Michael J. Fox
Encyclopedia
Michael J. Fox, OC
(born Michael Andrew Fox; June 9, 1961) is a Canadian American actor, author, producer, activist and voice-over artist
. With a film and television career spanning from the late 1970s, Fox's roles have included Marty McFly
from the Back to the Future trilogy
(1985–1990); Alex P. Keaton
from Family Ties
(1982–1989) for which he won three Emmy Award
s and a Golden Globe Award
; and Mike Flaherty from Spin City
(1996–2000), for which he won an Emmy, three Golden Globes, and two Screen Actors Guild Awards
.
Fox was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease
in 1991, and disclosed his condition to the public in 1998. Fox semi-retired from acting in 2000 as the symptoms of his disease worsened. He has since become an activist for research toward finding a cure. This led him to create the Michael J. Fox Foundation
, and on March 5, 2010, Sweden's Karolinska Institutet
gave him a honoris causa doctorate for his work in advocating a cure for Parkinson's disease.
Since 2000 Fox has mainly worked as a voice over actor in films such as Stuart Little
and Atlantis: The Lost Empire
, and taken guest TV roles such as in Boston Legal
, The Good Wife, Scrubs
, and Curb Your Enthusiasm
. He has also released three books, Lucky Man: A Memoir (2002), Always Looking Up: The Adventures of an Incurable Optimist (2009) and A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Future: Twists and Turns and Lessons Learned (2010). He was inducted as an Officer of the Order of Canada
on May 27, 2011 for his outreach and fundraising work.
, Alberta
, Canada, the son of Phyllis (née Piper), an actress and payroll clerk, and William Fox, a police officer and member of the Canadian Forces
. Fox's family lived in various cities and towns across Canada because of his father's career. The family finally moved to the Vancouver suburb of Burnaby, British Columbia
, when his father retired in 1971. His father passed away on January 6, 1990 from a heart attack. Fox attended Burnaby Central Secondary School
, and now has a theatre named after him in Burnaby South Secondary.
Fox starred in the Canadian television series Leo and Me
at the age of fifteen, and in 1979, moved to Los Angeles to pursue an acting career at the age of eighteen. Shortly after his marriage, he decided to move back to Vancouver, BC. Fox is one of four members of the Leo and Me cast and crew who eventually developed Parkinson's disease in mid-life, an unusually high number that led to some investigation as to whether an environmental factor may have played a role.
Fox was discovered by producer Ronald Shedlo and made his American television debut in the television movie Letters from Frank, credited under the name "Michael Fox". He intended to continue to use the name, but when he registered with the Screen Actors Guild
, which does not allow duplicate registration names to avoid credit ambiguities, he discovered that Michael Fox
, a veteran character actor
, was already registered under the name. As he explained in his autobiography, Lucky Man: A Memoir, and in interviews, he needed to come up with a different name. He did not like the sound of "Andrew" or "Andy" Fox, so he decided to adopt a new middle initial and settled on "J", as a homage to actor Michael J. Pollard
.
Fox's first feature film roles were in Midnight Madness (1980) and Class of 1984
(1982), credited in both as Michael Fox. Shortly afterward, he began playing "Young Republican" Alex P. Keaton
in the show Family Ties
which aired on NBC
for seven seasons, from 1982 to 1989. Fox only received the role after Matthew Broderick
was unavailable. Family Ties had been sold to the television network using the pitch "hip
parents, square
kids," with the parents originally intended to be the main characters. However, the positive reaction to Fox's performance led to his character becoming the focus of the show following the fourth episode. At its peak, the audience for Family Ties drew one-third of America's households every week. Fox won three Emmy
awards for Family Ties in 1986, 1987 and 1988 respectively. He also won a Golden Globe Award
in 1989.
Brandon Tartikoff
, one of the show's producers, felt that Fox was too short in relation to the actors playing his parents, and tried to have him replaced. Tartikoff reportedly said that "this is not the kind of face you'll ever find on a lunch-box". After his later successes, Fox presented Tartikoff with a custom-made lunch-box with the inscription "To Brandon, this is for you to put your crow in. Love and Kisses, Michael J. Fox". Tartikoff kept the lunch-box in his office for the rest of his NBC career.
While filming Family Ties, Fox met his future wife, Tracy Pollan
, when she portrayed his girlfriend, Ellen. When Fox left the TV series Spin City
, his final episodes made numerous allusions to Family Ties: Michael Gross
(who played Alex's father Steven) portrays Mike Flaherty's (Fox's) therapist, and there is a reference to an off-screen character named "Mallory
". Also, when Flaherty becomes an environmental lobbyist in Washington D.C., he meets a conservative senator from Ohio named Alex P. Keaton, and in one episode Meredith Baxter
played Mike's mother.
tells the story of Marty McFly
(Fox), a teenager who is accidentally sent back in time
from 1985 to 1955. He meets his parents in high school, accidentally attracting his mother's romantic interest. Marty must repair the damage to history by causing his parents to fall in love, while finding a way to return to 1985.
Robert Zemeckis
, the director, originally wanted Fox to play Marty but Gary David Goldberg
the creator of Family Ties, which Fox was working on at the time refused to allow Zemeckis to even approach Fox as he felt that as Meredith Baxter was on maternity leave at the time that Fox's character Alex Keaton was needed to carry the show in her absence. Eric Stoltz
was cast and was already filming Back to the Future, but Zemeckis felt that Stoltz was not giving the right type of performance for the humor involved. Zemeckis quickly replaced Stoltz with Fox whose schedule was now more open with the return of Meredith Baxter. During filming, Fox would rehearse for Family Ties from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m, then rush to the Back to the Future set where he would rehearse and shoot until 2:30 a.m. This schedule lasted for two full months. Back to the Future was both a commercial and critical success. The film spent 8 consecutive weekends as the number one grossing movie at the US box office in 1985, and eventually earned a worldwide total of $381.11 million. Variety
applauded the performances, arguing Fox and his co-star Christopher Lloyd
imbued Marty and Doc Brown's friendship with a quality reminiscent of King Arthur
and Merlin
. Two sequels, Back to the Future Part II
and Back to the Future Part III
, were released in 1989 and 1990, respectively.
, Fox starred in Teen Wolf
(1985), Light of Day
(1987), The Secret of My Success (1987), Bright Lights, Big City
(1988) and Casualties of War
(1989).
In The Secret of My Success, Fox played a recent graduate from Kansas State University
who moves to New York City where he has to deal with the downs and ups of the business world. The film was successful at the box office, taking $110 million worldwide. Roger Ebert
in The Chicago Sun Times wrote; "Fox provides a fairly desperate center for the film. It could not have been much fun for him to follow the movie's arbitrary shifts of mood, from sitcom to slapstick, from sex farce to boardroom brawls."
In Bright Lights, Big City Fox played a fact-checker for a New York magazine, who spends his nights partying with alcohol and drugs. The film received mixed reviews, with Hal Hinson in The Washington post criticizing Fox by claiming that "he was the wrong actor for the job". Meanwhile Roger Ebert praised the actor's performance: "Fox is very good in the central role (he has a long drunken monologue that is the best thing he has ever done in a movie)". During the shooting of Bright Lights, Big City, Michael was reunited with his on-screen girlfriend Tracy Pollan
from Family Ties.
Fox then starred in Casualties of War, a war drama about the Vietnam War
, alongside Sean Penn
. Casualties of War was not a box office hit, but Fox, playing a Private serving in Vietnam, received good reviews for his performance. Don Willmott on film critic’s website wrote; "Fox, only one year beyond his Family Ties sitcom silliness, rises to the challenges of acting as the film's moral voice and sharing scenes with the always intimidating Penn."
In 1991, he starred in Doc Hollywood
, a romantic comedy about a talented medical doctor who decides to become a plastic surgeon. While relocating from Washington D.C. to Los Angeles, California, he winds up as a doctor in a small southern town. Michael Caton-Jones, from Time Out, described Fox in the film as "at his frenetic best". The Hard Way
was also released in 1991, with Fox playing an undercover actor learning from police officer James Woods
. Between 1992 and 1996, he continued making several films, such as For Love or Money (1993), Life With Mikey
(1993) and Greedy
(1994). Fox then played small supporting roles in political drama The American President (1995) and comedy Mars Attacks!
(1996).
His last major film role was in The Frighteners
(1996). The Frighteners tells the story of Frank Bannister (Fox), an architect who develops psychic abilities allowing him to see, hear, and communicate with ghosts. After losing his wife, he uses his new abilities by cheating customers out of money for his "ghosthunting" business. However, a mass murder
er comes back from Hell, prompting Frank to investigate the supernatural presence. Fox's performance received critical praise, Kenneth Turan in The Los Angeles Times wrote; "The film's actors are equally pleasing. Both Fox, in his most successful starring role in some time, and Alvarado, who looks rather like Andie MacDowell here, have no difficulty getting into the manic spirit of things."
Fox has also done voice-over work
providing the voice of Stuart Little in the Stuart Little
movie and its sequel
, both of which were based on the popular book by E. B. White
. He also voiced the American Bulldog Chance in Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey
and its sequel Homeward Bound II: Lost in San Francisco
, as well as Milo Thatch in Atlantis: The Lost Empire
.
Spin City
ran from 1996 to 2002 on American television network channel ABC
. The show was based on a fictional local government running New York City, originally starring Fox as Mike Flaherty, a Fordham Law graduate serving as the Deputy Mayor of New York. Fox won an Emmy
award for Spin City in 2000, three Golden Globe Award
s in 1998, 1999 and 2000 and two Screen Actors Guild Awards
in 1999 and 2000. During the third season of Spin City, Fox made the announcement to the cast and crew of the show that he had Parkinson's Disease. During the fourth season, he announced his retirement from the show to focus on spending more time with his family. He announced that he planned to continue to act and would make guest appearances on Spin City (he made three more appearances on the show during the final season). After leaving the show, he was replaced by Charlie Sheen
, who portrayed the character Charlie Crawford. Altogether, 145 episodes were made. Fox also served as an executive producer
during his time on the show, alongside co-creators Bill Lawrence
and Gary David Goldberg
.
