Michael J Fox was born Michael Andrew Fox in Edmonton Canada on 9th June 1961, Michael was the son of Phyllis and Sgt William Fox of the Royal Canadian Army Signal Corps. As a child, the family (including a brother and two sisters) moved around a great deal, due to his father's work. They finally settled in Vancover, which is where he began his acting career.
Michael's first professional acting role came in the TV sitcom "Leo and me" when he was just 15 years old. He also appeared in a couple of films, "Midnight Madness" and "Class of 1984", although with limited success. He moved to Los Angeles in search of the Hollywood dream, although he soon found himself virtually penniless, and he even he resorted to selling his furniture piece by piece in order to buy food! Eventually though, he had a lucky break. He won the role of Alex P Keaton in what turned out to be the hit TV sitcom "Family Ties". This part shot him to fame, and during his time on the show, he won three Emmy Awards plus a Golden Globe.
At the same time as filming "Family "Ties", Michael also managed to film "Back to the Future". This was the movie which really made his name as a star. For several months he was filming "Family Ties" during the day, and "Back to the Future" at night, only managing to sleep whilst being driven from one set to the other. Suddenly he was a star, and the movie offers kept flooding in. Most noteable of this era were films such as "Teen Wolf", "The Secret of my Sucess" and "Doc Hollywood".
In 1988 Michael married actress Tracy Pollan, whom he had first met on the set of "Family Ties", and the couple now have four children. Whilst on location filming "Doc Hollywood", Michael first noticed symptoms of what has since been diagnosed as Parkinsons Disease. This was diagnosed in 1991. However, he didn't disclose this to anyone (except close family), and continued working.
Between 1996-2000, Michael starred in the hit TV sitcom "Spin City", and also became an executive producer for the show. He finally had to leave the cast in 2000 when his symptoms became too problematic with his demanding schedule. His departure was highly publicised, although he continued working as a producer for the show.
These days he is semi retired from acting, although he does still take on the odd part. He has also taken up writing sucessfully, with his best selling autobiography "Lucky Man", amongst others. He has also become a strong advocate for reseach into finding a cure for Parkinsons Disease, and promoting the cause for stem cell research.
Michael J Fox has become an inspiration to millions, for having such a positive attitude to life, despite all of the obstacles he has had to overcome, and still has to deal with.
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