow.”