In 2004, Fox guest starred in two episodes of the comedy-drama Scrubs
as Dr. Kevin Casey, a surgeon with severe obsessive-compulsive disorder
. The series was created by Spin City creator Bill Lawrence. In 2006, he appeared in four episodes of Boston Legal
as a lung cancer patient. The producers brought him back in a recurring role for Season three, beginning with the season premiere. Fox was nominated for an Emmy Award
for best guest appearance. In 2009, he appeared in five episodes of the television series Rescue Me
which earned him an Emmy for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series. Since 2000 Fox has released three books, Lucky Man: A Memoir (2002), Always Looking Up: The Adventures of an Incurable Optimist (2009) and A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Future: Twists and Turns and Lessons Learned (2010). In 2010, Fox returned to television as a guest star in US drama The Good Wife. Fox will make another guest-star appearance on The Good Wife in episode 13.
He made an appearance at the 2010 Winter Olympics closing ceremony
in Vancouver, Canada and delivered comedic monologues, along with William Shatner
and Catherine O'Hara
, in the "I am Canadian" part of the show.
Along with Tatjana Patitz
, Fox appears in the 2011 Carl Zeiss AG calendar, photographed by Bryan Adams
in New York City in the summer of 2010.
Despite a soundalike voicing his character of Marty McFly in the 2011 Back to the Future episodic adventure game
, Fox lent his likeness to the in-game version of McFly alongside Christopher Lloyd
. Fox makes a special guest appearance in the final episode of the series as an elder version of Marty, as well as his great grandfather Willie McFly.
Fox married actress Tracy Pollan
on July 16, 1988, at West Mountain Inn in Arlington, Vermont. The couple have four children: Sam Michael (born May 30, 1989), twins Aquinnah Kathleen and Schuyler Frances (born February 15, 1995), and Esmé Annabelle (born November 3, 2001). Fox holds dual Canadian-U.S. citizenship. On February 28, 2010, Fox provided a light-hearted segment during the 2010 Winter Olympics
' closing ceremony in Vancouver, Canada wherein he expressed how proud he is to be Canadian. On June 4, 2010, the City of Burnaby, British Columbia honoured Fox by granting him the Freedom of the City
.
in 1990 while shooting the movie Doc Hollywood, although he was not properly diagnosed until the next year. After his diagnosis, Fox began drinking more heavily than in the past; however, he sought help and stopped drinking altogether. In 1998, he decided to go public with his condition, and since then he has been a strong advocate of Parkinson's disease research. His foundation, The Michael J. Fox Foundation
, was created to help advance every promising research path to curing Parkinson's disease, through embryonic stem cell
studies.
Fox manages the symptoms of his Parkinson's disease with the drug Sinemet, and he also had a thalamotomy
in 1998.
His first book, Lucky Man focused on how after seven years of unacceptance of the disease he set up the Michael J Fox Foundation, stopped drinking and began to be an advocate of PD sufferers.
In Lucky Man, Fox wrote that he did not take his medication prior to his testimony before the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee in 1998;
In an interview with NPR
in April 2002, Fox explained what he does when he becomes symptomatic during an interview;
In 2006, Fox starred in a campaign ad for then-Missouri State Auditor Claire McCaskill
in her 2006 Senate campaign against incumbent Jim Talent
, expressing her support for stem cell
research. In the ad, he visibly showed the effects of his Parkinson's medication;
The New York Times
called it "one of the most powerful and talked about political advertisements in years" and polls indicated that the commercial had a measurable impact on the way voters voted, in an election that McCaskill won. His second book Always Looking Up: The Adventures Of An Incurable Optimist describes his life between 1999 and 2009, with much of the book centered on how Fox got into campaigning for stem cell research. On March 31, 2009, Fox appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show
with Dr. Oz to publicly discuss his condition as well as his book, his family and his prime time special which aired May 7, 2009 (Michael J. Fox: Adventures of an Incurable Optimist).
His work led him to be named one of the 100 people
"whose power, talent or moral example is transforming the world" in 2007 by Time magazine
. On March 5, 2010, Fox received an honorary doctorate in medicine from Karolinska Institutet
for his contributions to research in Parkinson's disease. He also has received an honorary doctor of laws from the University of British Columbia
.
Video games :Back to the Future: The Game
(2011): Willie McFly, Future Marty McFly – Voice only, video game, Episode 5: "Outatime"
Hollywood Walk of Fame
Emmy Awards
Golden Globe Awards
Screen Actors Guild Awards
Saturn Awards
People's Choice Awards
Satellite Awards
Honorary Degrees
Grammy Awards
Influential Canadian Expat Award
Goldene Kamera
Order of Canada
The Order of Canada is a Canadian national order, admission into which is, within the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, the second highest honour for merit...
(born Michael Andrew Fox; June 9, 1961) is a Canadian American actor, author, producer, activist and voice-over artist
Voice acting
Voice acting is the art of providing voices for animated characters and radio and audio dramas and comedy, as well as doing voice-overs in radio and television commercials, audio dramas, dubbed foreign language films, video games, puppet shows, and amusement rides.Performers are called...
. With a film and television career spanning from the late 1970s, Fox's roles have included Marty McFly
Marty McFly
Martin Seamus "Marty" McFly, Sr. is the protagonist in the Back to the Future film trilogy, and is portrayed by actor Michael J. Fox. Marty was also the protagonist in the animated series where he was voiced by David Kaufman...
from the Back to the Future trilogy
Back to the Future trilogy
The Back to the Future trilogy is a comedic science fiction adventure film series written by Bob Gale and Robert Zemeckis, directed by Zemeckis, produced by Amblin Entertainment and distributed by Universal Pictures. The main plot follows the adventures of a high school student Marty McFly and...
(1985–1990); Alex P. Keaton
Alex P. Keaton
Alex P. Keaton is a fictional character on the American television sitcom, Family Ties, which aired on NBC for seven seasons, from 1982 to 1989. Family Ties reflected the move in the United States away from the cultural liberalism of the 1960s and 1970s to the conservatism of the 1980s...
from Family Ties
Family Ties
Family Ties is an American sitcom that aired on NBC for seven seasons, from 1982 to 1989. The sitcom reflected the move in the United States from the cultural liberalism of the 1960s and 1970s to the conservatism of the 1980s. This was particularly expressed through the relationship between young...
(1982–1989) for which he won three Emmy Award
Emmy Award
An Emmy Award, often referred to simply as the Emmy, is a television production award, similar in nature to the Peabody Awards but more focused on entertainment, and is considered the television equivalent to the Academy Awards and the Grammy Awards .A majority of Emmys are presented in various...
s and a Golden Globe Award
Golden Globe Award
The Golden Globe Award is an accolade bestowed by the 93 members of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association recognizing excellence in film and television, both domestic and foreign...
; and Mike Flaherty from Spin City
Spin City
Spin City is an American sitcom television series that aired from September 17, 1996 until April 30, 2002 on the ABC network. Created by Gary David Goldberg and Bill Lawrence, the show was based on a fictional local government running New York City, and originally starred Michael J. Fox as Mike...
(1996–2000), for which he won an Emmy, three Golden Globes, and two Screen Actors Guild Awards
Screen Actors Guild Awards
A Screen Actors Guild Award is an accolade given by the Screen Actors Guild to recognize outstanding performances by its members. The statuette given, a nude male figure holding both a mask of comedy and a mask of tragedy, is called "The Actor"...
.
Fox was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease
Parkinson's disease
Parkinson's disease is a degenerative disorder of the central nervous system...
in 1991, and disclosed his condition to the public in 1998. Fox semi-retired from acting in 2000 as the symptoms of his disease worsened. He has since become an activist for research toward finding a cure. This led him to create the Michael J. Fox Foundation
The Michael J. Fox Foundation
The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research is dedicated to finding a cure for Parkinson's disease through an aggressively funded research agenda and to ensuring the development of improved therapies for those living with Parkinson's today. Established by actor Michael J...
, and on March 5, 2010, Sweden's Karolinska Institutet
Karolinska Institutet
Karolinska institutet is a medical university in Solna within the Stockholm urban area, Sweden, and one of Europe's largest medical universities...
gave him a honoris causa doctorate for his work in advocating a cure for Parkinson's disease.
Since 2000 Fox has mainly worked as a voice over actor in films such as Stuart Little
Stuart Little (film)
Stuart Little is a 1999 family film. It is loosely based on the novel of the same name by E. B. White. It combines live-action and computer animation. The screenplay was co-written by M. Night Shyamalan and Greg Brooker, with uncredited script doctoring by David O. Russell and Billy Ray...
and Atlantis: The Lost Empire
Atlantis: The Lost Empire
Atlantis: The Lost Empire is a 2001 American animated film produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation. Written by Tab Murphy, directed by Gary Trousdale and Kirk Wise, and produced by Don Hahn, it is the first science fiction film in the Disney animated features canon and the 41st overall. The film...
, and taken guest TV roles such as in Boston Legal
Boston Legal
Boston Legal is an American legal dramedy created by David E. Kelley, which was produced in association with 20th Century Fox Television for the ABC...
, The Good Wife, Scrubs
Scrubs (TV series)
Scrubs is an American medical comedy-drama television series created in 2001 by Bill Lawrence and produced by ABC Studios. The show follows the lives of several employees of the fictional Sacred Heart, a teaching hospital. It features fast-paced screenplay, slapstick, and surreal vignettes...
