48 Facts About Michael J Fox

1.

Michael J Fox is famous for his role as protagonist Marty McFly in the Back to the Future film trilogy, a critical and commercial success.

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2.

Michael J Fox went on to headline several films throughout the 1980s and 1990s, including Teen Wolf, The Secret of My Success, Casualties of War, Doc Hollywood, and The Frighteners .

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3.

Michael J Fox returned to television on the ABC sitcom Spin City in the lead role of Mike Flaherty from 1996 to 2000.

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4.

In 1998, Michael J Fox disclosed his 1991 diagnosis of Parkinson's disease.

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5.

Michael J Fox subsequently became an advocate for finding a cure and founded the Michael J Fox Foundation in 2000 to help fund research.

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6.

Worsening symptoms forced Michael J Fox to reduce his activities and led to his return to television in Spin City when he was still a major movie star.

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7.

Michael J Fox continued to make guest appearances on television, including recurring roles on the FX comedy-drama Rescue Me and the CBS legal drama The Good Wife that garnered him critical acclaim.

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8.

Michael J Fox worked voicing the title character in the Stuart Little films and the lead of the animated film Atlantis: The Lost Empire .

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9.

Michael J Fox retired from acting in 2020 due to his declining health.

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10.

Michael J Fox won five Primetime Emmy Awards, four Golden Globe Awards, two Screen Actors Guild Awards, and a Grammy Award.

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11.

Michael J Fox was appointed an Officer of the Order of Canada in 2010, along with being inducted to Canada's Walk of Fame in 2000 and the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2002.

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12.

Michael J Fox's family lived in various cities and towns across Canada because of his father's career.

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13.

Michael J Fox attended Burnaby Central Secondary School, and now has a theatre named for him at Burnaby South Secondary.

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14.

At age 15, Michael J 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.

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15.

Michael J Fox 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, he discovered that Michael Fox, a veteran character actor, was already registered under the name.

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16.

Michael J Fox received the role only after Matthew Broderick was unavailable.

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17.

However, the positive reaction to Michael J Fox's performance led to his character becoming the focus of the show following the fourth episode.

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18.

Brandon Tartikoff, one of the show's producers, felt that Michael J Fox was too short in relation to the actors playing his parents, and tried to have him replaced.

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19.

When Fox left the television series Spin City in 2000, his final episodes made numerous allusions to Family Ties: Michael Gross portrays Mike Flaherty's therapist, and there is a reference to an off-screen character named "Mallory".

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20.

In January 1985, Michael J Fox was cast to replace Eric Stoltz as Marty McFly, a teenager who is accidentally sent back in time from 1985 to 1955 in Back to the Future.

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21.

In Bright Lights, Big City, Michael J Fox played a fact-checker for a New York magazine, who spends his nights partying with alcohol and drugs.

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22.

The film received mixed reviews, with Hal Hinson in The Washington Post criticizing Michael J Fox by claiming that "he was the wrong actor for the job".

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23.

Michael J Fox then starred in Casualties of War, a dark and violent war drama about the Vietnam War, alongside Sean Penn.

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24.

Casualties of War was not a major box office hit, but Michael J Fox, playing a private serving in Vietnam, was praised for his performance.

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25.

The Hard Way was released in 1991, with Michael J Fox playing an undercover actor learning from police officer James Woods.

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26.

Michael J Fox voiced the American Bulldog Chance in Disney's live-action film Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey and its sequel Homeward Bound II: Lost in San Francisco, the titular character in Stuart Little and its two sequels Stuart Little 2 and Stuart Little 3: Call of the Wild, and Milo Thatch in Disney's animated film Atlantis: The Lost Empire.

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27.

Michael J Fox announced that he planned to continue to act and would make guest appearances on Spin City .

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28.

In 2004, Michael J Fox guest starred in two episodes of the comedy-drama Scrubs as Dr Kevin Casey, a surgeon with severe obsessive-compulsive disorder.

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29.

Michael J Fox was nominated for an Emmy Award for best guest appearance.

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30.

In 2009, Michael J Fox appeared in five episodes of the television series Rescue Me which earned him an Emmy for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series.

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31.

In 2011, Michael J Fox was featured as himself in the eighth season of the Larry David vehicle Curb Your Enthusiasm.

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32.

Michael J Fox returned in 2017 for a brief appearance, referencing his prior time on the show.

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33.

Locascio, voicing his character of Marty McFly in the 2011 Back to the Future episodic adventure game, Michael J Fox lent his likeness to the in-game version of Marty alongside Christopher Lloyd.

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34.

Michael J 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.

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35.

In 2018, Michael J Fox was cast in the recurring role of Ethan West on the second season of the ABC political drama Designated Survivor.

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36.

Michael J Fox's character was described as "a Washington attorney with significant connections and a history of great success" who was hired to investigate whether the president of the United States was fit to continue in his position.

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37.

In 2020, Michael J Fox retired from acting due to the increasing unreliability of his speech.

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38.

Michael J Fox served as an executive producer of Spin City alongside co-creators Bill Lawrence and Gary David Goldberg.

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39.

Michael J Fox has authored four books: Lucky Man: A Memoir, Always Looking Up: The Adventures of an Incurable Optimist, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Future: Twists and Turns and Lessons Learned, and No Time Like the Future: An Optimist Considers Mortality .

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40.

Michael J Fox met his wife, Tracy Pollan, when she played the role of his girlfriend, Ellen, on Family Ties.

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41.

Michael J Fox started displaying symptoms of early-onset Parkinson's disease in 1991 while shooting the movie Doc Hollywood, and was diagnosed shortly thereafter.

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42.

Michael J Fox is one of at least four members of the cast and crew of Leo and Me who developed early-onset Parkinson's.

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43.

Michael J Fox eventually sought help and stopped drinking altogether.

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44.

In Lucky Man, Michael J Fox wrote that he did not take his medication prior to his testimony before the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee in 1999 .

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45.

In 2006, Michael J Fox starred in a campaign ad for then-State Auditor of Missouri Claire McCaskill in her successful 2006 Senate campaign against incumbent Jim Talent, expressing her support for embryonic stem cell research.

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46.

Michael J Fox's work led him to be named one of the 100 people "whose power, talent or moral example is transforming the world" in 2007 by Time magazine.

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47.

Michael J Fox received an honorary doctorate of laws from the University of British Columbia.

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48.

Michael J Fox recalled performing in role-playing simulations as part of police recruit training exercises at the Institute early in his career.

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