Ozarks

The Ozarks, also referred to as the Ozark Mountains, Ozarks Mountain Country, and the Ozark Plateau, is a physiographic and geologic highland region of the central United States. It covers much of the southern half of Missouri and an extensive portion of northwestern and north central Arkansas. The region also extends westward into northeastern Oklahoma and extreme southeastern Kansas. The Shawnee Hills of southwest Illinois, which lie near the eastern edge of this region, are commonly called the "Illinois Ozarks" but are generally not considered part of the true Ozarks.

Although referred to as the Ozark Mountains, the region is actually a high and deeply dissected plateau. Geologically, the area is a broad dome around the Saint Francois Mountains. The Ozark Highlands area, covering nearly 47,000 square miles (122,000 km²), is by far the most extensive mountainous region between the Appalachians and the Rocky Mountains. Together, the Ozarks and Ouachita Mountains form an area known as the U.S. Interior Highlands, and are sometimes referred to collectively. For example, the ecoregion called Ozark Mountain Forests includes the Ouachita Mountains, although the Arkansas River Valley and the Ouachitas, both south of the Boston Mountains, are not usually considered part of the Ozarks.

Jason Bateman

Jason Kent Bateman (born January 14, 1969) is an American actor, director and producer who rose to prominence as a high-profile adolescent actor in the 1980s, in sitcoms such as Silver Spoons and The Hogan Family, before returning in the early 2000s in the role of Michael Bluth on the critically acclaimed sitcom Arrested Development, for which he won a TV Land Award, a Golden Globe, and a Satellite Award. He has since established himself in Hollywood by appearing in several films, including Juno (2007), Hancock (2008), Up in the Air (2009), Horrible Bosses (2011), Paul (2011), The Change-Up (2011), Identity Thief (2013), Bad Words (2014), Horrible Bosses 2 (2014), and The Gift (2015). He is the younger brother of actress Justine Bateman.

Early life

Bateman was born in Rye, New York. His mother, Victoria Elizabeth, a former flight attendant for Pan Am, was English, born in Shrewsbury, Shropshire. His father, Kent Bateman, is an actor, writer and director of film and television, and founder of a repertory stage in Hollywood. Bateman's older sister, Justine, is known for her work on the sitcom Family Ties. Bateman also has three half-brothers. Bateman was four years old when his family moved to Salt Lake City, Utah, and later to California. Bateman told Best Life magazine that he and his sister supported their parents with the paychecks they earned from their television shows; he also revealed that he was managed by his father until Bateman dissolved the business relationship at the age of 20.

Laura Linney

Laura Leggett Linney (born February 5, 1964) is an American actress. A three-time Academy Award nominee and three-time Tony Award nominee, she won her first Emmy Award in 2002 for Wild Iris (2001), and had subsequent wins for Frasier (2003–04) and John Adams (2008). From 2010–13, she starred in the Showtime series The Big C, which won her a fourth Emmy in 2013. She is also a two-time Golden Globe Award winner.

Linney made her Broadway debut in 1990, before going on to receive Tony Award nominations for the 2002 revival of The Crucible and the original Broadway productions of Sight Unseen (2004) and Time Stands Still (2010). She made her screen debut in the 1992 film Lorenzo's Oil, and went on to receive Academy Award nominations for You Can Count on Me (2000), Kinsey (2004) and The Savages (2007). Her other films include Primal Fear (1996), The Truman Show (1998), Mystic River (2003), Love Actually (2003) and The Squid and the Whale (2005).

Early life and education

Linney was born in Manhattan. Her mother, Miriam Anderson "Ann" Perse (née Leggett), is a nurse who worked at the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, and her father, Romulus Zachariah Linney IV (1930-2011), was a well-known playwright and professor. Linney's paternal great-great-grandfather was Republican U.S. Congressman Romulus Zachariah Linney. Linney grew up in modest circumstances, living with her mother in a small one-bedroom apartment. She has a half-sister, Susan, from her father's second marriage.