, and Curb Your Enthusiasm
Curb Your Enthusiasm
Curb Your Enthusiasm is an American comedy television series produced and broadcast by HBO, which premiered on October 15, 2000. As of 2011, it has completed 80 episodes over eight seasons. The series was created by Seinfeld co-creator Larry David, who stars as a fictionalized version of himself...
. He has also released three books, Lucky Man: A Memoir (2002), Always Looking Up: The Adventures of an Incurable Optimist (2009) and A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Future: Twists and Turns and Lessons Learned (2010). He was inducted as an Officer of the Order of Canada
Order of Canada
The Order of Canada is a Canadian national order, admission into which is, within the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, the second highest honour for merit...
on May 27, 2011 for his outreach and fundraising work.
Early life
Michael Andrew Fox was born in EdmontonEdmonton
Edmonton is the capital of the Canadian province of Alberta and is the province's second-largest city. Edmonton is located on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Capital Region, which is surrounded by the central region of the province.The city and its census...
, Alberta
Alberta
Alberta is a province of Canada. It had an estimated population of 3.7 million in 2010 making it the most populous of Canada's three prairie provinces...
, Canada, the son of Phyllis (née Piper), an actress and payroll clerk, and William Fox, a police officer and member of the Canadian Forces
Canadian Forces
The Canadian Forces , officially the Canadian Armed Forces , are the unified armed forces of Canada, as constituted by the National Defence Act, which states: "The Canadian Forces are the armed forces of Her Majesty raised by Canada and consist of one Service called the Canadian Armed Forces."...
. Fox's family lived in various cities and towns across Canada because of his father's career. The family finally moved to the Vancouver suburb of Burnaby, British Columbia
British Columbia
British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...
, when his father retired in 1971. His father passed away on January 6, 1990 from a heart attack. Fox attended Burnaby Central Secondary School
Burnaby Central Secondary School
Burnaby Central Secondary School is a public high school in Burnaby, British Columbia. It is located adjacent Deer Lake Park and is a part of Burnaby School District 41. Currently, there are more than 1,400 students attending the school. It has five computer labs, two gymnasiums, two outdoor...
, and now has a theatre named after him in Burnaby South Secondary.
Fox starred in the Canadian television series Leo and Me
Leo and Me
Leo and Me is a Canadian television sitcom that was originally produced in 1976 but did not air until 1981.It starred a 15 year old Michael J. Fox, in his television acting debut, playing Jamie, the 12 year old younger brother of Leo ....
at the age of fifteen, and in 1979, moved to Los Angeles to pursue an acting career at the age of eighteen. Shortly after his marriage, he decided to move back to Vancouver, BC. Fox is one of four members of the Leo and Me cast and crew who eventually developed Parkinson's disease in mid-life, an unusually high number that led to some investigation as to whether an environmental factor may have played a role.
Fox was discovered by producer Ronald Shedlo and made his American television debut in the television movie Letters from Frank, credited under the name "Michael Fox". He intended to continue to use the name, but when he registered with the Screen Actors Guild
Screen Actors Guild
The Screen Actors Guild is an American labor union representing over 200,000 film and television principal performers and background performers worldwide...
, which does not allow duplicate registration names to avoid credit ambiguities, he discovered that Michael Fox
Michael Fox (American actor)
Michael Fox was an American character actor who was in numerous movies and television roles. Some of his most famous recurring roles were as various autopsy physicians in Perry Mason, as Coroner George McLeod in Burke's Law, as Amos Fedders in Falcon Crest and as Saul Feinberg in The Bold and the...
, a veteran character actor
Character actor
A character actor is one who predominantly plays unusual or eccentric characters. The Oxford English Dictionary defines a character actor as "an actor who specializes in character parts", defining character part in turn as "an acting role displaying pronounced or unusual characteristics or...
, was already registered under the name. As he explained in his autobiography, Lucky Man: A Memoir, and in interviews, he needed to come up with a different name. He did not like the sound of "Andrew" or "Andy" Fox, so he decided to adopt a new middle initial and settled on "J", as a homage to actor Michael J. Pollard
Michael J. Pollard
- Early life :Born Michael John Pollack, Jr. in Passaic, New Jersey, he is the son of Sonia and Michael John Pollack. He attended the Montclair Academy and the Actors Studio.- Career :...
.
Early career
Class of 1984
Class of 1984 is a 1982 action-thriller movie about a newly hired music teacher at a troubled inner city school, where students have to pass through a metal detector due to problems with gangs, drugs, and violence. It was directed by Mark L...
(1982), credited in both as Michael Fox. Shortly afterward, he began playing "Young Republican" Alex P. Keaton
Alex P. Keaton
Alex P. Keaton is a fictional character on the American television sitcom, Family Ties, which aired on NBC for seven seasons, from 1982 to 1989. Family Ties reflected the move in the United States away from the cultural liberalism of the 1960s and 1970s to the conservatism of the 1980s...
in the show Family Ties
Family Ties
Family Ties is an American sitcom that aired on NBC for seven seasons, from 1982 to 1989. The sitcom reflected the move in the United States from the cultural liberalism of the 1960s and 1970s to the conservatism of the 1980s. This was particularly expressed through the relationship between young...
which aired on NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
for seven seasons, from 1982 to 1989. Fox only received the role after Matthew Broderick
Matthew Broderick
Matthew Broderick is an American film and stage actor who, among other roles, played the title character in Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Adult Simba in The Lion King film series, and Leo Bloom in the film and Broadway productions of The Producers.He has won two Tony Awards, one in 1983 for his...
was unavailable. Family Ties had been sold to the television network using the pitch "hip
Hip (slang)
Hip is a slang term meaning fashionably current and in the know. Hip is the opposite of square or prude.Hip, like cool, does not refer to one specific quality. What is considered hip is continuously changing. The term hip is said to have originated in African American Vernacular English in the...
parents, square
Square (slang)
Square used as slang may mean many things when referring to a person or in common language.In referring to a person, the word originally meant someone who was honest, traditional and loyal. An agreement that is equitable on all sides is a "square deal"...
kids," with the parents originally intended to be the main characters. However, the positive reaction to Fox's performance led to his character becoming the focus of the show following the fourth episode. At its peak, the audience for Family Ties drew one-third of America's households every week. Fox won three Emmy
Emmy Award
An Emmy Award, often referred to simply as the Emmy, is a television production award, similar in nature to the Peabody Awards but more focused on entertainment, and is considered the television equivalent to the Academy Awards and the Grammy Awards .A majority of Emmys are presented in various...
awards for Family Ties in 1986, 1987 and 1988 respectively. He also won a Golden Globe Award
Golden Globe Award
The Golden Globe Award is an accolade bestowed by the 93 members of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association recognizing excellence in film and television, both domestic and foreign...
in 1989.
Brandon Tartikoff
Brandon Tartikoff
Brandon Tartikoff was a television executive who was credited with turning around NBC's low prime time reputation with such hit series as Hill Street Blues, L.A. Law, ALF, Family Ties, The Cosby Show, Cheers, Seinfeld, Miami Vice, The Golden Girls, Knight Rider, The A-Team, St...
, one of the show's producers, felt that Fox was too short in relation to the actors playing his parents, and tried to have him replaced. Tartikoff reportedly said that "this is not the kind of face you'll ever find on a lunch-box". After his later successes, Fox presented Tartikoff with a custom-made lunch-box with the inscription "To Brandon, this is for you to put your crow in. Love and Kisses, Michael J. Fox". Tartikoff kept the lunch-box in his office for the rest of his NBC career.
While filming Family Ties, Fox met his future wife, Tracy Pollan
Tracy Pollan
Tracy Jo Pollan is an American actress. She is perhaps best-known for her recurring role as Ellen Reed on the sitcom Family Ties in the mid-1980s. It was on this show that she met future husband Michael J. Fox.-Personal life:...
, when she portrayed his girlfriend, Ellen. When Fox left the TV series Spin City
Spin City
Spin City is an American sitcom television series that aired from September 17, 1996 until April 30, 2002 on the ABC network. Created by Gary David Goldberg and Bill Lawrence, the show was based on a fictional local government running New York City, and originally starred Michael J. Fox as Mike...
, his final episodes made numerous allusions to Family Ties: Michael Gross
Michael Gross (actor)
Michael Gross is an American television, movie, and stage actor who plays both comedic and dramatic roles. His most notable roles are as the father Steven Keaton from Family Ties and the Graboid hunter Burt Gummer from the Tremors franchise.-Early life:Gross was born in Chicago, Illinois, the son...
(who played Alex's father Steven) portrays Mike Flaherty's (Fox's) therapist, and there is a reference to an off-screen character named "Mallory
Justine Bateman
Justine Tanya Bateman is an American actress, writer, and producer. She is best known for her regular role as Mallory Keaton on the sitcom Family Ties...
". Also, when Flaherty becomes an environmental lobbyist in Washington D.C., he meets a conservative senator from Ohio named Alex P. Keaton, and in one episode Meredith Baxter
Meredith Baxter
Meredith Baxter , also known for some years as Meredith Baxter-Birney, is an American actress and producer. She is known for her acting roles including three television series: Family , an ABC television-network drama, Family Ties , an NBC television-network situation comedy, and Dan Vs. , a...
played Mike's mother.
Back to the Future trilogy
Back to the FutureBack to the Future
Back to the Future is a 1985 American science-fiction adventure film. It was directed by Robert Zemeckis, written by Zemeckis and Bob Gale, produced by Steven Spielberg, and starred Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd, Lea Thompson, Crispin Glover and Thomas F. Wilson. The film tells the story of...
tells the story of Marty McFly
Marty McFly
Martin Seamus "Marty" McFly, Sr. is the protagonist in the Back to the Future film trilogy, and is portrayed by actor Michael J. Fox. Marty was also the protagonist in the animated series where he was voiced by David Kaufman...
