Michael Andrew Fox (born June 9, 1961), known professionally as Michael J. Fox, is a Canadian-American actor, author, producer, and activist with a film and television career spanning from the 1970s. He starred in the Back to the Future trilogy where he portrayed Marty McFly. Other notable roles have included Mike Flaherty on the ABC sitcom Spin City (1996–2000) and his portrayal of Alex P. Keaton on the American sitcom Family Ties. He has won five Emmy Awards, four Golden Globe Awards, and two Screen Actors Guild Awards.
Fox was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease in 1991 at age 29, and disclosed his condition to the public in 1998. He semi-retired from acting in 2000 as the symptoms of his disease worsened. He has since become an advocate for research toward finding a cure; he created The Michael J. Fox Foundation, and Sweden's Karolinska Institutet gave him an honoris causa doctorate on March 5, 2010 for his work advocating a cure for Parkinson's disease.
Since 1999, Fox has mainly worked as a voice-over actor in films such as Stuart Little and Disney's Atlantis: The Lost Empire. On the CBS TV show The Good Wife, he earned Emmy nominations for three consecutive years for his recurring role as crafty attorney Louis Canning. He has also taken recurring guest roles and cameo appearances in Boston Legal, Scrubs, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Rescue Me, and Designated Survivor. He has released the Lucky Man: A Memoir (2002), Always Looking Up: The Adventures of an Incurable Optimist (2009), and A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Future: Twists and Turns and Lessons Learned (2010). He was appointed an Officer of the Order of Canada in 2010. He also was inducted into Canada's Walk of Fame in 2000.