Michael J. Fox

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Michael J. Fox (2012)

Michael J. Fox , OC (* 9. June 1961 in Edmonton , Alberta ; bourgeois Michael Andrew Fox ) is a Canadian - American actor and film producer . He became a Hollywood star in the 1980s with the lead role in the television series Familienbande and as Marty McFly in the Back-to-the-Future film trilogy. After suffering from Parkinson's disease , he founded the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research (MJFF) and is involved in science policy .

Life

Actor and producer

Michael J. Fox with his wife Tracy Pollan (1988).

Fox was born in Edmonton. In 1971 his parents moved him and his four siblings to Burnaby , British Columbia (near Vancouver ). In 1976, at the age of 15, he took on his first roles for Canadian television, most notably in the series Leo and Me . To devote himself entirely to the acting profession, he dropped out of high school that same year. In 1979 he got a green card and moved to Beverly Hills in the USA.

Since the Screen Actors Guild did not allow two members with the same name, but a Michael Fox was already registered, he decided - instead of Andrew Fox or Michael A. Fox after his middle name - for Michael J. Fox as a stage name, as a homage to the character actor Michael J. Pollard .

After a few minor roles, as a guest actor in series such as Lou Grant , in commercials and in the feature film Die Klasse von 1984 , he achieved his breakthrough with the comedy series Familienbande ( Family Ties ) produced between 1982 and 1989 . There he played in 180 episodes Alex Keaton , the conservative son of a left-wing father. The role - initially unplanned - quickly became the focus of the series.

Michael J. Fox took over in 1985 in the feature film Back to the Future ( Back to the Future ) the role of the small-town boy Marty McFly , who is taking a trip back to the youth of his parents. The film became an international box office hit and got two sequels. His films Teen Wolf and The Secret of My Success (1987) were also cinema hits . Attempts to establish himself as a serious character actor in dramas such as Light of Day (1987), The Damned of War (1988) and The Glaring Lights of the Big City (1988) failed for lack of commercial success. In 1996 he celebrated a successful comeback with the sitcom Chaos City (English Spin City ) , in which he played the role of the second mayor of New York .

In 2000 he ended his film career because of Parkinson's disease. In the following years he could only be seen in guest appearances or supporting roles and lent his voice over to several cartoon characters. In the series Boston Legal , he took on the role of a terminally ill businessman for several episodes. He was also in two episodes of the series Scrubs . There he played an obsessive-compulsive doctor. In the series The Good Wife , he made numerous guest appearances as the manipulative lawyer Louis Canning, who also suffers from a neurological disease.

In May 2009 he appeared for the one-hour Special Adventures of an Incurable Optimist in connection with the publication of his book of the same name on the US broadcaster ABC .

In September 2011, he played himself in the final episode of the eighth season of the US television series Lass It, Larry! . Between September 2013 and January 2014 he starred in the NBC comedy series The Michael J. Fox Show - a journalist with Parkinson's disease.

There was a much-noticed appearance with Fox on October 21, 2015 on Jimmy Kimmel's talk show . Fox and Christopher Lloyd came on stage in their movie costumes, where they were greeted with stormy applause. This was followed by a 10-minute sketch in which the actors talked to Kimmel about the real world of 2015 and its achievements such as smartphones.

Fox lives in New York and on a farm in Connecticut and is married to Tracy Pollan , who was his colleague on the television series Family Ties. With her he has a son and three daughters.

Parkinson's Disease

Michael J. Fox has had Parkinson's disease since 1991 . First tremor -Symptoms occurred during the shooting of the film The Hard Way (The Hard Way) on the little finger of the left hand by trembling. For years he covered the disease through targeted acting. On December 7, 1998, he admitted to the US magazine People to be sick with Parkinson's. Between 2000 and 2013 (with the start of the series The Michael J. Fox Show ), he only had occasional guest appearances in television series or dubbed characters in cartoons.

Fox's seizures are so severe at times that they result in paralysis on one side. His Parkinson's autobiography Comeback (English Lucky Man ) was one of the top ten US bestsellers for over thirteen weeks.

