For an entire generation, Michael J. Fox will forever be the time-traveling hero from one of the greatest sci-fi films of all time and the biggest movies of the 1980s. Long before he sprinted across Hill Valley or outran Biff Tannen, Fox was another young actor trying to claw his way out of Hollywood’s margins. In aninterview tied to Back to the Future‘s 40th anniversary and the release of his memoir Future Boy, he’s peeling back the curtain on what his life looked like before Marty McFly changed everything.
The now-famous actor recently spoke to EW, recalling that when he entered the industry, he wasn’t thinking about career legacy or future stardom, but was just trying to survive the grind. The expectations were low, and, as he put it, the treatment often left him feeling like he barely registered.
I was not aware of what anyone thought about it. I was an actor, I was used to being treated like shit, being called short, being called no good. That’s just what we go through.
Even with Family Ties giving him some early footing, Fox explains that the years before Back to the Future were more in survival mode than in momentum. He continued:
You bring yourself into the situation where all your bets are on the table, and you just play your hand. I was five years into it, I had a bit of success with Family Ties, but I had two years of just dumpster diving and insulting conditions. I was ready for my break.
Coming from Edmonton with no family connections beyond a mother who once acted, he had no fast track, no safety net, and no sense that his career was about to become generational. That’s what makes the Back to the Future origin story even more surreal.
Fox wasn’t chasing a blockbuster but was juggling Family Ties, shooting Teen Wolf, and suddenly fielding a call to meet with Robert Zemeckis and Steven Spielberg about a movie already six weeks into production.
Famously, Michael J. Fox took over the role of Marty from Eric Stoltz, who was replaced weeks into shooting. This is a fact the Life of Mikey actor says he didn’t know about when he took the job. He just showed up, worked through exhaustion, and hoped it would make a difference.
Of course, it did. The movie turned Michael J. Fox into a star and cemented Marty McFly as one of pop culture’s defining roles. He’s now worth (an alleged) $65 million or so, but that success came only after years of rejection. Looking back, the Teen Wolf star’s grit tracks, as he’s weathered challenges far tougher than early-career setbacks, including his life-changing Parkinson’s diagnosis in 1990. And through it all, he’s become a symbol of resilience, optimism, and advocacy.
The Canadian-born performer’s rise may feel inevitable now, but it wasn’t. There was no guarantee Marty McFly would become a phenomenon with four decades of staying power — yet that’s exactly what happened. And it’s difficult to imagine that legacy without Michael J. Fox’s performance at the center of it.
If you want to revisit his iconic turn as Marty McFly, the entire Back to the Future trilogy is streaming with a Paramount+ subscription.