• Fox was named one of the Time100 Most Influential People of 2024.

• The Michael J. Fox Foundation has contributed $2 billion to Parkinson’s disease research.

Many people know Michael J. Fox as the adorable Alex Keaton from the hit TV sitcom Family Ties. Some know him as Marty McFly in the Back to the Future trilogy. In the time Fox was garnering his four Golden Globe and five Emmy awards, however, he was also developing Parkinson’s disease, the thing for which he would become most famous.

Fox was born in Edmonton, Canada. Like many other Canadian boys, he dreamed of a career in the National Hockey League. As a teenager, however, he explored writing, music and theater and developed an affinity for the arts. He played guitar in garage bands before landing a major role on Canadian sitcom Leo and Me.

When he was 18, Fox moved to Los Angeles and soon landed the role of a lifetime: the NBC sitcom Family Ties. He went on to have major roles in movies like Doc Hollywood, The American President and the three Back to the Future films. Almost a decade after Family Ties had ended its successful run, Fox returned to series television with Spin City.

It was during this new television stint that Fox shocked the entertainment world and his fans across the globe by revealing he had Parkinson’s disease. Afterward, Fox committed himself to the campaign for increased Parkinson’s research. In 1999, he testified before congress for Parkinson’s disease research and treatment, and in 2000 he launched his own foundation. Fox has also chronicled his experience in four books, all New York Times bestsellers.In 2023, a documentary called Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie was released showing his life and his struggle with Parkinson’s disease, and in 2024 he appeared on the Time100 list of most influential people of the year.

Based in New York City, the Foundation has a tremendous national presence. The Foundation has a portfolio of $2 billion in funding for research, drug trials and other disease-modifying therapies for Parkinson’s and dyskinesia. In 2023, the vaccine research the Foundation had been funding resulted in a successful Phase 1 clinical trial and has the potential to transform Parkinson’s care. Resources for understanding Parkinson’s can be found here on the Foundation’s website.

Updated April 2024