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Michael J. Fox Biography

(1961–)

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Film
1980 Midnight Madness
1982 Class of 1984
1985 Teen Wolf

1985 Back to the Future
1987 Light of Day
1987 The Secret of My Succe$s
1988 Bright Lights, Big City
1989 Back to the Future Part II
1989 Casualties of War
1990 Back to the Future Part III
1991 Doc Hollywood
1991 The Hard Way
1993 Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey (voice) 1993 Life with Mikey
1993 For Love or Money
1993 Where the Rivers Flow North
1994 Greedy
1995 Blue in the Face
1995 The American President
1995 Coldblooded
1996 Homeward Bound II: Lost in San Francisco (voice)
1996 The Frighteners
1996 Mars Attacks!
1999 Stuart Little (voice)
2000 Thirty Wishes
2001 Atlantis (voice)
2002 Interstate 60
2002 Stuart Little 2
2005 Stuart Little 3: Call of the Wild
Television
1976 Leo and Me
1979 Letters from Frank
1979 Trapper John, MD
1980 Palmerstown, USA
1982 Family Ties
1983 High School USA
1985 Poison Ivy
1991 The Trap
1994 Don't Drink the Water
1996 Spin City
2004 Scrubs
2006 Boston Legal
2009 Rescue Me

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Brian De Palma

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The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research

Actor. Born Michael Andrew Fox, on June 9, 1961, in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Fox began using the middle initial 'J' (presumably smoother-sounding than 'A') professionally to distinguish himself from another acting "Michael Fox." Michael J. Fox first achieved stardom in 1982, as the acquisitive Reagan-era poster-boy Alex P. Keaton on the popular television sitcom Family Ties.

Hailing from Canada, where he grew up the youngest of five children to Bill and Phyllis Fox, Michael struggled in school and was too small—he is five feet, four inches tall—to compete in his favorite activity, ice hockey. He found an outlet in drama class, and in 1976 made his professional debut in the CBS series Leo and Me at age 15 (playing a 10-year-old). After starring in the CBS movie Letters from Frank (also filmed in Canada), Fox dropped out of high school and drove to Los Angeles with his father. There, he found work in the series Palmerstown, U.S.A. before landing the role in Family Ties, where he wooed audiences with his confident charm and impeccable comic timing for seven years.

He also had enormous success on the big screen, playing Marty McFly in Robert Zemeckis' zany romp, Back to the Future (1985). After playing comic roles in Teen Wolf and The Secret of My Success, Fox wanted to broaden his range and took some unlikely dramatic turns, playing a factory worker in Light of Day, a cocaine-snorting fact checker in Bright Lights, Big City, and earning critical acclaim for his starring role alongside Sean Penn in Brian DePalma's Vietnam saga Casualties of War.

Audiences applauded Fox's return to Back to the Future, for sequels II and III in 1989 and 1990. His pitch-perfect portrayal of a George Stephanopoulos-type character in The American President (1995) earned Fox accolades once again, but it was his ceremonious return to prime time television in the ABC sitcom Spin City, which launched in 1996, that put Fox back where he belonged—delighting audiences on a weekly basis with a schedule that allowed him more time with his family. In 1999, he contributed his trademark voice and comic flare as the title character (a little white mouse) in the film adaptation of E.B. White's Stuart Little. Fox was honored with a star on the fabled Hollywood Walk of Fame in December 2002.

In late 1999, Fox made the startling announcement that he had been battling Parkinson's disease since 1991, and had even undergone brain surgery to alleviate tremors. Despite Spin City's incredible success and a showering of Emmy and Golden Globe awards, Fox announced in early 2000 that he would leave the show, which he also executive produced, to spend time with his family, and to concentrate on raising money and awareness for Parkinson's disease—including the May 2000 launch of the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research. Fox won an Emmy and a Golden Globe for his final season on Spin City, along with the respect and support of the entire Hollywood community.