In 1998, Fox disclosed his 1991 diagnosis ofParkinson's disease (PD). He became an advocate for finding a cure and foundedThe Michael J. Fox Foundation in 2000 to help fund research. Worsening symptoms forced him to reduce his acting work.
Fox voiced the lead roles in theStuart Little films (1999–2005) and the animated filmAtlantis: The Lost Empire (2001). He continued to make guest appearances on television, including comedy-dramaRescue Me (2009), the legal dramaThe Good Wife (2010–2016) and spin-offThe Good Fight (2020) and the comedy seriesCurb Your Enthusiasm (2011, 2017). Fox's last major role was the lead on the short-lived sitcomThe Michael J. Fox Show (2013–2014). He officially retired in 2020 due to his declining health,[1] though he has made periodic acting appearances since then.
Fox was discovered by producer Ronald Shedlo and made his American debut in the television filmLetters from Frank, credited under the name "Michael Fox". However, when he registered with theScreen Actors Guild, he discovered thatMichael Fox, a veteran actor, was already registered under that name.[5] Fox explained in hismemoirLucky Man:
The Screen Actors Guild prohibits any two members from working under the same stage name, and they already had a 'Michael Fox' on the books. My middle name is Andrew, but 'Andrew Fox' or 'Andy Fox' didn't cut it for me. 'Michael A. Fox' was even worse, the word fox having recently come into use as a synonym for attractive. (Presumptuous?) It also sounded uncomfortably Canadian – Michael Eh? Fox – but maybe I was just being oversensitive. And then I remembered one of my favorite character actors,Michael J. Pollard, the guileless accomplice in Bonnie and Clyde. I stuck in the J, which sometimes I tell people stands for either Jenuine or Jenius, and resubmitted my forms.[23]
Fox's first feature film roles wereMidnight Madness (1980) andClass of 1984 (1982), credited in both as Michael Fox. Shortly afterward, he began playing "Young Republican"Alex P. Keaton in the showFamily Ties, which aired onNBC for seven seasons from 1982 to 1989. In an interview withJimmy Fallon in April 2014, Fox stated he negotiated the role at a payphone atPioneer Chicken. He received the role only afterMatthew Broderick was unavailable.[26]Family Ties had been sold to the television network using the pitch "Hip parents,square kids",[26] 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.[26]
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 lunchbox." After his later successes, Fox presented Tartikoff with a custom-made lunchbox with the inscription "To Brandon: This is for you to put yourcrow in. Love and Kisses, Michael J." Tartikoff kept the lunchbox in his office for the rest of his NBC career.[27][28]
In January 1985, Fox was cast to replaceEric Stoltz asMarty McFly, a teenager who is accidentally sentback in time from 1985 to 1955 inBack to the Future. DirectorRobert Zemeckis originally wanted Fox to play Marty, butGary David Goldberg, the creator ofFamily Ties, on which Fox was working at the time, refused to allow Zemeckis even to approach Fox. Goldberg felt that, asMeredith Baxter was on maternity leave at the time, Fox's characterAlex Keaton was needed to carry the show in her absence. Stoltz was cast and was already filmingBack to the Future, but Zemeckis felt that Stoltz was not giving the right type of performance for the humour involved.[29]