(Fox), a teenager who is accidentally sent back in time
Time travel
Time travel is the concept of moving between different points in time in a manner analogous to moving between different points in space. Time travel could hypothetically involve moving backward in time to a moment earlier than the starting point, or forward to the future of that point without the...
from 1985 to 1955. He meets his parents in high school, accidentally attracting his mother's romantic interest. Marty must repair the damage to history by causing his parents to fall in love, while finding a way to return to 1985.
Robert Zemeckis
Robert Zemeckis
Robert Lee Zemeckis is an American film director, producer and screenwriter. Zemeckis first came to public attention in the 1980s as the director of the comedic time-travel Back to the Future film series, as well as the Academy Award-winning live-action/animation epic Who Framed Roger Rabbit ,...
, the director, originally wanted Fox to play Marty but Gary David Goldberg
Gary David Goldberg
Gary David Goldberg is a United States writer and producer for television and film. Goldberg is best known for his work on Family Ties , Spin City , and his semi-autobiographical series Brooklyn Bridge .-Background:Gary David Goldberg was born on June 25, 1944, in Brooklyn, New York, the son of...
the creator of Family Ties, which Fox was working on at the time refused to allow Zemeckis to even approach Fox as he felt that as Meredith Baxter was on maternity leave at the time that Fox's character Alex Keaton was needed to carry the show in her absence. Eric Stoltz
Eric Stoltz
Eric Hamilton Stoltz is an American actor, director and producer. He is widely known for playing the role of Rocky Dennis in the biographical drama film Mask, which earned him the nomination for a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture...
was cast and was already filming Back to the Future, but Zemeckis felt that Stoltz was not giving the right type of performance for the humor involved. Zemeckis quickly replaced Stoltz with Fox whose schedule was now more open with the return of Meredith Baxter. During filming, Fox would rehearse for Family Ties from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m, then rush to the Back to the Future set where he would rehearse and shoot until 2:30 a.m. This schedule lasted for two full months. Back to the Future was both a commercial and critical success. The film spent 8 consecutive weekends as the number one grossing movie at the US box office in 1985, and eventually earned a worldwide total of $381.11 million. Variety
Variety (magazine)
Variety is an American weekly entertainment-trade magazine founded in New York City, New York, in 1905 by Sime Silverman. With the rise of the importance of the motion-picture industry, Daily Variety, a daily edition based in Los Angeles, California, was founded by Silverman in 1933. In 1998, the...
applauded the performances, arguing Fox and his co-star Christopher Lloyd
Christopher Lloyd
Christopher Allen Lloyd is an American actor. He is best known for playing Emmett Brown in the Back to the Future trilogy, Uncle Fester in The Addams Family and Addams Family Values, and Judge Doom in Who Framed Roger Rabbit. He played Reverend Jim Ignatowski in the television series Taxi and more...
imbued Marty and Doc Brown's friendship with a quality reminiscent of King Arthur
King Arthur
King Arthur is a legendary British leader of the late 5th and early 6th centuries, who, according to Medieval histories and romances, led the defence of Britain against Saxon invaders in the early 6th century. The details of Arthur's story are mainly composed of folklore and literary invention, and...
and Merlin
Merlin
Merlin is a legendary figure best known as the wizard featured in the Arthurian legend. The standard depiction of the character first appears in Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia Regum Britanniae, written c. 1136, and is based on an amalgamation of previous historical and legendary figures...
. Two sequels, Back to the Future Part II
Back to the Future Part II
Back to the Future Part II is a 1989 American science fiction comedy film and the second installment of the Back to the Future trilogy. It was directed by Robert Zemeckis, written by Zemeckis and Bob Gale, and starred Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd, Thomas F. Wilson and Lea Thompson...
and Back to the Future Part III
Back to the Future Part III
Back to the Future Part III is a 1990 American science fiction comedy Western film. It is the third installment of the Back to the Future trilogy. The film was directed by Robert Zemeckis and starred Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd, Mary Steenburgen, Thomas F. Wilson and Lea Thompson. The film...
, were released in 1989 and 1990, respectively.
Mid-career
During and immediately after the Back to the Future trilogyBack to the Future trilogy
The Back to the Future trilogy is a comedic science fiction adventure film series written by Bob Gale and Robert Zemeckis, directed by Zemeckis, produced by Amblin Entertainment and distributed by Universal Pictures. The main plot follows the adventures of a high school student Marty McFly and...
, Fox starred in Teen Wolf
Teen Wolf
Teen Wolf is a 1985 American fantasy comedy film released by Atlantic Releasing Corporation starring Michael J. Fox as Scott Howard, a high school student who discovers that his family has an unusual pedigree when he finds himself transforming into a werewolf...
(1985), Light of Day
Light of Day
The soundtrack to the film was released in 1987. As a single, "Light of Day" reached number 33 on the Billboard Hot 100 and received additional album-oriented rock airplay due to the connection of Joan Jett and Bruce Springsteen....
(1987), The Secret of My Success (1987), Bright Lights, Big City
Bright Lights, Big City (film)
Bright Lights, Big City is a 1988 drama film starring Michael J. Fox, Kiefer Sutherland and Phoebe Cates, based on the novel of the same name by Jay McInerney. It was the last film directed by James Bridges before his death in 1993.-Plot:...
(1988) and Casualties of War
Casualties of War
Casualties of War is a 1989 war drama directed by Brian De Palma, with a screenplay by David Rabe, based on the actual events of the incident on Hill 192 in 1966 during the Vietnam War. It starred Michael J. Fox and Sean Penn....
(1989).
In The Secret of My Success, Fox played a recent graduate from Kansas State University
Kansas State University
Kansas State University, commonly shortened to K-State, is an institution of higher learning located in Manhattan, Kansas, in the United States...
who moves to New York City where he has to deal with the downs and ups of the business world. The film was successful at the box office, taking $110 million worldwide. Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert
Roger Joseph Ebert is an American film critic and screenwriter. He is the first film critic to win a Pulitzer Prize for Criticism.Ebert is known for his film review column and for the television programs Sneak Previews, At the Movies with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, and Siskel and Ebert and The...
in The Chicago Sun Times wrote; "Fox provides a fairly desperate center for the film. It could not have been much fun for him to follow the movie's arbitrary shifts of mood, from sitcom to slapstick, from sex farce to boardroom brawls."
In Bright Lights, Big City Fox played a fact-checker for a New York magazine, who spends his nights partying with alcohol and drugs. The film received mixed reviews, with Hal Hinson in The Washington post criticizing Fox by claiming that "he was the wrong actor for the job". Meanwhile Roger Ebert praised the actor's performance: "Fox is very good in the central role (he has a long drunken monologue that is the best thing he has ever done in a movie)". During the shooting of Bright Lights, Big City, Michael was reunited with his on-screen girlfriend Tracy Pollan
Tracy Pollan
Tracy Jo Pollan is an American actress. She is perhaps best-known for her recurring role as Ellen Reed on the sitcom Family Ties in the mid-1980s. It was on this show that she met future husband Michael J. Fox.-Personal life:...
from Family Ties.
Fox then starred in Casualties of War, a war drama about the Vietnam War
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
, alongside Sean Penn
Sean Penn
Sean Justin Penn is an American actor, screenwriter and film director, also known for his political and social activism...
. Casualties of War was not a box office hit, but Fox, playing a Private serving in Vietnam, received good reviews for his performance. Don Willmott on film critic’s website wrote; "Fox, only one year beyond his Family Ties sitcom silliness, rises to the challenges of acting as the film's moral voice and sharing scenes with the always intimidating Penn."
In 1991, he starred in Doc Hollywood
Doc Hollywood
Doc Hollywood is a 1991 American romantic comedy film based on the book, What? Dead...Again?, by Neil B. Shulman, M.D. The film stars Michael J. Fox, Julie Warner, Woody Harrelson and Bridget Fonda. It was directed by Michael Caton-Jones. The filming took place in Micanopy, Florida.-Plot:Dr....
, a romantic comedy about a talented medical doctor who decides to become a plastic surgeon. While relocating from Washington D.C. to Los Angeles, California, he winds up as a doctor in a small southern town. Michael Caton-Jones, from Time Out, described Fox in the film as "at his frenetic best". The Hard Way
The Hard Way (1991 film)
The Hard Way is a 1991 action-comedy film starring Michael J. Fox and James Woods. It is directed by John Badham. The film also had notable performances by Stephen Lang, Annabella Sciorra, Luis Guzmán, LL Cool J, Delroy Lindo, Penny Marshall, and Bryant Gumbel, as himself...
was also released in 1991, with Fox playing an undercover actor learning from police officer James Woods
James Woods
James Howard Woods is an American film, stage and television actor. Woods is known for starring in critically acclaimed films such as Once Upon a Time in America, Salvador, Nixon, Ghosts of Mississippi, Casino, and in the television legal drama Shark. He has won three Emmy Awards, and has gained...
. Between 1992 and 1996, he continued making several films, such as For Love or Money (1993), Life With Mikey
Life with Mikey
Life with Mikey is a 1993 comedy film starring Michael J. Fox, Christina Vidal, Nathan Lane, Cyndi Lauper and David Krumholtz....
(1993) and Greedy
Greedy (film)
Greedy is a 1994 comedy film starring Michael J. Fox, Kirk Douglas, Phil Hartman and Nancy Travis, directed by Jonathan Lynn and written by Lowell Ganz & Babaloo Mandel. The original music score was composed by Randy Edelman...
(1994). Fox then played small supporting roles in political drama The American President (1995) and comedy Mars Attacks!
Mars Attacks!
Mars Attacks! is a 1996 American science fiction film directed by Tim Burton and based on the cult trading card series of the same name. The film uses elements of black comedy, surreal humour, and political satire, and claims to be also a parody of multiple science fiction B movies...
(1996).
