Amiably boyish and possessing flawless comic timing, the diminutive ("Why don't they just call me short") Michael J. Fox began acting in his native Canada, first in the CBC series "Leo and Me" (1976) and later in a CBS movie shot there, "Letters from Frank" (1979). Encouraged by its star Art Carney, he relocated that year to Los Angeles, where he (relatively) quickly landed a regular part on "Palmerstown, U.S.A." (CBS, 1980-81) and a small movie role in "Midnight Madness" (1980), yet he was about ready to cash it in and return to Canada when the TV series "Family Ties" (NBC, 1982-89) catapulted him to international fame. Beginning as a no-name behind stars Meredith Baxter Birney and Michael Gross, Fox quickly broke out as quintessential, Reagan-era yuppie Alex P. Keaton, greed with the face of an angel. He may have been playing yuppie scum, but his straightforward good looks and charming manner made him almost impossible to dislike, earning him three Emmy Awards in the process. Without missing a beat, he then became a matinee star as time-traveling, guitar-playing, boy-next-door Marty McFly in Robert Zemeckis' wildly successful "Back to the Future" (1985), shooting the movie at night after spending his days on the set of "Family Ties".
The anemic "Teen Wolf" (also 1985), which cast Fox as a student werewolf who parlays his condition into high school popularity, benefited greatly from the success of both "Back to the Future" and "Family Ties", and "The Secret of My Success" (1987), featuring his energetic and appealing performance as a naive but ambitious kid who hustles his way into the corporate world of NYC, also traded on his likablity. Dissatisfied with his "nice boy" image, Fox attempted to broaden his range, beginning with Paul Schrader's "Light of Day" (also 1987), a misguided rock'n'roll drama co-starring real-life rocker Joan Jett as his renegade sister. Though the pic gave him the chance to play guitar again, critics and fans alike reacted negatively to his atypical lack of intensity as the brooding factory worker-band member, enabling Jett to steal the mostly lackluster show with her compelling performance. As for James Bridges' adaptation of Jay McInerney's "Bright Lights, Big City" (1988), the studio was as adamant as the public about not wanting to see him as a coke-snorting magazine fact checker and put enormous (and thankfully futile) pressure on the director to make a mockery of the project by getting rid of the cocaine.
Fox was back to clean-cut decency as the conscience-stricken G.I. squaring off against an over-the-top Sean Penn in Brian De Palma's disturbing Vietnam saga "Casualties of War" (1989), but his moral impotence in the face of the Penn-led atrocity was disturbing. The ticket-buying public and critics alike welcomed his return to the light comic capers of "Back to the Future II" (also 1989) and "Back to the Future III" (1990). Shot back to back by Zemeckis, these films allowed Fox to play multiple characters, including an aged Marty, Marty's daughter and his ancient Irish relative, Seamus McFly. He followed up with the cop buddy picture "The Hard Way" with James Woods and the fish-out-of-water comedy "Doc Hollywood" (both 1991), neither coming close to the box office pyrotechnics of the "Back to the Future" franchise. Fox discovered another outlet for his talent when he lent his voice to the Disney animal adventure remake "Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey", but the tepid response to his child talent agent in "Life With Mikey", his beleaguered hotel concierge in "For Love or Money" (all 1993), and his turn as Kirk Douglas' nephew in "Greedy" (1994) led him to reassess his career.
Changing management, Fox lay low until Woody Allen called, enjoying his outing in the writer-director's TV remake of "Don't Drink the Water" (1994) and taking Allen's "You play paranoid angst better than anyone else" (US, September 1996) as a huge compliment. His dead-on portrayal of a domestic advisor (modeled on George Stephanopoulos) in Rob Reiner's "The American President" (1995) begged for an encore, and when the long shoot in New Zealand for Peter Jackson's "The Frighteners" (1996, executive produced by Zemeckis) convinced him that a TV series schedule was best for his family life, he reteamed with "Family Ties" executive producer-creator Gary David Goldberg for the ABC sitcom "Spin City" (1996-2000), returning to the small screen as a New York City mayoral aide. As executive producer, he also had more input into this show, which featured the witty, fast-talking, light-on-his-feet Fox at his trademark best. In 1998, the actor publicly disclosed he had been fighting Parkinson's disease since 1991 yet his illness initially hardly slowed him, and he became a tireless activist for research to battle the affliction, frequently appearing as a lobbyist in Washington D.C. and making public appearances when he knew his tics and tremors would be visible in order to put a human face on his condition. In addition to the regular series grind, Fox squeezed in the gleefully boyish vocals for the titular mouse in "Stuart Little" (1999). While purists may have objected to the changes in E B White's story, family audiences embraced the little white mouse and turned the film into a surprise box office hit that spawned an equally charming 2002 sequel. He also voiced the lead character in Disney's "Atlantis: The Lost Empire" (2001), a not-so-successful attempt to graft a teen boy action appeal to the classic Disney animated formula.
Leaving "Spin City" in 2000 to focus on his health, Fox remained a welcome presence on TV, returning to his sit-com frequently as a guest star to visit his successor and real-life chum Charlie Sheen. He also appeared as a seemingly perfect doctor who threatens the staff on the NBC sitcom "Scrubs" in 2004 (the series was created by "Spin City's" Bill Lawrence), and on three 2005 episodes of "Boston Legal" as a rich businessman with lung cancer.