Nick Bateman Is Living Life Unleashed From Labels and Limitations
Written By: Kandace Cornell
Photographed By: Corey Wilson
Styled By: Joseph Rene Salon Nick Bateman
Groomed By: Jennifer Mau Nick Bateman
Spoiler alert: there’s much more to Nick Bateman than meets the eye. The 6.4 million people who follow him on Instagram may see a shirtless hunk-turned-family man, but the multihyphenate model-actor-producer has been working tirelessly behind the scenes on a continuous stream of projects in print, film, television and (now) music since his early days as a teen model. At 32 years old, Bateman has amassed not only a serious social media following, but also a string of personal and professional achievements; not to mention, an impressive body—of work, that is! Nick Bateman
As a boy growing up in the small town of Burlington, Ontario, Canada, Bateman didn’t initially have aspirations to work in entertainment. Raised by a supportive single mother, he focused his energy on martial arts, winning four world championship titles in his teens and opening his own karate school by the age of 20. Unlike many models, Bateman pursued a higher education, using his modeling profits to fund his schooling at a university in Vancouver. However, when the recession hit and student enrollment dropped, it was time to forge a new path.
Bateman began dabbling in modeling at age 17 after a friend entered him in a catwalk as a joke during a championship competition in Miami. It turned out to be no laughing matter, as it led to meetings with Calvin Klein and a plum campaign with Abercrombie and Fitch, which most millennials will fondly remember as the pinnacle of youth fashion in the mid-aughts. With his face featured on shopping bags and in malls across America, the 6-foot-4-inch model’s career blossomed, leading to three-month stints in New York City, Miami and Milan. However, the desire to spread his wings and explore other avenues—namely acting and producing—took hold as his enthusiasm for a solo modeling career started to wane.
“[Modeling is] lonely,” Bateman says. “If you’re a successful model, you’re traveling all over the world from agency to agency, place to place, and you’re alone 90 percent of the time. And as soon as you learn your angles and your poses and get what the photographer needs, it’s time to move on.” Acting, on the other hand, excites Bateman, giving him a chance to flex a different kind of muscle. “Acting is something that you train for,” he explains. “It’s similar to martial arts; you have to keep your acting muscle going or you’re not going to perform well.”
That desire to constantly improve and evolve is what has led Bateman to continue to forge new paths and find success in so many areas.
After being introduced to Israeli-Canadian film producer Niv Fichman, Bateman found his entrée into the acting world, in the form of a stunt role that transformed into a full character part in the 2011 Sundance indie film, Hobo With a Shotgun.
Fully bitten by the acting bug, Bateman continued to star in a variety of film and television projects, finding a niche in romantic comedies, including Winter Wedding, The Matchmaker’s Playbook and the 2019 Hallmark romance, A Brush With Love. Eager to delve into meatier territory and show a broader range of skills, he’s also been inspired to write and pitch his own passion projects, which tackle heavier social and cultural issues like police brutality and domestic violence.
And then there’s music.
By providing exposure to smaller Canadian music groups through his online following, Bateman began to create relationships in the music world, stoking a growing interest in producing songs through collaborations with vocalists and musicians, including the single “Red Flags,” with singer Jocelyn Alice and producer Elijah Woods (not to be confused with the actor of Lord of the Rings fame).
In addition to coordinating the tracks, Bateman played a prominent role in inspiring the song’s composition, cementing his position as an industry jack-of-all-trades.
“I hate how people are labeled,” he says. “’I’m not Nick the Model, or Nick the Actor; I’m a human being. I can do whatever I want if I try, and if I work at it.”
It’s this passion for forging new creative paths and disdain for labeling that has Bateman refusing to be pigeon-holed.
“My idol, who I’ve always looked up to, is Forrest Gump,” he adds. “I love that anything he wanted to do, he just did it blindly, with passion.”
That blind passion is what brought Bateman to Los Angeles five years ago, along with the support of his now-wife, Maria Corrigan.
Their relationship began like any good Hollywood meet-cute. Back in Canada, circa 2008, Nick discovered Corrigan on Facebook and sent her “a winky face.” Although he didn’t get the response he had hoped for, fate stepped in two weeks later when Bateman’s buddy convinced him to join in on a night out at Emma’s Back Porch, a popular local watering hole. Sure enough, the girl from Facebook was there, enjoying the evening with friends of her own.
“She walked over and said, ‘Are you the guy who sent me that winky face?’” Bateman recalls fondly. By the end of the night, Bateman had won her over, and the two “pinky-swore” to meet again.
And meet again, they did. The two tied the knot this past July 17, their eleventh anniversary, in a stunning affair at the Calamigos Ranch in Malibu. The pair was feted by family and friends, with a pint-sized VIP in attendance: their nearly one-year-old son, Chase.
“He’s the happiest kid in the world,” Bateman beams while describing his little one. “It’s so fun to see him grow and watch him experience things for the first time. I’ve had more fun doing this than any of the other years of my life.”
Having grown up without a strong paternal presence in his own life, Bateman is all the more excited to finally be a father himself. “A lot of people see [having one parent] as a negative thing, but I had such an amazing mom. She always taught me that I can do anything I want, so not having [a father] didn’t really affect me growing up because she was both.”
Becoming a family man has changed Bateman for the better, although it came with a price. His social media following took a hit, with a loss of nearly 300,000 heartbroken fans who jumped ship after discovering his picture-perfect personal life.
“It didn’t matter to me,” Bateman shrugs. “I didn’t want to keep misrepresenting who I am. It’s this whole fantasy thing: people unfollowing you when they think you’re not available anymore…but now people tell me all the time that they follow me just to see pictures of Chase.”
Hiding his personal life was a challenge when moving to Los Angeles five years ago with his long-time love. Quitting her job as a cardiovascular tech, Corrigan joined Bateman on his professional journey from Canada to LA, which eventually led to opportunities for her as an influencer in the social media world. Presenting himself as a single man about town in the land of youth and beauty was an adjustment, but his relationship with Corrigan has remained strong, withstanding the temptations of Hollywood.
“She just has such a beautiful heart,” Bateman gushes. “To me, a personality is so much more important [than looks]. I would see beautiful girls here, but she was so much more beautiful to me just for who she was. She’s so giving, she’s trustworthy and she’s always been there for me. You can’t teach someone how to have a good heart. You either have it or you don’t. I got so lucky that I found someone who’s from my hometown and really relates to me.”
In the future, Bateman plans to document more of his family life on Youtube, giving fans an inside look at his daily life with Corrigan and baby Chase.
“I don’t get any sleep,” Bateman laughs when describing fatherhood. “And when we do have a babysitter, there’s really no leisure time; we’re just catching up on work. Some people might feel trapped by that, but I love it. Every time I leave, I wish I were back home. My life is pretty much all about my son now.”
As for other future endeavors, Bateman plans to continue with more music, as well as more acting and modeling, which continues to be his bread-and-butter. Always carving new avenues for himself, Bateman’s career is brighter than ever and always promises something new.
“If I want to do something, I just do it,” Bateman says. “Two years from now, I could be doing something completely different and totally loving it.”