His last major film role was in The Frighteners
The Frighteners
The Frighteners is a 1996 comedy horror film directed by Peter Jackson and co-written with his wife, Fran Walsh. The film's cast includes Michael J. Fox, Trini Alvarado, John Astin, Jeffrey Combs, Dee Wallace, Jake Busey and Chi McBride...
(1996). The Frighteners tells the story of Frank Bannister (Fox), an architect who develops psychic abilities allowing him to see, hear, and communicate with ghosts. After losing his wife, he uses his new abilities by cheating customers out of money for his "ghosthunting" business. However, a mass murder
Mass murder
Mass murder is the act of murdering a large number of people , typically at the same time or over a relatively short period of time. According to the FBI, mass murder is defined as four or more murders occurring during a particular event with no cooling-off period between the murders...
er comes back from Hell, prompting Frank to investigate the supernatural presence. Fox's performance received critical praise, Kenneth Turan in The Los Angeles Times wrote; "The film's actors are equally pleasing. Both Fox, in his most successful starring role in some time, and Alvarado, who looks rather like Andie MacDowell here, have no difficulty getting into the manic spirit of things."
Fox has also done voice-over work
Voice acting
Voice acting is the art of providing voices for animated characters and radio and audio dramas and comedy, as well as doing voice-overs in radio and television commercials, audio dramas, dubbed foreign language films, video games, puppet shows, and amusement rides.Performers are called...
providing the voice of Stuart Little in the Stuart Little
Stuart Little (film)
Stuart Little is a 1999 family film. It is loosely based on the novel of the same name by E. B. White. It combines live-action and computer animation. The screenplay was co-written by M. Night Shyamalan and Greg Brooker, with uncredited script doctoring by David O. Russell and Billy Ray...
movie and its sequel
Stuart Little 2
Stuart Little 2 is a 2002 American live action and CGI animated film, directed by Rob Minkoff and starring Geena Davis, Hugh Laurie and Jonathan Lipnicki and the voices of Michael J. Fox, Nathan Lane, Melanie Griffith, James Woods and Steve Zahn. The film is a sequel to the 1999 film and includes...
, both of which were based on the popular book by E. B. White
E. B. White
Elwyn Brooks White , usually known as E. B. White, was an American writer. A long-time contributor to The New Yorker magazine, he also wrote many famous books for both adults and children, such as the popular Charlotte's Web and Stuart Little, and co-authored a widely used writing guide, The...
. He also voiced the American Bulldog Chance in Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey
Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey
Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey is a 1993 American remake of the 1963 film The Incredible Journey, which was based on the best-selling novel The Incredible Journey by Sheila Burnford. Directed by Duwayne Dunham, it was released on February 3, 1993...
and its sequel Homeward Bound II: Lost in San Francisco
Homeward Bound II: Lost in San Francisco
Homeward Bound II: Lost in San Francisco is the 1996 sequel to the 1993 film Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey. Directed by David R. Ellis, the film features the three animals from the first film, Shadow the Golden Retriever , Sassy the Himalayan cat , and Chance the American Bulldog Homeward...
, as well as Milo Thatch in Atlantis: The Lost Empire
Atlantis: The Lost Empire
Atlantis: The Lost Empire is a 2001 American animated film produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation. Written by Tab Murphy, directed by Gary Trousdale and Kirk Wise, and produced by Don Hahn, it is the first science fiction film in the Disney animated features canon and the 41st overall. The film...
.
Spin City and later career
Spin City
Spin City is an American sitcom television series that aired from September 17, 1996 until April 30, 2002 on the ABC network. Created by Gary David Goldberg and Bill Lawrence, the show was based on a fictional local government running New York City, and originally starred Michael J. Fox as Mike...
ran from 1996 to 2002 on American television network channel ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
. The show was based on a fictional local government running New York City, originally starring Fox as Mike Flaherty, a Fordham Law graduate serving as the Deputy Mayor of New York. Fox won an Emmy
Emmy Award
An Emmy Award, often referred to simply as the Emmy, is a television production award, similar in nature to the Peabody Awards but more focused on entertainment, and is considered the television equivalent to the Academy Awards and the Grammy Awards .A majority of Emmys are presented in various...
award for Spin City in 2000, three Golden Globe Award
Golden Globe Award
The Golden Globe Award is an accolade bestowed by the 93 members of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association recognizing excellence in film and television, both domestic and foreign...
s in 1998, 1999 and 2000 and two Screen Actors Guild Awards
Screen Actors Guild Awards
A Screen Actors Guild Award is an accolade given by the Screen Actors Guild to recognize outstanding performances by its members. The statuette given, a nude male figure holding both a mask of comedy and a mask of tragedy, is called "The Actor"...
in 1999 and 2000. During the third season of Spin City, Fox made the announcement to the cast and crew of the show that he had Parkinson's Disease. During the fourth season, he announced his retirement from the show to focus on spending more time with his family. He announced that he planned to continue to act and would make guest appearances on Spin City (he made three more appearances on the show during the final season). After leaving the show, he was replaced by Charlie Sheen
Charlie Sheen
Carlos Irwin Estevez , better known by his stage name Charlie Sheen, is an American film and television actor. He is the youngest son of actor Martin Sheen....
, who portrayed the character Charlie Crawford. Altogether, 145 episodes were made. Fox also served as an executive producer
Executive producer
An executive producer is a producer who is not involved in any technical aspects of the film making or music process, but who is still responsible for the overall production...
during his time on the show, alongside co-creators Bill Lawrence
Bill Lawrence (producer)
William Van Duzer Lawrence IV is an American screenwriter, producer, and director best known as the creator of Scrubs and co-creator of Cougar Town. Lawrence is married to the actress Christa Miller whom he cast in both television series; they have three children together...
and Gary David Goldberg
Gary David Goldberg
Gary David Goldberg is a United States writer and producer for television and film. Goldberg is best known for his work on Family Ties , Spin City , and his semi-autobiographical series Brooklyn Bridge .-Background:Gary David Goldberg was born on June 25, 1944, in Brooklyn, New York, the son of...
.
In 2004, Fox guest starred in two episodes of the comedy-drama Scrubs
Scrubs (TV series)
Scrubs is an American medical comedy-drama television series created in 2001 by Bill Lawrence and produced by ABC Studios. The show follows the lives of several employees of the fictional Sacred Heart, a teaching hospital. It features fast-paced screenplay, slapstick, and surreal vignettes...
as Dr. Kevin Casey, a surgeon with severe obsessive-compulsive disorder
Obsessive-compulsive disorder
Obsessive–compulsive disorder is an anxiety disorder characterized by intrusive thoughts that produce uneasiness, apprehension, fear, or worry, by repetitive behaviors aimed at reducing the associated anxiety, or by a combination of such obsessions and compulsions...
. The series was created by Spin City creator Bill Lawrence. In 2006, he appeared in four episodes of Boston Legal
Boston Legal
Boston Legal is an American legal dramedy created by David E. Kelley, which was produced in association with 20th Century Fox Television for the ABC...
as a lung cancer patient. The producers brought him back in a recurring role for Season three, beginning with the season premiere. Fox was nominated for an Emmy Award
Emmy Award
An Emmy Award, often referred to simply as the Emmy, is a television production award, similar in nature to the Peabody Awards but more focused on entertainment, and is considered the television equivalent to the Academy Awards and the Grammy Awards .A majority of Emmys are presented in various...
for best guest appearance. In 2009, he appeared in five episodes of the television series Rescue Me
Rescue Me (TV series)
Rescue Me is an American television drama series that premiered on the FX Network on July 21, 2004, and concluded on September 7, 2011. The series focuses on the professional and personal lives of a group of New York City firefighters in the fictitious Ladder 62 / Engine 99 firehouse.The show...
which earned him an Emmy for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series. Since 2000 Fox has released three books, Lucky Man: A Memoir (2002), Always Looking Up: The Adventures of an Incurable Optimist (2009) and A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Future: Twists and Turns and Lessons Learned (2010). In 2010, Fox returned to television as a guest star in US drama The Good Wife. Fox will make another guest-star appearance on The Good Wife in episode 13.
He made an appearance at the 2010 Winter Olympics closing ceremony
2010 Winter Olympics closing ceremony
The Closing Ceremony of the 2010 Winter Olympics took place on February 28, 2010, beginning at 5:30 pm PST at BC Place Stadium in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada...
in Vancouver, Canada and delivered comedic monologues, along with William Shatner
William Shatner
William Alan Shatner is a Canadian actor, musician, recording artist, and author. He gained worldwide fame and became a cultural icon for his portrayal of James T...
and Catherine O'Hara
Catherine O'Hara
Catherine Anne O'Hara is a Canadian-American actress and comedienne. She is well known for her comedy work on SCTV, and her roles in the films After Hours, Beetlejuice, Home Alone, and The Nightmare Before Christmas, and also in the mockumentary films written and directed by Christopher Guest...
, in the "I am Canadian" part of the show.
Along with Tatjana Patitz
Tatjana Patitz
Tatjana Patitz is a German model and actress who rose to international prominence in the 1980s and 1990s, representing top fashion designers, campaigns, and collections, and who continues to model today.-Modelling career:...
, Fox appears in the 2011 Carl Zeiss AG calendar, photographed by Bryan Adams
Bryan Adams
Bryan Adams, is a Canadian rock singer-songwriter, guitarist, bassist, producer, actor and photographer. Adams has won dozens of awards and nominations, including 20 Juno Awards among 56 nominations. He has also received 15 Grammy Award nominations including a win for Best Song Written...
in New York City in the summer of 2010.
Despite a soundalike voicing his character of Marty McFly in the 2011 Back to the Future episodic adventure game
Back to the Future: The Game
Back to the Future: The Game is a graphic adventure video game based on the Back to the Future film franchise. The game was developed by Telltale Games as part of a licensing deal with Universal Pictures. Bob Gale, co-creator, co-writer and co-producer of the film trilogy, assisted Telltale in...
