The Shrine Auditorium seats just over six thousand people. On January 27, 2019, most of them were watching Jason Bateman hold a SAG Award and say his daughter’s nickname on live television. Franny. She was twelve years old. She was not there.
Her full name is Francesca Nora Bateman. Born in Los Angeles on October 28, 2006, she turned 19 last October. She has given no press interviews and has no known public social media presence. Her father, however, has talked about her for years.
| Full Name | Francesca Nora Bateman |
| Date of Birth | October 28, 2006 |
| Birthplace | Los Angeles, California |
| Age | 19 |
| Father | Jason Bateman |
| Mother | Amanda Anka |
| Sister | Maple Sylvie Bateman |
| Maternal Grandfather | Paul Anka |
Table of Contents
Her Parents and Family
Francesca’s mother, Amanda Anka, is an actress and producer, and the second daughter of Canadian music legend Paul Anka. She acted through the 1990s and 2000s in Beverly Hills 90210, ER, and films including Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1992) and Lost Highway (1997). From 2019 to 2021, she co-produced Apple TV+’s The Morning Show. She and Jason first met at a Los Angeles Kings hockey game in the late 1980s as teenagers, stayed friends for about a decade, and married on July 3, 2001. They have two daughters: Francesca and Maple Sylvie, born on February 10, 2012.
Amanda’s father, Paul Anka, is one of the most commercially successful songwriters of the 20th century and Francesca’s maternal grandfather. Born in Ottawa in 1941, he wrote his first major hit, “Diana,” at 15 years old. He went on to write Frank Sinatra’s “My Way,” Tom Jones’s biggest hit “She’s a Lady,” and over 900 songs in total across a seven-decade career. He has sold more than 10 million albums worldwide.
Jason Bateman started acting at age 10, with early credits on Little House on the Prairie, Silver Spoons, and The Hogan Family. As an adult, he is best known for Arrested Development and Netflix’s Ozark, the latter earning him both an Emmy for directing and a SAG Award for acting in 2019. His most recent project is Black Rabbit, a Netflix limited series opposite Jude Law, released in September 2025.
The Gap Billboard and Early Years
In 2007, when Francesca was less than a year old, Bateman described his daughter to People: “She’s a very, very happy kid. She’s always smiling, wanting to hang out and touch hands and be held.”
The following year, he brought her into a Gap holiday advertising campaign, and a photo of the two appeared on a billboard on Hollywood Boulevard. He spoke about it in a 2009 interview with Elle:
“Anyone who has a kid, when friends ask you if you have a picture, you go, ‘Yeahyeahyeah,’ and whip out your phone to show off. This was that times ten. Look up there. She’s mine and I love her.”
After that, she appeared with her father at various events. Getty Images records show her at the Kidstock Music and Arts Festival in California across multiple editions, including the 5th annual, when she was approximately four and a half years old. By 2013, she was appearing at charity events around Los Angeles, including a Clayton Kershaw fundraiser at Dodger Stadium that August.
Her Childhood, in Her Father’s Words
The Easter Bunny conversation, 2018
In August 2018, during an appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live! promoting Ozark, Bateman described a car ride to the airport with Francesca, then 11 years old. She had asked him whether bunnies lay eggs. He confirmed they did not. She told him she was “having a hard time putting a couple things together.”
By the end of that ride, she had extracted confessions from her father that the Easter Bunny, the Tooth Fairy, and Santa Claus were all fictional. She made him pinky-promise on each one before moving to the next. The Hollywood Reporter covered the story at the time. Amanda texted him immediately after:
“That’s an 11-year-old single-member audience. You’re a professional liar and you can’t get through this?”
The SAG Award speech, January 2019
Bateman won the SAG Award for Ozark that same awards season. At the podium inside the Shrine Auditorium, he addressed his wife Amanda and their daughters, Franny and Maple, before the full industry audience:
“Without you, none of it would be enjoyable and it probably wouldn’t be possible. I love you more than I even tell you I do, and I’ll be home for kisses so don’t go to bed.”
Francesca was twelve. She was not in the room.
Watching Ozark together, 2022
In 2022, Bateman told Entertainment Weekly that he and his then-15-year-old daughter had watched the first two episodes of Ozark side by side for the first time. “This is a big deal,” he said. “I haven’t seen them for five years, she’s never seen the show.” The following year, on Good Morning America while promoting Air, he described her as “fashion forward.”
Jennifer Aniston, August 2025
In August 2025, speaking to Vanity Fair for a profile on Jennifer Aniston, Bateman described how involved Aniston is with his daughters:
“She’s the first one to call or text about big dates in the girls’ lives. She has questions about boyfriends. She’s almost closer to a co-mom with Amanda. She’s been a part of their lives from the moment they were born.”
Aniston added in the same profile that she gives Francesca and Maple her hand-me-downs.
2025 and 2026
The Hollywood Walk of Fame ceremony on July 26, 2017, where Jason received the 2,616th star, was the last time the Bateman family appeared in public together as a group. According to Us Weekly, their next group appearance came nearly eight years later at the Toronto International Film Festival in September 2025.
Between those two points, Francesca did appear individually with her father. They were photographed at a Los Angeles Lakers game on January 21, 2025, at Crypto.com Arena, with Ray Romano seated nearby.
Between September 2025 and January 2026, she attended five events in five months:
| Date | Event | Location |
|---|---|---|
| Sept. 7, 2025 | Black Rabbit world premiere, TIFF | TIFF Lightbox, Toronto |
| Nov. 13, 2025 | Zootopia 2 world premiere | El Capitan Theatre, Los Angeles |
| Nov. 23, 2025 | Zootropolis 2 UK premiere | Picturehouse Central, London |
| Jan. 10, 2026 | SiriusXM “Before the Buzz” event | Los Angeles |
| Jan. 22, 2026 | Los Angeles Lakers game | Intuit Dome, Los Angeles |
At TIFF in September 2025, Francesca, then 18, wore a brown slip dress alongside her parents and Maple. She turned 19 on October 28. At the Zootopia 2 premiere the following month in Los Angeles, she arrived in a black tank top, wide-leg trousers, and a trench coat. The London premiere of the same film came two weeks later.
The SiriusXM event in January 2026 was a pre-Golden Globes gathering for podcast nominees. Other attendees included Conan O’Brien, Will Arnett, Sean Hayes, Ted Danson, and Dax Shepherd. Jason cohosts the SmartLess podcast with Arnett and Hayes.
Francesca Bateman Today
Francesca is believed to have finished high school in May 2025. No confirmed reporting has covered what she has done since. Details about college or career plans remain private.
Jason and Amanda have kept both daughters’ personal lives out of press coverage throughout, and that hasn’t changed. In a 2013 interview with Redbook, Bateman said Amanda “does a lot of the heavy lifting” at home while he is away filming. Neither parent has changed that approach.
Paul Anka was famous at 15, and Jason Bateman has been working since he was ten. Francesca turned 19 in October 2025. As of June 2026, nothing about her life has come from her directly.