Foundation founder

Fox founded in May 2000, the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research (MJFF) (dt. Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research ), the funds for Parkinson's research collects and distributes. According to its own information, the foundation had raised US $ 149 million by 2009 for the development of new Parkinson's therapies. By the end of 2018 it was already 800 million US dollars.

Science policy

Michael J. Fox in 2008.

Fox is a regular contributor to science policy. He runs campaigns to promote the controversial stem cell research and convinced Muhammad Ali , who also has Parkinson's disease , to present himself to the media with him despite illness-related language disorders. In 2002 and 2005, Fox appeared at two US Congress hearings . He managed to win over two senators , Tom Harkin (Democrats) and Arlen Specter (Democrats).

In October 2006, he supported the candidacy of three stem cell research politicians to the United States Senate in television commercials . They were Democrats Benjamin L. Cardin ( Maryland ), Jim Doyle ( Wisconsin ) and Claire McCaskill ( Missouri ). A commercial for McCaskill shows his poor health and sparked controversy; noted conservative talk radio host Rush Limbaugh suggested he may have been playing his symptoms. Fox stressed that it was not about party politics, but about advancing Parkinson's research.

Awards

The Michael J. Fox Theater in Burnaby

In 1986 he was awarded the Jupiter in the Best Actor category. In 1998, 1999 and 2000 he received the Golden Globe for his role in Chaos City . In 2001 he was awarded for his support of Parkinson's research the Muhammad Ali Humanitarian Award , and in 2005 a tribute to the American Association of Retired Persons (dt. American Association of retirees ). Fox also received five Emmys . Three times for his role as Alex Keaton in the series Familienbande (1986, 1987 and 1988), once for the role of Mike Flaherty in the series Chaos City (2000) and in 2009 for his guest appearance as Dwight in the episode Sheila of the series Rescue Me . In 2008, Fox was awarded two honorary doctorates . He received the first from New York University and the second from the University of British Columbia . In 2010 he was awarded a further honorary doctorate by the Swedish Karolinska Institute , which also awards the Nobel Prizes in Medicine, for his commitment to Parkinson's research. In 2010 he received the Grammy Award for his audio book Always Looking Up . In February 2011 he was awarded the Golden Camera for his life's work .

German voice actors

Fox is dubbed by Sven Hasper in most of the most famous films and series (including Back to the Future , Doc Hollywood , Chaos City ) . Occasionally Frank Schaff , Frank Lenart , Stephan Kampwirth , Jan Koester and Matthias von Stegmann also lend him their voices.

Filmography (selection)

Movies

Series

Fonts

  • Lucky man. A memoir. Hyperion, New York 2002, ISBN 0-7868-6764-7 .
  • Lucky man [sound recording]. A memoir. Simon & Schuster Audio, New York 2002.
  • Comeback. Parkinson's won't win. Bastei Lübbe, Bergisch Gladbach 2004, ISBN 3-404-61551-4 .
  • Always looking up. The Adventures of an Incurable Optimist. Hyperion, New York 2009, ISBN 978-1-4013-0338-9 .
  • A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Future. Twists and Turns and Lessons Learned. Hyperion, New York 2010, ISBN 978-1-4013-2386-8 .

literature

Web links

Commons : Michael J. Fox  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ ABC: serienjunkies.de
  2. ↑ ABC: Adventures Of An Incurable Optimist
  3. ↑ USA Today: NBC plans for brighter future
  4. ↑ Brown & Marty McFly Jimmy Kimmel Oct 21 2015 on YouTube
  5. ↑ Foundation Report 2007 ( Memento of October 22, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
  6. ↑ Where Does Your Money Go. Retrieved October 27, 2018 .
  7. ↑ USA Today: Limbaugh says actor Fox exaggerating his disease as stem cell issue churns
  8. ↑ YouTube: Michael J. Fox
  9. ↑ Spiegel Online: Star presenter mocks Parkinson's sufferers Michael J. Fox
  10. ↑ USA Today: Fox: Not off medicine in political ads
personal data
SURNAME Fox, Michael J.
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Fox, Michael Andrew (maiden name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Canadian film actor
DATE OF BIRTH June 9, 1961
PLACE OF BIRTH Edmonton , Alberta , Canada