Biography
Michael J. Fox on the cover of his book, Lucky Man
Michael J. Fox (born June 9, 1961) is a Canadian-born actor, made famous by his roles as Marty McFly in the Back to the Future trilogy and as Alex P. Keaton on the sitcom Family Ties.
Born Michael Andrew Fox in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, he adopted the J as a homage to character actor Michael J. Pollard. Since his father was a member of the Canadian Armed Forces, Michael and his family lived in various cities and towns across Canada including North Bay, Ontario, before finally settling in the Vancouver, British Columbia suburb of Burnaby after his father retired in 1971.
Fox moved to Los Angeles to pursue his acting career, which proved a hard road ahead. His debut on American TV was in "Letters From Frank", as Michael Fox. It wasn't until he began selling pieces of his furniture [citation needed] that he landed the role on Family Ties where he saw his fortune turn around. Notable roles since then include the Back to the Future movies, Mars Attacks!, Teen Wolf, For Love or Money, The Secret of My Success, and the TV series Spin City. He is the voice of Stuart Little in the series of movies based on the popular book by E. B. White, Chance in the Homeward Bound series, and Milo Thatch in Atlantis: The Lost Empire. He also guest starred in the comedy Scrubs, rather poignantly, as a doctor suffering from an obsessive-compulsive disorder.
Fox has also written an autobiographical book, called Lucky Man, about his experience of young-onset Parkinson's disease, with which he was diagnosed in 1991. Since then he has been a strong advocate of Parkinson's disease research, especially stem cell research, which he believes may one day help sufferers of Parkinson's and other debilitating illnesses. His foundation, the Michael J. Fox Foundation, was created to help advance this research.
In 2000, he announced that he would be retiring from the lead role of Spin City due to his illness. (A new lead character would be created for Fox's replacement, Charlie Sheen.)
In 2003, he wrote a pilot episode for a sitcom entitled Hench at Home, but it was not picked up.
In 2005, he opened the Muhammad Ali Center in Louisville, Kentucky, United States as a tribute to boxer Muhammad Ali, fellow Parkinson's sufferer.
In 2006, he guest starred in three episodes of Boston Legal as a lung cancer patient who uses his influence in an experimental drug test to ensure he receives the real drug instead of a placebo.
Fox married actress Tracy Pollan on July 16, 1988. The couple have four children, Sam, Aquinnah, Schuyler and Esmé.
Doc Brown (Christopher Lloyd) and Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox) from the movie Back to the Future.
Select filmography
Midnight Madness (1980)
Class of 1984 (1982)
Back to the Future (1985)
Teen Wolf (1985)
The Secret of My Succe$s (1987)
Bright Lights, Big City (1988)
Casualties of War (1989)
Back to the Future Part II (1989)
Back to the Future Part III (1990)
Doc Hollywood (1991)
For Love or Money (1993)
Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey (1993) (voice)
Life with Mikey (1993)
Greedy (1994)
The American President (1995)
The Frighteners (1996)
Homeward Bound II: Lost in San Francisco (1996) (voice)
Mars Attacks! (1996)
Spin City (1996-2000)
Stuart Little (1999) (voice)
Atlantis: The Lost Empire (2001) (voice)
Stuart Little 2 (2002) (voice)
Clone High (2002) (guest appearance)
Scrubs (2003/2004) (guest appearance)
Boston Legal (2006) (guest appearance)
Ray Gun (film) (2007) (voice)
References
Mills, Brandi M. The Michael J. Fox Database: Hench At Home. Retrieved December 3, 2004.
Michael J. Pollard (born May 30, 1939 in Passaic, New Jersey) is an actor.
He played the character C. W. Moss in the film Bonnie and Clyde, for which he received Academy Award and Golden Globe Award nominations for Best Supporting Actor and won a British Academy Film Award for Most Promising Newcomer to Leading Film Roles.
He is noted for his short stature, which had him playing child roles well into his twenties (including on Star Trek, where he played one of the inhabitants of the planet of children in the episode "Miri") and resulted in a recurring role as the diminutive trans-dimensional imp Mister Mxyzptlk in the Superboy television series.
The actor Michael J. Fox adopted the J in his name as a homage to Pollard.
