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Show BY JAMES BRADY IN STEP WITH:* Eddie Adams JUSTINE _™ BATEMAN F YOU WERE A FAN OF Family Ties on television, then surely you remember Justine Bateman. She played the enormously appealing Mallory Kea- Born: Feb. 19, 1966 in Rye, N.Y. | ton for seven seasons, earning a cou- Television Series: | ple of Emmy nominations along the _tC(‘iCE wayand winning hearts. Justine has been working since—in movies and on Brady’s Bits | stage—and this week is scheduled to Justine lives ina house in the hills above Los || Angeles. “No pool,” she says. “I’m not a pool person. But there are a lot of trees. | work out —karate and aerobics, ina Justine sounds pretty laid-back, but the electricity returns to her husky voice when she talks about her career “I’m doing some writing now,” she says. “Short Keaton on Family Ties, 1982-89. be in a big, six-hour TBS showcalled Television | A Century of Women. Turner Broad| Casting is promoting the program as a | major TV event. Which medium—among TY, stage and screen—is Justine’s favorite? “I Movies: Include Right To Kill?, 1985: Family Ties Vacation, 1985; can really answer that,” the actress First the Egg, said without hesitating. “Last night, I 1985; Can You | saw aplay called Oleanna. I was so on Fee! Me fire afterward. So I'd haveto saythea- | Dancing?, 1986; ter right now. Thefirst 45 minutes of Whatta class. It’s not serious, just fun. | love to go hiking and there are a lot of great hiking | trails up here.” When she talks about what she does when she’s not working, Played Mallory | Year...1986, 1986; Fame Fortune and | Romance, 1986; Disney's “Captain that play...amazing what you can do with words. [Playwright David] Mamet isa | genius!” Then she added quickly, “I love those media [TVand film] too. You can do things you can’t do on stage.” As for Century of Women, Justine Eo” Grand Opening, 1986; In the Eyes of a hadn’t seen a final cut at the time we Stranger, 1992; spoke. But the thing is getting bigleague drum-beating, perhaps because the narration is by Jane Fonda—who, in civilian life, is married to the TBS head, Ted Turner. Or maybeit’s the rest Terror in the Night, 1994; A Century of Women, 1994. Films: of the cast, which (I’mnot kidding) includes Candice Bergen, Sally Field, Laura Dern, Mery] Streep and Jodie Include Satisfaction, 1988; Deadbolt, 1992; The Night Foster, plus on-camera appearances We Never Met, stories and poems from celebrated and powerful women 1993. and journal! right up to Hillary RodhamClinton. writing. I’ve Yet itis young Justine Bateman who never tried a play is at the heart of the story, playing a or a novel 25-year-old mother whose new baby| | get scared— I don’t want to be brings a family of womentogether for rejected.” As for | a weekend. The fictional family mem acting, she’s very bers recall their past and look intotheir upbeat: “I'd love future as the film moves from make to do a voice ona believe to documentary. Since, in real cartoon, host a life, Justine is unmarried and has nevdocumentary, be a correspondent | er had achild, I wonderedhowthat went on an adventure—mothering a baby under thelights travel show “It was the first time I ever played a And, for the first | mother, and I'd not really ever handled time in Six years a baby before,” She said. “She was a 6 I'm looking for month-old girl and very well behaved.” a TV series. I'm looking tor Justine was born and raisedin Rye, something with a suburb of New York, but said she enough Tabasco because of the commitment involved.” “grewup all over.” At age 11, her family was in Los Angeles. But young Justine wasn’t pounding on the studio | gates, begging to be discovered. “I got into acting when I was 15,” she re- ne day, when _ Justine was 15, her | mom suggested she do some commercials just for fun. The kid has | been a star ever since. called. “Mybrother [Jason] was already working as an actor. He was in Little House on the Prairie, and my mom said, ‘Whydon’t you try a few | commercials for the heck ofit?’ So I went to his agency.” The commercials led to her being cast as Malloryin Family Ties and everything that has happened since. “Yes,” she told me, “TVis exciting. Whenthe show works. There are so many facets that can change the whole flavor of the project. You can go from ‘hopefully’ to ‘resigned.’ Whereas, in a great play, the play never changes Whether it works is up to me as a per former.” PAGE 18 - JUNE 5, 1994 » PARADE MAGAZINE |