Zemeckis quickly replaced Stoltz with Fox, whose schedule was now more open with the return of Baxter. During filming, Fox rehearsed forFamily Ties from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.; he then rushed to theBack 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 critical and commercial success. The film spent eight consecutive weekends as the number-one movie at the US box office in 1985, and it eventually earned a worldwide total of $381.11 million.[30]Variety applauded the performances, opining that Fox and his co-starChristopher Lloyd imbued Marty andDoc Brown's friendship with a quality reminiscent ofKing Arthur andMerlin.[31] Fox's performance in particular was praised, earning him a nomination forBest Actor in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy at the43rd Golden Globe Awards.[32] The film was followed by two successful sequels,Back to the Future Part II (1989) andBack to the Future Part III (1990), which were produced at the same time but released separately.[33] While filming the scene whereBuford "Mad Dog" Tannen tries to hang Marty inPart III, Fox was allowed to perform the stunt himself as long as he knew where to put his hand on the noose to keep himself from choking; however, on the third take, Fox accidentally placed his hand in the wrong spot, which resulted in him choking, passing out, and nearly dying until Zemeckis noticed him in peril and had him cut down.[34][35]
As a result of working onFamily Ties, and his back-to-back hit performances inBack to the Future andTeen Wolf (1985), Fox became ateen idol. TheVH1 television seriesThe Greatest later named him among their "50 Greatest Teen Idols".[36]
During and immediately after theBack to the Future trilogy, Fox starred inTeen Wolf (1985),Light of Day (1987),The Secret of My Success (1987), andBright Lights, Big City (1988). InThe Secret of My Success, Fox played a recent graduate fromKansas State University who moves to New York City, where he deals with the ups and downs of the business world. The film was successful at the box office, grossing $110 million worldwide.[37]Roger Ebert in theChicago 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."[38]
InBright 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 inThe Washington Post criticizing Fox by claiming that "he was the wrong actor for the job".[39] 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)".[40] During the shooting ofBright Lights, Big City, Fox co-starred again withTracy Pollan, his on-screen girlfriend fromFamily Ties.[41]
Fox won threeEmmy Awards forFamily Ties in 1986, 1987, and 1988.[42] He won aGolden Globe Award in 1989,[43] the year the show ended.[26] When Fox left the television seriesSpin City in 2000, his final episodes made numerous allusions toFamily Ties:Michael Gross (who played Alex's father Steven) portrays Mike Flaherty's (Fox's character's) therapist,[44] and there is a reference to an off-screen character named "Mallory".[45] Also, when Flaherty becomes an environmentallobbyist in Washington, D.C., he meets a conservative senator fromOhio named Alex P. Keaton,[46] and in one episodeMeredith Baxter played Mike's mother.[47]
Fox then starred inCasualties of War (1989), a dark and violent war drama about theVietnam War, alongsideSean Penn.Casualties of War was not a major box office hit, but Fox was praised for his performance. Don Willmott wrote: "Fox, only one year beyond hisFamily Ties sitcom silliness, rises to the challenges of acting as the film's moral voice and sharing scenes with the always intimidating Penn."[48] WhileFamily Ties was ending, his production company Snowback Productions set up a two-year production pact atParamount Pictures to develop film and television projects.[49]
In 1991, he starred inDoc Hollywood, a romantic comedy about a talented medical doctor who decides to become a plastic surgeon. While moving from Washington, D.C. to Los Angeles, he winds up as a doctor in a small southern town in South Carolina.Michael Caton-Jones, ofTime Out, described Fox in the film as "at his frenetic best".[50]The Hard Way was also released in 1991, with Fox playing an undercover actor learning from police officerJames Woods. After being privately diagnosed with Parkinson's disease in 1991 and being cautioned he had "ten good working years left",[12] Fox hastily signed a three-film contract,[citation needed] appearing inFor Love or Money (1993),Life with Mikey (1993), andGreedy (1994). In the mid-1990s Fox played smaller supporting roles inThe American President (1995) andMars Attacks! (1996).
