Person attributes
Michael J. Fox is a Canadian-American actor, author, and producer. Afflicted with Parkinson's disease at the peak of his career, he is also active in advocating a cure for the disease. Belonging to a small Canadian city, he realized his passion for acting at a very young age. He dropped out of college at the age of 18, moved to Los Angeles, USA, and very soon became a teen icon. He established himself not only as a teen icon but also as a full-fledged adult actor as the years went by. With a career spanning over 30 years, he has become a well-known face in primetime television and also on the big screen. He has many accolades and awards to his name, including Emmy, Golden Globe, and Screen Actor Guild awards. When he got diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 1991, it was not the end of Fox’s career; rather it spurred him to work even more and eventually he also turned into an activist and advocate for research towards finding a cure. He created the renowned Michael J. Fox Foundation to help people fighting Parkinson’s disease; the foundation is today hailed as "the most credible voice on Parkinson's research in the world". Fox was made an Officer of the Order of Canada in 2010.
Michael Andrew Fox was born in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada on June 9, 1961, the son of William and Phyllis (née Piper). William was a 25-year veteran of the Canadian Forces who later became a police dispatcher, while Phyllis was a payroll clerk and actress. Fox is of Irish, English, and Scottish descent.
His family lived in various cities and towns across Canada because of his father's career. They finally moved to Burnaby, a large suburb of Vancouver, British Columbia, when his father retired in 1971. His father died of a heart attack on January 6, 1990. Fox attended Burnaby Central Secondary School, and now has a theatre named for him at Burnaby South Secondary. At age 15, Fox starred in the Canadian television series Leo and Me, produced by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, and in 1979, at age 18, he moved to Los Angeles to further his acting career. Shortly after his marriage, he moved back to Vancouver.
Fox was discovered by producer Ronald Shedlo and made his American television debut in the television film 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 requires unique registration names to avoid credit ambiguities (and the possibility that royalty checks would be sent to the wrong actors), 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 "Michael A. Fox" during a time when "fox" meant "attractive" and because his "A" sounded too much like the Canadian "eh?" Fox also disliked the sound of "Andrew" or "Andy", so he decided to use a different middle initial and settled on "J", as a tribute to actor Michael J. Pollard.
Michael Andrew Fox’s love for acting was so strong that at the age of 15 he auditioned for a Canadian television series ‘Leo and Me’ produced by Canadian Broadcasting Corp (CBC), and got the part as well. He continued to do roles in local theatre and sitcoms along with roles in American movie shootings in Canada for the next three years.
At the age of 18, he moved to Los Angeles and dabbled in small roles before getting his major break in NBC’s popular TV series ‘Family Ties’ as Alex P.Keaton (1982-1989). He continued to be a popular name during his seven-year stint with the series which led him to three Emmy Awards and one Golden Globe. At around this time, he adopted the screen name “Michael J. Fox.”
On the big screen too, he created a mark for himself, and was much appreciated for his role as Marty McFly in Robert Zemeckis’s film ‘Back to the Future’ (1985). It was a huge success and led to the making of its sequels in 1989 and 1990.
Fox went on to become a teen icon with his continuous streak of roles in other movies like ‘Teen Wolf’(1985) , the rock-oriented ‘Light of Day’ (1987), and the comedy ‘The Secret of my Success’ (1987). He also earned praise and acclaim in the Vietnam saga ‘Casualties of War’ (1989).
He was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease around this time. However he continued to act and starred in ‘Doc Hollywood’ (1991), ‘For Love or Money’ (1993), ‘Life with Mikey’ (1993) and ‘Greedy’ (1994) after his diagnosis.
Gary David Goldberg, the creator and executive producer of ‘Family Ties’ continued his collaboration with Fox and started a show called ‘Spin City’ starring him in 1996, delighting the audience with the return of its favorite TV actor to primetime.
Fox’s role as Frank Bannister in Peter Jackson’s ‘The Frighteners’ (1996) was his last major film role and received much critical praise.
He did voiceovers for various movies including ‘Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey’ and its sequel ‘Homeward Bound II: Lost in San Francisco’, ‘Stuart Little’ and ‘Atlantis: the Lost Empire’.
Over the years Michael J. Fox has done guest appearance in the TV Series ‘Scrubs’ (2004), ‘Boston Legal’ (2006), ‘Rescue Me’ (2009) , and ‘The Good Wife’ (2002), earning him numerous Emmy nominations and wins.
He has authored three books, ‘Lucky Man: A Memoir’ (2002), ‘Always Looking Up’ (2009) and ‘A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Future’ (2010) depicting his struggles with Parkinson’s disease and how to cope with it.