, Fox lent his likeness to the in-game version of McFly alongside Christopher Lloyd
Christopher Lloyd
Christopher Allen Lloyd is an American actor. He is best known for playing Emmett Brown in the Back to the Future trilogy, Uncle Fester in The Addams Family and Addams Family Values, and Judge Doom in Who Framed Roger Rabbit. He played Reverend Jim Ignatowski in the television series Taxi and more...
. Fox makes a special guest appearance in the final episode of the series as an elder version of Marty, as well as his great grandfather Willie McFly.
Personal life
Tracy Pollan
Tracy Jo Pollan is an American actress. She is perhaps best-known for her recurring role as Ellen Reed on the sitcom Family Ties in the mid-1980s. It was on this show that she met future husband Michael J. Fox.-Personal life:...
on July 16, 1988, at West Mountain Inn in Arlington, Vermont. The couple have four children: Sam Michael (born May 30, 1989), twins Aquinnah Kathleen and Schuyler Frances (born February 15, 1995), and Esmé Annabelle (born November 3, 2001). Fox holds dual Canadian-U.S. citizenship. On February 28, 2010, Fox provided a light-hearted segment during the 2010 Winter Olympics
2010 Winter Olympics
The 2010 Winter Olympics, officially the XXI Olympic Winter Games or the 21st Winter Olympics, were a major international multi-sport event held from February 12–28, 2010, in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, with some events held in the suburbs of Richmond, West Vancouver and the University...
' closing ceremony in Vancouver, Canada wherein he expressed how proud he is to be Canadian. On June 4, 2010, the City of Burnaby, British Columbia honoured Fox by granting him the Freedom of the City
Freedom of the City
Freedom of the City is an honour bestowed by some municipalities in Australia, Canada, Ireland, France, Italy, New Zealand, South Africa, Spain, the United Kingdom, Gibraltar and Rhodesia to esteemed members of its community and to organisations to be honoured, often for service to the community;...
.
Illness and activism
Fox started displaying symptoms of early-onset Parkinson's diseaseParkinson's disease
Parkinson's disease is a degenerative disorder of the central nervous system...
in 1990 while shooting the movie Doc Hollywood, although he was not properly diagnosed until the next year. After his diagnosis, Fox began drinking more heavily than in the past; however, he sought help and stopped drinking altogether. In 1998, he decided to go public with his condition, and since then he has been a strong advocate of Parkinson's disease research. His foundation, The Michael J. Fox Foundation
The Michael J. Fox Foundation
The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research is dedicated to finding a cure for Parkinson's disease through an aggressively funded research agenda and to ensuring the development of improved therapies for those living with Parkinson's today. Established by actor Michael J...
, was created to help advance every promising research path to curing Parkinson's disease, through embryonic stem cell
Embryonic stem cell
Embryonic stem cells are pluripotent stem cells derived from the inner cell mass of the blastocyst, an early-stage embryo. Human embryos reach the blastocyst stage 4–5 days post fertilization, at which time they consist of 50–150 cells...
studies.
Fox manages the symptoms of his Parkinson's disease with the drug Sinemet, and he also had a thalamotomy
Thalamotomy
First introduced in the 1950s, thalamotomy is an invasive procedure, primarily effective for tremors such as those associated with Parkinson's Disease , where a selected portion of the thalamus is surgically destroyed...
in 1998.
His first book, Lucky Man focused on how after seven years of unacceptance of the disease he set up the Michael J Fox Foundation, stopped drinking and began to be an advocate of PD sufferers.
In Lucky Man, Fox wrote that he did not take his medication prior to his testimony before the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee in 1998;
In an interview with NPR
NPR
NPR, formerly National Public Radio, is a privately and publicly funded non-profit membership media organization that serves as a national syndicator to a network of 900 public radio stations in the United States. NPR was created in 1970, following congressional passage of the Public Broadcasting...
in April 2002, Fox explained what he does when he becomes symptomatic during an interview;
In 2006, Fox starred in a campaign ad for then-Missouri State Auditor Claire McCaskill
Claire McCaskill
Claire Conner McCaskill is the senior United States Senator from Missouri and a member of the Democratic Party. She defeated Republican incumbent Jim Talent in the 2006 U.S. Senate election, by a margin of 49.6% to 47.3%. She is the first woman elected to the U.S. Senate from Missouri in her own...
in her 2006 Senate campaign against incumbent Jim Talent
Jim Talent
James Matthes "Jim" Talent is an American politician and former senator from Missouri. He is a Republican and resided in the St. Louis area while serving in elected office. He identifies with the conservative wing of the Republican party, being particularly outspoken on judicial appointments,...
, expressing her support for stem cell
Stem cell
This article is about the cell type. For the medical therapy, see Stem Cell TreatmentsStem cells are biological cells found in all multicellular organisms, that can divide and differentiate into diverse specialized cell types and can self-renew to produce more stem cells...
research. In the ad, he visibly showed the effects of his Parkinson's medication;
The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
called it "one of the most powerful and talked about political advertisements in years" and polls indicated that the commercial had a measurable impact on the way voters voted, in an election that McCaskill won. His second book Always Looking Up: The Adventures Of An Incurable Optimist describes his life between 1999 and 2009, with much of the book centered on how Fox got into campaigning for stem cell research. On March 31, 2009, Fox appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show
The Oprah Winfrey Show
The Oprah Winfrey Show is an American syndicated talk show hosted and produced by its namesake Oprah Winfrey. It ran nationally for 25 seasons beginning in 1986, before concluding in 2011. It is the highest-rated talk show in American television history....
with Dr. Oz to publicly discuss his condition as well as his book, his family and his prime time special which aired May 7, 2009 (Michael J. Fox: Adventures of an Incurable Optimist).
His work led him to be named one of the 100 people
Time 100
Time 100 is an annual list of the 100 most influential people in the world, as assembled by Time. First published in 1999 as a result of a debate among several academics, the list has become an annual event.-History and format:...
"whose power, talent or moral example is transforming the world" in 2007 by Time magazine
Time (magazine)
Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
. On March 5, 2010, Fox received an honorary doctorate in medicine from Karolinska Institutet
Karolinska Institutet
Karolinska institutet is a medical university in Solna within the Stockholm urban area, Sweden, and one of Europe's largest medical universities...
for his contributions to research in Parkinson's disease. He also has received an honorary doctor of laws from the University of British Columbia
University of British Columbia
The University of British Columbia is a public research university. UBC’s two main campuses are situated in Vancouver and in Kelowna in the Okanagan Valley...
.
Actor
| Year | Film | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1980 | Midnight Madness | Scott Larson | |
| 1982 | Class of 1984 Class of 1984 Class of 1984 is a 1982 action-thriller movie about a newly hired music teacher at a troubled inner city school, where students have to pass through a metal detector due to problems with gangs, drugs, and violence. It was directed by Mark L... |
Arthur | |
| 1985 | Back to the Future Back to the Future Back to the Future is a 1985 American science-fiction adventure film. It was directed by Robert Zemeckis, written by Zemeckis and Bob Gale, produced by Steven Spielberg, and starred Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd, Lea Thompson, Crispin Glover and Thomas F. Wilson. The film tells the story of... |
Marty McFly Marty McFly Martin Seamus "Marty" McFly, Sr. is the protagonist in the Back to the Future film trilogy, and is portrayed by actor Michael J. Fox. Marty was also the protagonist in the animated series where he was voiced by David Kaufman... |
|
| 1985 | Teen Wolf Teen Wolf Teen Wolf is a 1985 American fantasy comedy film released by Atlantic Releasing Corporation starring Michael J. Fox as Scott Howard, a high school student who discovers that his family has an unusual pedigree when he finds himself transforming into a werewolf... |
Scott Howard | |
| 1987 | Light of Day Light of Day The soundtrack to the film was released in 1987. As a single, "Light of Day" reached number 33 on the Billboard Hot 100 and received additional album-oriented rock airplay due to the connection of Joan Jett and Bruce Springsteen.... |
Joe Rasnick | |
| 1987 | Brantley Foster/Carlton Whitfield | ||
| 1988 | Bright Lights, Big City Bright Lights, Big City (film) Bright Lights, Big City is a 1988 drama film starring Michael J. Fox, Kiefer Sutherland and Phoebe Cates, based on the novel of the same name by Jay McInerney. It was the last film directed by James Bridges before his death in 1993.-Plot:... |
Jamie Conway | |
| 1989 | Casualties of War Casualties of War Casualties of War is a 1989 war drama directed by Brian De Palma, with a screenplay by David Rabe, based on the actual events of the incident on Hill 192 in 1966 during the Vietnam War. It starred Michael J. Fox and Sean Penn.... |
PFC. Eriksson | |
| 1989 | Back to the Future Part II Back to the Future Part II Back to the Future Part II is a 1989 American science fiction comedy film and the second installment of the Back to the Future trilogy. It was directed by Robert Zemeckis, written by Zemeckis and Bob Gale, and starred Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd, Thomas F. Wilson and Lea Thompson... |
Marty McFly Marty McFly Martin Seamus "Marty" McFly, Sr. is the protagonist in the Back to the Future film trilogy, and is portrayed by actor Michael J. Fox. Marty was also the protagonist in the animated series where he was voiced by David Kaufman... , Marty McFly Jr, Marlene McFly |
|
| 1990 | Back to the Future Part III Back to the Future Part III Back to the Future Part III is a 1990 American science fiction comedy Western film. It is the third installment of the Back to the Future trilogy. The film was directed by Robert Zemeckis and starred Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd, Mary Steenburgen, Thomas F. Wilson and Lea Thompson. The film... |