His last major film role was inThe Frighteners (1996), directed byPeter Jackson. Fox's performance received critical praise,Kenneth Turan in theLos Angeles Times wrote; "The film's actors are equally pleasing. Both Fox, in his most successful starring role in some time, and [Trini]Alvarado, who looks rather likeAndie MacDowell here, have no difficulty getting into the manic spirit of things."[51]
Spin City ran from 1996 to 2002 on American television networkABC. The show depicts a fictional New York City government, originally starring Fox as Deputy Mayor Mike Flaherty.[53] Fox served as an executive producer ofSpin City alongside co-creatorsBill Lawrence andGary David Goldberg.[54] He won anEmmy Award forSpin City in 2000,[42] threeGolden Globe Awards in 1998, 1999, and 2000,[43] and twoScreen Actors Guild Awards in 1999 and 2000.[14] During the third season, Fox told the cast and crew of the show that he had Parkinson's disease, and during the fourth season, he announced his retirement from the show.[55] A character played byCharlie Sheen replaced his,[54] and he made three more appearances during the final season. In 2002, his Lottery Hill Entertainment production company attempted to set up a pilot for ABC withDreamWorks Television andTouchstone Television company via first-look agreements, but it never went to series.[56][57]
In 2004, Fox guest-starred in two episodes of the comedy-dramaScrubs – created bySpin City creator Bill Lawrence – as Dr. Kevin Casey, a surgeon with severeobsessive-compulsive disorder.[58][59] In 2006, he appeared in four episodes ofBoston 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 anEmmy Award for best guest appearance.[42]
In 2009, Fox appeared in five episodes of the television seriesRescue Me which earned him an Emmy forOutstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series.[42] Starting in 2010, Fox played a recurring role in the American dramaThe Good Wife as crafty attorney Louis Canning and earned Emmy nominations for three consecutive years.[60] In 2011, Fox portrayed himself in the eighth season of Larry David'sCurb Your Enthusiasm, in which David's fictionalized self becomes Fox's neighbour and accuses him of using his Parkinson's disease as a manipulative tool. Fox returned in 2017 for a brief appearance, referencing his prior time on the show.[61][62]
In August 2012,NBC announced that Fox would star inThe Michael J. Fox Show, loosely based on his life. It was granted a 22-episode commitment from the network and premiered in September 2013,[63] but was taken off the air after 15 episodes and later cancelled.[64]
Despite sound-alikeA.J. LoCascio voicing Marty McFly inthe 2011Back to the Future episodic adventure game, Fox lent his likeness to the in-game version of Marty alongsideChristopher Lloyd. Fox made 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.[66]
Fox appeared in five episodes of thesecond season of theABC political dramaDesignated Survivor, in the recurring role of Ethan West, investigating whether the president was fit to continue in the job.[67][68]
In 2020, Fox retired from acting due to the increasing unreliability of his speech.[12] Fox's memoir,No Time Like the Future: An Optimist Considers Mortality, was released that November. In the book, Fox explained that, "not being able to speak reliably is a game-breaker for an actor" and that he was experiencing memory loss. Fox wrote, "There is a time for everything, and my time of putting in a 12-hour workday, and memorizing seven pages of dialogue, is best behind me...I enter a second retirement. That could change, because everything changes. But if this is the end of my acting career, so be it."[1]
In 2021, Fox appeared in one episode of the television seriesExpedition: Back to the Future,[69] as well as in the animated filmBack Home Again. On May 12, 2023,Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie, a documentary which follows his career and Parkinson's disease diagnosis, was released.[70] The film was directed byDavis Guggenheim and made forApple TV+.[71] It was positively received, winning four of the seven awards it was nominated for at the75th Primetime Emmy Awards.[72][73]Stephanie Zacharek on behalf ofTime wrote, "Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie reminds us that a person stricken with a disease doesn'tbecome that disease... What's striking aboutStill is how celebratory it is. This isn't the story of a wonderful actor felled by an illness; it's the story of a wonderful actor,"[74] whileMark Kermode ofThe Guardian called it "An intimate, uplifting star portrait."[75]
On June 29, 2024, he was featured on theGlastonbury Festival as a guest of British rock bandColdplay, playing the guitar with them on the songs "Humankind" and "Fix You".[76] Lead singer and pianistChris Martin mentioned during the show that "Back to the Future is the main reason we became a band".[77]
On May 15, 2025, it was revealed that Fox had been cast in the third season of the comedy dramaShrinking, making a return to acting.[78] In June 2025, Fox acted for theNational Hockey League'sBoston Bruins, playing himself in a video parodyingBack to the Future to promote new uniforms for the team.[79] Fox is a close friend of Bruins presidentCam Neely, who also appeared in the video.[80]
On October 14, 2025, his fifth book,Future Boy: Back to the Future and My Journey Through the Space-Time Continuum, co-written with Nelle Fortenberry, was published byFlatiron Books. The memoir covers his time on set while filmingBack to the Future.[81]
While shooting the filmDoc Hollywood in early 1991, Fox developed a sore shoulder and a twitch in his little finger; he was subsequently diagnosed with early-onsetParkinson's disease later that year at the age of 30, but did not make his condition known to the public until 1998.[55] He became an activist and beganThe Michael J. Fox Foundation to increase research efforts for a cure.[14]
Fox has written several memoirs on his experiences. His first book,Lucky Man, focused on how, after seven years of denial of the disease, he set up the Michael J. Fox Foundation, stopped drinking and became an advocate for people living with Parkinson's disease.[83] In 2006, Fox starred in acampaign ad for then-State Auditor of MissouriClaire McCaskill in her successful2006 Senate campaign against incumbentJim Talent, expressing her support for embryonicstem cell research. In the ad, he visibly showed the effects of his Parkinson's disease:
As you might know, I care deeply about stem cell research. In Missouri, you can elect Claire McCaskill, who shares my hope for cures. Unfortunately, Senator Jim Talent opposes expanding stem cell research. Senator Talent even wanted to criminalize the science that gives us the chance for hope. They say all politics is local, but that's not always the case. What you do in Missouri matters to millions of Americans, Americans like me.
