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Michael J. Fox

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File:Luckmancover.jpg
Michael J. Fox on the cover of his book, Lucky Man

Michael J. Fox (born June 9, 1961) is a Canadian-born actor, made famous by his roles as Marty McFly in the Back to the Future trilogy and as Alex P. Keaton on the sitcom Family Ties from which he won three Emmy awards.

Biography

Born Michael Andrew Fox in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, he adopted the J as an homage to character actor Michael J. Pollard, and to distinguish himself from the late Michael Fox who was a character actor active in film and television in the 1950s through the 1980s. 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.. Then he hit a dry spell that got so bad, he was forced to sell off pieces of his sectional couch, which went to actor Lance Guest.

He then auditioned for the role of smart aleck Republican Alex 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 would win three Emmy Awards and one Golden Globe for his portrayal of Alex 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.

Notable roles since then include the Back to the Future movies, Mars Attacks!, Teen Wolf, For Love or Money, The Secret of My Success, and the TV series Spin City from which he won his fourth Emmy award. He is the voice of Stuart Little in the series of movies based on the popular book by E. B. White, Chance in the Homeward Bound series, and Milo Thatch in Atlantis: The Lost Empire. He also guest starred in the comedy Scrubs, rather poignantly, as a doctor suffering from an obsessive-compulsive disorder.

Fox has also written an autobiographical book, called Lucky Man, about his experience of young-onset Parkinson's disease, with which he was diagnosed in 1991. Since then he has been a strong advocate of Parkinson's disease research, especially stem cell research, which he believes may one day help sufferers of Parkinson's and other debilitating illnesses. His foundation, the Michael J. Fox Foundation, was created to help advance this research.

In 2000, he announced that he would be retiring from the lead role of Spin City due to his illness. (A new lead character would be created for Fox's replacement, Charlie Sheen.)

In 2003, he wrote a pilot episode for a sitcom entitled Hench at Home, but it was not picked up.

In 2005, he opened the Muhammad Ali Center in Louisville, Kentucky, United States as a tribute to boxer Muhammad Ali, fellow Parkinson's sufferer.

In 2006, he guest starred in three episodes of Boston Legal as a lung cancer patient who uses his influence in an experimental drug test to ensure he receives the real drug instead of a placebo.

Fox married actress Tracy Pollan on July 16, 1988. The couple has four children: Sam (30/5/89), twins Aquinnah and Schuyler (15.2.94), and Esmé(7.11.2001).

He wrote in his autobiography Lucky Man that during the world premiere of Back to the Future he was sat next to Princess Diana and having drunk several cans of beer to calm down beforehand, he wanted to go to the bathroom really bad but did not dare get up and leave Princess Diana alone.


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

Select filmography

References

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