Michael J. Fox will always be known as Marty McFly in Back to the Future, but he’s had an expansive career in movies and on TV outside of that trilogy. Directed by Robert Zemeckis, the Back to the Future trilogy released between 1985 and 1990, and established Marty McFly as an iconic ’80s movie character. Here’s how Fox’s career played out since last stepping out of the DeLorean time machine.
Prior to Back to the Future‘s release, Fox was known for starring as the politically-conscious student Alex P. Keaton in NBC’s Family Ties. He’d also appeared in two features films: Midnight Madness (1980) and Class of 1984. Produced for just $19 million, Back to the Future made almost $400 million at the box office. Suffice to say, Universal was eager to make more films. On top of the first movie, Back to the Future II (1989) and Back to the Future III (1990) were also huge commercial hits. When the ’90s began, Fox was an established star in both movies and television.
Fox may forever be associated with Back to the Future, but he also starred in other ’80s classics. Teen Wolf (1985) is undeniably an iconic coming-of-age film, certainly for moviegoers who grew up watching Family Ties. Even more, Teen Wolf released just one month after Back to the Future, which made the summer of ’85 a glorious time for Fox. He also co-starred in the 1989 drama Casualties of War, and then hosted Saturday Night Live in 1991. As it turns out, the early ’90s would be a transformative time for Fox’s career, as he was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 1992 after starring in Doc Hollywood, another box office hit.
Fox’s movie career seemingly ended during the mid-’90s with roles in The American President, The Frighteners, and Mars Attacks. However, he did voice the title character in three Stuart Little films between 1999 and 2005, and also starred as Mike Flaherty in the hit ABC sitcom Spin City from 1996 to 2001, winning three Golden Globe Awards for Best Actor in a Television Series – Comedy or Musical. From there, Fox began focusing more on spreading awareness about Parkinson’s disease. During a 2018 interview with CBS Sunday Morning, Fox discusses the symptoms of his disease (slurred speech, muscle stiffness, and tremors), along with the 2000 formation of The Michael J. Fox Foundation, which has raised almost $1 billion for Parkinson’s research.
In the 2010s, Fox returned to TV with roles in The Good Wife, Designated Survivor, and the short-lived NBC sitcom The Michael J. Fox Show. Most recently, he resumed his movie career with a small role in the 2019 Netflix sci-fi film See You Yesterday, and also reprised his character from The Good Wife, Louis Canning, in a 2020 episode. While Fox has appeared in film and on TV off-and-on for years, his first and foremost devotion appears to be to combating Parkinson’s disease. He even appeared on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, in 2019 with his wife, Tracy Pollan, to discuss World Parkinson’s Day.