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.[86] 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.[83] On March 31, 2009, Fox appeared onThe Oprah Winfrey Show withMehmet Oz to discuss his condition as well as his book, his family and his primetime special, which aired May 7, 2009, (Michael J. Fox: Adventures of an Incurable Optimist).[87]
His work led him to be named one of the100 people "whose power, talent or moral example is transforming the world" in 2007 byTime magazine.[88] On March 5, 2010, Fox received an honorary doctorate in medicine fromKarolinska Institute for his contributions to research in Parkinson's disease.[89][90] He received an honorary doctorate of laws from theUniversity of British Columbia.[91] His third book,A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Future: Twists and Turns and Lessons Learned, was released in 2010.[92]
On May 31, 2012, he received an honorary degree ofDoctor of Laws from theJustice Institute of British Columbia[93] to recognize his accomplishments as a performer as well as his commitment to raising research funding and awareness for Parkinson's disease. Fox recalled performing in role-playing simulations as part of police recruit training exercises at the Institute early in his career.
In 2016, his organization created a raffle to raise awareness for Parkinson's disease and raised $6.75 million, with the help ofNike, Inc. via two auctions, one in Hong Kong and the other in London.[94]
In 2020, his fourth book,No Time Like the Future: An Optimist Considers Mortality, was released.[92]
In a 2023 interview withJane Pauley onCBS Sunday Morning, Fox said, "I'm not gonna lie. It's getting harder. Every day it's tougher." He said he has had spinal surgery for abenign tumour and has broken bones in several falls.[98]
He was named inTime Magazine's 2024 list of influential people in health.[99]
Fox met his wife,Tracy Pollan, when she played the role of his girlfriend, Ellen, onFamily Ties.[12] The couple married on July 16, 1988, at West Mountain Inn inArlington, Vermont.[101] They have four children: one son[102] and three daughters.[103][104] Shortly before the couple's marriage, Fox purchased a 121-acre (490,000 m2) estate named Lottery Hill Farm inSouth Woodstock, Vermont,[105] which he listed in 2012.[106] In 1997, Fox purchased an apartment onFifth Avenue within theUpper East Side, Manhattan,[107][108] where he and his family lived primarily until 2020. The same year, Fox and Pollan built an estate on 80 acres (320,000 m2) of farmland[109] inSharon, Connecticut, which he listed in 2016.[110] In 2007, Fox purchased a 7,000-square-foot (650 m2) house inQuogue, New York,[111] where he and his family lived part-time and spent the early months of theCOVID-19 pandemic.[112] In 2021, Fox sold the house[113] and moved toSanta Barbara, California, with his family; they took up residence inMalibu several months later.[114]
Fox started displaying symptoms of early-onsetParkinson's disease (PD) in early 1991 while shooting the filmDoc Hollywood and was diagnosed shortly thereafter.[55] Though his initial symptoms were only a twitching little finger and a sore shoulder, he was told that within a few years he would not be able to work. The causes of Parkinson's disease are not well understood, and may include genetic and environmental factors. Fox is one of at least four members of the cast and crew ofLeo and Me who developed early-onset Parkinson's. According to Fox, this is not enough people to be defined as acluster so it has not been well researched. In 2020, he toldHadley Freeman ofThe Guardian: "I can think of a thousand possible scenarios: I used to go fishing in a river nearpaper mills and eat thesalmon I caught; I've been to a lot of farms; I smoked a lot ofpot in high school when the government waspoisoning the crops. But you can drive yourself crazy trying to figure it out."[118]
Fox andMuhammad Ali in 2002 testifying before a US Senate committee on providing government funding to combat Parkinson's
