At A Glance
Born: July 9, 1961
Where: Edmonton, AB
Big Break
Began acting professionally at age 15 in the regional Canadian Broadcasting Company series Leo and Me.
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It was 18 months ago that the world first heard the awful truth. Michael J. Fox, one of the most beloved and respected performers
of his generation, announced he had Parkinson's Disease, and had been suffering with the debilitating neurological disorder
for nearly seven years.
Demonstrating the thoughtfulness and integrity that have long defined his public and private personas, Fox said he wanted
to reveal the long-held secret himself so that friends and fans wouldn't learn of it in the tabloid press. Four months later,
he agreed to undergo delicate brain surgery in hopes of reducing the tremors that are symptomatic of the disease. When
his doctor, Boston neurosurgeon Bruce Cook, explained the procedural risks, Fox likened it to his decision 20 years earlier
to drop out of high school and head for Hollywood. "The difference between what I did and what you're doing," he joked to
Cook, "is that you know what you're doing."
Fox was, indeed, a brashly naive 17-year-old when, in 1978, he left his family's British Columbia home - he was born in
Edmonton, but grew up in Vancouver - to chase his show business dreams. His résumé included only one professional credit -
a 13-episode run in the short-lived CBC sitcom Leo And Me.
Four years of disappointment followed. Broke and discouraged, in 1982 Fox decided to return home. Just days before his
scheduled departure, Fox learned that Matthew Broderick had turned down a promising new sitcom called Family Ties and
that the plum role of ultra-conservative, buttoned-down teen Alex P. Keaton was being offered to him.
Family Ties debuted on NBC in September 1982 to extremely low ratings. But network genius Grant Tinker knew the audience
would build and agreed to keep it on the air. Less than a year later, it was a Top 10 hit. Over the course of its
seven-season run, Family Ties earned Fox three Emmys and established him as prime time's brightest young star.
Another fortunate casting change led to his simultaneous success on the big screen. Director Robert Zemeckis had decided to
replace Eric Stoltz as the star of his frothy sci-fi fantasy Back To The Future. Instead, he reverted to his first choice for
the role of teen time-traveller Marty McFly - Michael J. Fox.
After Family Ties was cancelled, Fox's personal life blossomed. He married co-star Tracy Pollan in 1988 and their son, Sam,
was born the following year. Twins Aquinna and Schuyler followed in 1995. Professionally, though, Fox's situation grew
progressively bleak. Caught in the Hollywood no-man's-land between adolescence and adulthood, he racked up six years of
consecutive box-office failures.
Finally, in 1995, the world was ready for a grown-up Michael J. Fox and he earned raves for his pivotal supporting performance
as the White House press secretary in The American President. The following year found Fox back in familiar territory -
starring as conservative, New York deputy mayor Mike Flaherty in the smart, political sitcom Spin City - and back at the top
of his game, as evidenced by his back-to-back victories at the Golden Globe awards.
This spring, Fox bid an emotional farewell to Spin City, opting to devote full-time attention to his family and his physical
well being. He is convinced that a cure for Parkinson's will be found before he reaches age 50. Meanwhile, Fox remains typically
brave and philosophic. As he explained to Barbara Walters last December, "I just feel like I've been in God's pocket for so
long, I just didn't think I was going to be hammered with this. I would find a way to live with it, learn from it, and deal
with it. And I have. My life is so filled with positives, so filled with blessings, and so filled with things I wouldn't
trade for anything in the world."
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Inductees
