Michael J Fox confirms whether he’ll return to acting
After announcing his retirement in 2020, Michael J Fox has revealed that he would consider a return to acting, but only if he was presented with the perfect project.
Fox found success in the 1980s with starring roles in family favourites like Back to the Future and Teen Wolf. Sadly, the actor was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 1991 at the age of 29, leading him to extend his work into activism and non-profit ventures.
The star maintained an acting career for three decades following his diagnosis, but chose to withdraw from his craft a few years ago due to his increasing struggles with memory and speech. Fox’s last few projects included a voice acting credit in an animated short called Back Home Again and a cameo in Stefon Bristol’s See You Yesterday.
Now, in a conversation with Entertainment Tonight, Fox has suggested that he would be open to acting again if the right opportunity presented itself, and if it allowed him to infuse his acting with his own experiences. “I would do acting if something came up that I could put my realities into it,” Fox stated, “my challenges, if I could figure it out.”
Since retiring from acting, Fox shared his realities and challenges on-screen in the 2023 documentary Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie, which was released by Apple TV+. Directed by Davis Guggenheim, the film reflected on Fox’s life, from his celebrated career to his struggle with Parkinson’s.
Outside of acting, Fox noted that his “biggest goal” was to raise a family. In 1988, he married Tracy Pollan, a fellow actor who he first encountered on the set of his breakthrough sit-com Family Ties. Pollan played Ellen Reed in season four of the show, a character Fox’s Alex P. Keaton takes a romantic interest in.
Fox and Pollan fulfilled the actor’s goals and started a family together, having their first child in 1989. Since then, they have had three more children together “We have four amazing kids and that’s been the big thing,” Fox stated.
His other goal has come in the form of The Michael J Fox Foundation, a non-profit that he set up eight years after his Parkinson’s diagnosis. The foundation funds research with the aim of finding a cure for the disease. So far, the organisation has raised over $1.75 billion dollars.
Watch the trailer for Still: A Michael J Fox Movie below. The documentary is out now.
Never Miss A Scene
The Far Out Film Newsletter
All the latest film news from the independent voice of culture.
Straight to your inbox.