After his diagnosis, Fox begandrinking heavily and grewdepressed.[119] In 1992, he eventually sought help and stopped drinking altogether.[120][121] Fox went public with his Parkinson's disease in 1998 and has become a strong advocate for Parkinson's disease research.[122] His foundation,The Michael J. Fox Foundation, was created to help advance every promising research path to curing Parkinson's disease.[12][14] Since 2010, he has led a $100-million effort, which is the Foundation's landmark observational study, to discover the biological markers of Parkinson's disease with the Parkinson's Progression Markers Initiative (PPMI).[123]
I had made a deliberate choice to appear before the subcommittee without medication. It seemed to me that this occasion demanded that my testimony about the effects of the disease, and the urgency we as a community were feeling, be seen as well as heard. For people who had never observed me in this kind of shape, the transformation must have been startling.[14]
In an interview withNPR in April 2002,[124] Fox explained what he does when he becomes symptomatic:
Well, actually, I've been erring on the side of caution—I think 'erring' is actually the right word—in that I've been medicating perhaps too much, in the sense [that] ... the symptoms ... people see in some of these interviews that [I] have been on are actuallydyskinesia, which is a reaction to the medication. Because if I were purely symptomatic with Parkinson's symptoms, a lot of times speaking is difficult. There's a kind of acluttering of speech and it's very difficult to sit still, to sit in one place. You know, the symptoms are different, so I'd rather kind of suffer the symptoms of dyskinesia ... this kind of weaving and this kind of continuous thing is much preferable, actually, than pure Parkinson's symptoms. So that's what I generally do ... I haven't had any, you know, problems with pure Parkinson's symptoms in any of these interviews, because I'll tend to just make sure that I have enoughSinemet in my system and, in some cases, too much. But to me, it's preferable. It's not representative of what I'm like in my everyday life. I get a lot of people with Parkinson's coming up to me saying, 'You take too much medication.' I say, 'Well, you sit across fromLarry King and see if you want to tempt it.'
2000: Honoured by the Family Television Awards for Acting.
2000: Inducted intoCanada's Walk of Fame, located in Toronto, Ontario, which acknowledges the achievements and accomplishments of successful Canadians.[130]
December 16, 2002: Received the 2209th Star on theHollywood Walk of Fame in recognition of his contributions to the motion picture industry, presented to him by the Chamber of Commerce.[131]
^abcde"Michael's Story". The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research. Archived fromthe original on January 16, 2022. RetrievedJanuary 23, 2022.
^Bob Gale, Robert Zemeckis et al. (2002).Back to the Future Part III. Special Features: Making the Trilogy: Chapter Three (DVD). Universal Studios Home Entertainment.
^abc"Fox quits Spin City".BBC News. January 19, 2000.Archived from the original on March 9, 2012. RetrievedAugust 22, 2010.Fox revealed in 1998 that he had been suffering from Parkinson's since 1991. The condition was diagnosed after he noticed a twitch in his little finger while he was working on the set of the film, Doc Hollywood.
^Schneider, Michael (August 15, 2002)."Fox spins ABC tale".Variety.Archived from the original on January 11, 2022. RetrievedJanuary 11, 2022.
^Schneider, Michael; Schneider, Jill (March 16, 2003)."Bierko ices ABC role".Variety.Archived from the original on January 11, 2022. RetrievedApril 17, 2022.
^Alexander, Michael (December 4, 1989)."Getting Back to His Future".People. Vol. 32, no. 23.Archived from the original on October 1, 2020. RetrievedMarch 5, 2013.
^"21st Century Fox".People. Vol. 56, no. 21. November 19, 2001.Archived from the original on November 16, 2018. RetrievedMarch 5, 2013.
^Huzinec, Mary (March 6, 1995)."Passages".People. Archived fromthe original on July 30, 2013. RetrievedMarch 5, 2013.
^"2005 Summit Highlights Photo".Archived from the original on January 19, 2021. RetrievedJanuary 5, 2021.Actor/activist Michael J. Fox is inducted into the Academy by Olympic figure-skating champion Dorothy Hamill.
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