Marty McFly, Seamus McFly | |
| 1991 | Nick Lang/Ray Casanov | ||
| 1991 | Doc Hollywood Doc Hollywood Doc Hollywood is a 1991 American romantic comedy film based on the book, What? Dead...Again?, by Neil B. Shulman, M.D. The film stars Michael J. Fox, Julie Warner, Woody Harrelson and Bridget Fonda. It was directed by Michael Caton-Jones. The filming took place in Micanopy, Florida.-Plot:Dr.... |
Dr. Benjamin Stone | |
| 1993 | Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey is a 1993 American remake of the 1963 film The Incredible Journey, which was based on the best-selling novel The Incredible Journey by Sheila Burnford. Directed by Duwayne Dunham, it was released on February 3, 1993... |
Chance | Voice only Voice acting Voice acting is the art of providing voices for animated characters and radio and audio dramas and comedy, as well as doing voice-overs in radio and television commercials, audio dramas, dubbed foreign language films, video games, puppet shows, and amusement rides.Performers are called... |
| 1993 | Life with Mikey Life with Mikey Life with Mikey is a 1993 comedy film starring Michael J. Fox, Christina Vidal, Nathan Lane, Cyndi Lauper and David Krumholtz.... |
Michael "Mikey" Chapman | |
| 1993 | For Love or Money | Doug Ireland | |
| 1994 | Where the Rivers Flow North | Clayton Farnsworth | |
| 1994 | Greedy Greedy (film) Greedy is a 1994 comedy film starring Michael J. Fox, Kirk Douglas, Phil Hartman and Nancy Travis, directed by Jonathan Lynn and written by Lowell Ganz & Babaloo Mandel. The original music score was composed by Randy Edelman... |
Daniel McTeague | |
| 1995 | Blue in the Face Blue in the Face Blue in the Face is a 1995 comedy directed by Wayne Wang and Paul Auster. It stars Harvey Keitel, Victor Argo, Giancarlo Esposito, Roseanne Barr, Michael J. Fox, Lily Tomlin, Mira Sorvino, Lou Reed, Mel Gorham, Jim Jarmusch,and Malik Yoba.... |
Pete Maloney | |
| 1995 | Coldblooded | Tim Alexander | Also Producer Film producer A film producer oversees and delivers a film project to all relevant parties while preserving the integrity, voice and vision of the film. They will also often take on some financial risk by using their own money, especially during the pre-production period, before a film is fully financed.The... |
| 1995 | Lewis Rothschild | ||
| 1996 | Homeward Bound II: Lost in San Francisco Homeward Bound II: Lost in San Francisco Homeward Bound II: Lost in San Francisco is the 1996 sequel to the 1993 film Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey. Directed by David R. Ellis, the film features the three animals from the first film, Shadow the Golden Retriever , Sassy the Himalayan cat , and Chance the American Bulldog Homeward... |
Chance | Voice only |
| 1996 | Frank Bannister | ||
| 1996 | Mars Attacks! Mars Attacks! Mars Attacks! is a 1996 American science fiction film directed by Tim Burton and based on the cult trading card series of the same name. The film uses elements of black comedy, surreal humour, and political satire, and claims to be also a parody of multiple science fiction B movies... |
Jason Stone | |
| 1999 | Stuart Little Stuart Little (film) Stuart Little is a 1999 family film. It is loosely based on the novel of the same name by E. B. White. It combines live-action and computer animation. The screenplay was co-written by M. Night Shyamalan and Greg Brooker, with uncredited script doctoring by David O. Russell and Billy Ray... |
Stuart Little | Voice only |
| 2001 | Atlantis: The Lost Empire Atlantis: The Lost Empire Atlantis: The Lost Empire is a 2001 American animated film produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation. Written by Tab Murphy, directed by Gary Trousdale and Kirk Wise, and produced by Don Hahn, it is the first science fiction film in the Disney animated features canon and the 41st overall. The film... |
Milo James Thatch | Voice only |
| 2002 | Interstate 60 Interstate 60 Interstate 60: Episodes of The Road is a 2002 metaphysical comedy/drama road film starring James Marsden, Gary Oldman, and Amy Smart, with cameos by Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd, Chris Cooper, and Kurt Russell. The film was written and directed by Bob Gale.- Plot :The movie begins with two men... |
Mr. Baker | |
| 2002 | Stuart Little 2 Stuart Little 2 Stuart Little 2 is a 2002 American live action and CGI animated film, directed by Rob Minkoff and starring Geena Davis, Hugh Laurie and Jonathan Lipnicki and the voices of Michael J. Fox, Nathan Lane, Melanie Griffith, James Woods and Steve Zahn. The film is a sequel to the 1999 film and includes... |
Stuart Little | Voice only |
| 2006 | Stuart Little 3: Call of the Wild Stuart Little 3: Call of the Wild Stuart Little 3: Call of the Wild is a 2006 direct-to-video film directed by Audu Paden, created by Mainframe Animation and distributed by Columbia Pictures. It was released on DVD in other countries in 2005, till it eventually got released in North America on February 21, 2006... |
Stuart Little | Voice only Direct-to-video Direct-to-video Direct-to-video is a term used to describe a film that has been released to the public on home video formats without being released in film theaters or broadcast on television... |
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1977 | Episode: "The Master" | ||
| 1979 | Letters from Frank | Ricky | CBS CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of... television film |
| 1979 | Lou Grant Lou Grant (TV series) Lou Grant is an American television drama series starring Ed Asner in the titular role as a newspaper editor. Unusual in American television, this drama series was a spinoff from a sitcom, The Mary Tyler Moore Show. Aired from 1977 to 1982, Lou Grant won 13 Emmy Awards, including "Outstanding Drama... |
Paul Stone | Episode: "Kids" |
| 1980 | Palmerstown, U.S.A. | Willy-Joe Hall | |
| 1980 | Family Family (TV series) Family is an American television drama series that aired on ABC from 1976 to 1980. Creative control of the show was split between executive producers Leonard Goldberg, Aaron Spelling and Mike Nichols... |
Richard Topol | Episode: "Such a Fine Line" |
| 1980 | Trouble in High Timber Country | Thomas Elston | ABC American Broadcasting Company The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948... television film |
| 1981 | Trapper John, M.D. Trapper John, M.D. Trapper John, M.D. is an American television medical drama and spin-off of the film MASH, concerning a lovable surgeon who became a mentor and father figure in San Francisco, California. The show ran on CBS from September 23, 1979, to September 4, 1986.... |
Elliot Schweitzer | Episode: Brain Child |
| 1981 | Leo and Me Leo and Me Leo and Me is a Canadian television sitcom that was originally produced in 1976 but did not air until 1981.It starred a 15 year old Michael J. Fox, in his television acting debut, playing Jamie, the 12 year old younger brother of Leo .... |
Jamie | Produced in 1976; was not televised on CBC Canadian Broadcasting Corporation The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, commonly known as CBC and officially as CBC/Radio-Canada, is a Canadian crown corporation that serves as the national public radio and television broadcaster... , until 1981 Credited as "Mike Fox" |
| 1982–1989 | Family Ties Family Ties Family Ties is an American sitcom that aired on NBC for seven seasons, from 1982 to 1989. The sitcom reflected the move in the United States from the cultural liberalism of the 1960s and 1970s to the conservatism of the 1980s. This was particularly expressed through the relationship between young... |
Alex P. Keaton Alex P. Keaton Alex P. Keaton is a fictional character on the American television sitcom, Family Ties, which aired on NBC for seven seasons, from 1982 to 1989. Family Ties reflected the move in the United States away from the cultural liberalism of the 1960s and 1970s to the conservatism of the 1980s... |
|
| 1983 | Episode: "I Like to Be in America..." | ||
| 1983 | High School U.S.A. High School U.S.A. "High School U.S.A." is also the title of the biggest pop hit by Tommy Facenda.High School U.S.A. is a 1983 television movie directed by Rodney Amateau. The film originally aired on NBC on October 16, 1983 and features an ensemble cast including Michael J. Fox, Anthony Edwards, and Crispin... |
Jay-Jay Manners | NBC NBC The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago... television film/pilot Television pilot A "television pilot" is a standalone episode of a television series that is used to sell the show to a television network. At the time of its inception, the pilot is meant to be the "testing ground" to see if a series will be possibly desired and successful and therefore a test episode of an... |
| 1984 | Night Court Night Court Night Court is an American television situation comedy that aired on NBC from January 4, 1984, to May 20, 1992. The setting was the night shift of a Manhattan court, presided over by the young, unorthodox Judge Harold T. "Harry" Stone... |
Eddie Simms | Episode: "Santa Goes Downtown" |
| 1984 | Host | NBC television special Television special A television special is a television program which interrupts or temporarily replaces programming normally scheduled for a given time slot. Sometimes, however, the term is given to a telecast of a theatrical film, such as The Wizard of Oz or The Ten Commandments, which is not part of a regular... |
|
| 1985 | Poison Ivy Poison Ivy (1985 film) Poison Ivy is a 1985 comedy television movie starring Michael J. Fox. Directed by Larry Elikann, the screenplay was written by Bennett Tramer. The film was produced by NBC and aired just months before Fox's feature film breakthrough Back to the Future and follow-up Teen Wolf.-Main cast:-Plot... |
Dennis Baxter | NBC television film |
| 1986 | David Letterman's 2nd Annual Holiday Film Festival | NBC television special Segment: The Iceman Hummeth |
|
| 1988 | Mickey's 60th Birthday Mickey's 60th Birthday Mickey's 60th Birthday is the 1988 television special broadcast on the Walt Disney anthology television series on November 13, 1988 on NBC. As the title suggests, it was produced for the 60th anniversary of the Mickey Mouse character... |
Alex P. Keaton Alex P. Keaton Alex P. Keaton is a fictional character on the American television sitcom, Family Ties, which aired on NBC for seven seasons, from 1982 to 1989. Family Ties reflected the move in the United States away from the cultural liberalism of the 1960s and 1970s to the conservatism of the 1980s... (a flashback Flashback (narrative) Flashback is an interjected scene that takes the narrative back in time from the current point the story has reached. Flashbacks are often used to recount events that happened before the story’s primary sequence of events or to fill in crucial backstory... clip) |
