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Michael J. Fox

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Michael J. Fox and his wife Tracy Pollan

Michael J. Fox (born June 9, 1961) is a Canadian actor, famous for his roles as Marty McFly in the Back to the Future trilogy, Alex P. Keaton on the sitcom Family Ties, for which he won three Emmy awards, and NYC Deputy Mayor Mike Flaherty on the TV series Spin City, for which he won his fourth Emmy award.

Biography

Michael J. Fox was born Michael Andrew Fox in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, to his parents Sgt. William Fox and Phyllis Fox. He later adopted the J as an homage to character actor Michael J. Pollard, and to distinguish himself from Michael Fox, a character actor active in film and television in the 1950s through the 1980s. Michael has also jokingly mentioned that the 'J' in his screen name stands for 'Jenius' or 'Jenuine' [citation needed]. He has also claimed in an interview that he didn't want teen magazines to use the headline 'Michael, A Fox!'.

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. His debut on American TV was in Letters From Frank, as Michael Fox. He quickly landed a series of parts in the movies Midnight Madness and Class of 1984 and guest roles on Lou Grant, Family, and Trapper John M.D.. He then hit a dry spell which forced him to sell off pieces of his sectional couch, which went to actor Lance Guest.

He then auditioned for the role of smart aleck Republican teenager Alex P. Keaton on the TV series Family Ties. The first audition did not go very well, as creator Gary David Goldberg did not think he was right for the part. But casting director Judith Weiner convinced Goldberg to give Fox another shot. Goldberg was convinced on the next audition, but now there was opposition from NBC executive Brandon Tartikoff. Goldberg was now fighting for Fox, and Tartikoff eventually relented, famously commenting, "Go ahead if you insist. But I'm telling you, this is not the kind of face you'll ever see on a lunch box". Years later, after Back to the Future opened to big success, Tartikoff received a lunch box in the mail that had Fox's picture on it. There was a note inside that read, "Eat crow, Tartikoff." Tartikoff kept the lunch box in his office for the rest of his career.

Family Ties struggled out of the gate, barely getting renewed in its first season. But in 1984, it was paired up with The Cosby Show on Thursday nights, and the two shows ranked in the top two for the Nielsen ratings until 1987, when Family Ties was moved to Sunday nights. Fox won three Emmy Awards and one Golden Globe for his portrayal of Alex P. Keaton. A famous episode in 1987, called "A, My Name is Alex" was directed like a theatrical play, with Alex seeing a psychiatrist to cope with the death of his best friend. This episode was picked as the 68th best episode in TV history in a 1997 issue of TV Guide. In a 1999 issue, Alex Keaton was ranked #27 on their list of the 50 Greatest TV Characters Ever. Fox also met his future wife Tracy Pollan, when she portrayed Alex's girlfriend Ellen Reed in the 1985–1986 season.

Doc Brown (Christopher Lloyd) and Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox) from the movie Back to the Future.

Notable roles since then include the Back to the Future movies, Mars Attacks!, Teen Wolf, For Love or Money,and The Secret of My Success. 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 married actress Tracy Pollan on July 16, 1988. The couple has four children: Samuel Michael (born May 30, 1989), twins Aquinnah Kathleen and Schuyler Frances (born February 15, 1995), and Esmé Annabelle (born November 3, 2001).

In 1991 he was diagnosed with young-onset Parkinson's disease, but didn't go pubic until 1998. 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, played by 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 four episodes of Boston Legal as a lung cancer patient who used his influence in an experimental drug test to ensure he received the real drug instead of a placebo. The show plans on bringing him back in a recurring role for season 3 this fall, beginning with the season premiere September 24. He has been nominated for an Emmy Award for best guest appearance in this role.

On July 19, 2006, Fox appeared in a taped interview on ABC's "Good Morning America", defending a Senate bill that would expand federal funding for stem cell research. President Bush struck down the bill, his first veto in his presidency, later that day.

According to the song "Elvis is Everywhere" by Mojo Nixon, Fox is the "Anti-Elvis": the only person in the world who does not have any Elvis in him.

The Michael J. Fox Foundation & Team Fox

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The MJFF logo
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The Team Fox logo
Main article: The Michael J. Fox Foundation

The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research was established in 2000 by Fox to ensure the development of a cure for Parkinson's disease within this decade through an aggressively funded research agenda.

Team Fox for Parkinson's Research is the grassroots community project of The Michael J. Fox Foundation. Team Fox allows people to turn their next special event into an opportunity to support The Michael J. Fox Foundation.

Filmography

Bibliography

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The cover of Michael J. Fox's first book, Lucky Man
  • Saving Milly: Love, Politics, and Parkinson's Disease (2001) (foreword only, book by Morton Kondracke)
  • Lucky Man: A Memoir (2002) (autobiography)

About his experience of young-onset Parkinson's disease.

  • Always Looking Up (2008)

Filled with honesty and humor, Always Looking Up will address important questions such as... is an optimistic nature something we are born with, is it genetic, is it environmental, chemical or spiritual? Are optimism and faith the same thing? Fox will begin with the individuals who inspired him with their courage and spirit, and will seek out the most influential optimists (and pessimists) in the worlds of philosophy, art, science, literature, politics, and popular culture, past and present. He will weave all of his findings, experiences and adventures into a highly personal narrative, similar in tone and style to Lucky Man.

The book is scheduled for publication in fall, 2008.

See also

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