Television special |
| 1990 | Sex, Buys & Advertising | Television special | |
| 1991 | Saturday Night Live Saturday Night Live Saturday Night Live is a live American late-night television sketch comedy and variety show developed by Lorne Michaels and Dick Ebersol. The show premiered on NBC on October 11, 1975, under the original title of NBC's Saturday Night.The show's sketches often parody contemporary American culture... |
Host | Episode: "Michael J. Fox/The Black Crowes" |
| 1991 | Tales from the Crypt Tales from the Crypt (TV series) Tales from the Crypt, sometimes titled HBO's Tales from the Crypt, is an American horror anthology television series that ran from 1989 to 1996 on the premium cable channel HBO... |
Prosecutor | Episode: "The Trap" |
| 1994 | Don't Drink the Water | Axel Magee | ABC television film |
| 1996–2001 | Spin City Spin City Spin City is an American sitcom television series that aired from September 17, 1996 until April 30, 2002 on the ABC network. Created by Gary David Goldberg and Bill Lawrence, the show was based on a fictional local government running New York City, and originally starred Michael J. Fox as Mike... |
Mike Flaherty | Seasons 1 – 4 |
| 2002 | Clone High Clone High Clone High is a Canadian-American animated television series that aired for one season on MTV and Teletoon.... |
Gandhi's Remaining Kidney | Voice only "Escape to Beer Mountain: A Rope of Sand" |
| 2004 | Scrubs Scrubs (TV series) Scrubs is an American medical comedy-drama television series created in 2001 by Bill Lawrence and produced by ABC Studios. The show follows the lives of several employees of the fictional Sacred Heart, a teaching hospital. It features fast-paced screenplay, slapstick, and surreal vignettes... |
Dr. Kevin Casey | Episode: "My Catalyst" Episode: "My Porcelain God" |
| 2006 | Boston Legal Boston Legal Boston Legal is an American legal dramedy created by David E. Kelley, which was produced in association with 20th Century Fox Television for the ABC... |
Daniel Post | |
| 2009 | Rescue Me Rescue Me (TV series) Rescue Me is an American television drama series that premiered on the FX Network on July 21, 2004, and concluded on September 7, 2011. The series focuses on the professional and personal lives of a group of New York City firefighters in the fictitious Ladder 62 / Engine 99 firehouse.The show... |
Dwight | |
| 2010 | Himself | ||
| 2010 | Louis Canning | Episode: "Poisoned Pill" Episode: "Real Deal" Episode: "Wrongful Termination" |
|
| 2011 | Ace of Cakes Ace of Cakes Ace of Cakes is an American reality television show which airs on the Food Network. The show focuses on the daily operations of Duff Goldman's custom cake shop, Charm City Cakes, in Baltimore, Maryland; including small-business ownership, working with various vendors, tasting with customers,... |
Himself | |
| 2011 | Curb Your Enthusiasm Curb Your Enthusiasm Curb Your Enthusiasm is an American comedy television series produced and broadcast by HBO, which premiered on October 15, 2000. As of 2011, it has completed 80 episodes over eight seasons. The series was created by Seinfeld co-creator Larry David, who stars as a fictionalized version of himself... |
Himself | Episode: "Larry vs. Michael J. Fox" |
| 2011 | Phineas and Ferb Phineas and Ferb Phineas and Ferb is an American animated television comedy series. Originally broadcast as a preview on August 17, 2007, on Disney Channel, the series follows Phineas Flynn and his English stepbrother Ferb Fletcher on summer vacation. Every day the boys embark on some grand new project, which... |
Michael | Episode: "The Curse of Candace" |
Video games :Back to the Future: The Game
Back to the Future: The Game
Back to the Future: The Game is a graphic adventure video game based on the Back to the Future film franchise. The game was developed by Telltale Games as part of a licensing deal with Universal Pictures. Bob Gale, co-creator, co-writer and co-producer of the film trilogy, assisted Telltale in...
(2011): Willie McFly, Future Marty McFly – Voice only, video game, Episode 5: "Outatime"
Producer
| Year | Title | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 1995 | Coldblooded | Producer Film producer A film producer oversees and delivers a film project to all relevant parties while preserving the integrity, voice and vision of the film. They will also often take on some financial risk by using their own money, especially during the pre-production period, before a film is fully financed.The... |
| 1996–2000 | Spin City Spin City Spin City is an American sitcom television series that aired from September 17, 1996 until April 30, 2002 on the ABC network. Created by Gary David Goldberg and Bill Lawrence, the show was based on a fictional local government running New York City, and originally starred Michael J. Fox as Mike... |
Executive producer Executive producer An executive producer is a producer who is not involved in any technical aspects of the film making or music process, but who is still responsible for the overall production... |
| 1999 | Anna Says | Executive producer |
| 2002 | Otherwise Engaged | Executive producer |
| 2003 | Hench at Home | Executive producer |
Awards and nominations
Canada's Walk of FameCanada's Walk of Fame
Canada's Walk of Fame , located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, is a walk of fame that acknowledges the achievements and accomplishments of successful Canadians...
- 2000: Inducted, Canada's Walk of Fame
Hollywood Walk of Fame
Hollywood Walk of Fame
The Hollywood Walk of Fame consists of more than 2,400 five-pointed terrazzo and brass stars embedded in the sidewalks along fifteen blocks of Hollywood Boulevard and three blocks of Vine Street in Hollywood, California...
- 2002: Star on the Walk of Fame – 7021 Hollywood Blvd.
Emmy Awards
- 1985: Nominated, Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series – Family Ties
- 1986: Won, Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series – Family Ties
- 1987: Won, Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series – Family Ties
- 1988: Won, Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series – Family Ties
- 1989: Nominated, Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series – Family Ties
- 1997: Nominated, Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series – Spin City
- 1998: Nominated, Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series – Spin City
- 1999: Nominated, Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series – Spin City
- 2000: Won, Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series – Spin City
- 2006: Nominated, Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series – Boston Legal
- 2009: Won, Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series – Rescue Me
- 2011: Nominated, Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series- The Good Wife
Golden Globe Awards
- 1986: Nominated, Best Performance by an Actor in a TV-Series — Comedy/Musical – Family Ties
- 1986: Nominated, Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture — Comedy/Musical – Back to the Future
- 1987: Nominated, Best Performance by an Actor in a TV-Series — Comedy/Musical – Family Ties
- 1989: Won, Best Performance by an Actor in a TV-Series — Comedy/Musical – Family Ties
- 1997: Nominated, Best Performance by an Actor in a TV-Series — Comedy/Musical – Spin City
- 1998: Won, Best Performance by an Actor in a TV-Series — Comedy/Musical – Spin City
- 1999: Won, Best Performance by an Actor in a TV-Series — Comedy/Musical – Spin City
- 2000: Won, Best Performance by an Actor in a TV-Series — Comedy/Musical – Spin City
Screen Actors Guild Awards
Screen Actors Guild Awards
A Screen Actors Guild Award is an accolade given by the Screen Actors Guild to recognize outstanding performances by its members. The statuette given, a nude male figure holding both a mask of comedy and a mask of tragedy, is called "The Actor"...
- 1999: Won, Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Comedy Series – Spin City
- 2000: Won, Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Comedy Series – Spin City
Saturn Awards
- 1985: Won, Best Actor – Back to the Future
People's Choice Awards
People's Choice Awards
The People's Choice Awards is an American awards show recognizing the people and the work of popular culture. The show has been held annually since 1975 and is voted on by the general public. The People's Choice Awards air on CBS and are produced by Procter & Gamble and Survivor magnate Mark Burnett...
- 1997: Won, Favorite Male Performer in a New Television Series
- 2012: Nominated, Favorite TV Guest Star - The Good Wife
Satellite Awards
Satellite Awards
The Satellite Awards are an annual award given by the International Press Academy. The awards were originally known as the Golden Satellite Awards.- Film :*Best Actor – Drama*Best Actor – Musical or Comedy*Best Actress – Drama...
- 1997: Nominated, Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series — Comedy or Musical – Spin City
- 1998: Nominated, Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series — Comedy or Musical – Spin City
- 1999: Nominated, Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series — Comedy or Musical – Spin City
Honorary Degrees
- 2008: Doctor of Fine Arts, honoris causa, New York UniversityNew York UniversityNew York University is a private, nonsectarian research university based in New York City. NYU's main campus is situated in the Greenwich Village section of Manhattan...
- 2008: Doctor of Laws, honoris causa, University of British ColumbiaUniversity of British ColumbiaThe University of British Columbia is a public research university. UBC’s two main campuses are situated in Vancouver and in Kelowna in the Okanagan Valley...
- 2010: Honoris causa doctorate, Karolinska InstitutetKarolinska InstitutetKarolinska institutet is a medical university in Solna within the Stockholm urban area, Sweden, and one of Europe's largest medical universities...
Grammy Awards
- 2010: Won, Best Spoken Word Album – Always Looking Up: Adventures of An Incurable Optimist
Influential Canadian Expat Award
- 2009: Awarded "Most Influential Canadian Expat", Canadian Expat AssociationCanadian Expat AssociationCanadian Expat Association is a registered Canadian lobby that focuses on creating awareness amongst Canadians and legislators of the value of the Canadian expat community and issues faced by Canadians living abroad...
Goldene Kamera
- 2011: Goldene Kamera für Lebenswerk (Lifetime Achievement Award), German film and TV award.
External links
- The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research
- FRONTLINE: Interview with Michael J. Fox Fox's perspective on living with Parkinson's. Posted Jan. 29. 2009