Michael J Fox Essay, Research Paper

Attention getter:

He was considered one of “The 25 Most intriguing people of the Year” in 1998 by People weekly magazine.

He was also named ” Celebrity of the Year 2000″ by US weekly magazine on its January 2001 issue. With his boyish good looks he had conquer Hollywood and several women hearts.

You might be wondering?. Who in the world is she talking about?

Well this person is Michael J Fox, a terrific actor and my favorite one.

Purpose Statement:

Today I would like to inform you about Michael successive life.

Thesis:

Michael J Fox, like any other person have had up and downs in his life, he had a very successful acting career since he was 18, so for almost 19 years. But life can be tough sometimes, after top hit TV series and movies, he had to quit acting and producing when he was diagnosed of having Parkinson’s disease.

Transition to body of speech:

So to start out we can go deeply into some aspects of his life.

Body:

Michael J. Fox was born in June 9, 1961, In Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. As a child he enjoyed writing stories, he taught himself rock & roll guitar, joined a band and drew cartoons, this was stated by ” Biography” magazine on their March 2000 issue.

He began acting professionally at age 15, on the Canadian Broadcasting Company, in the television series “Leo and me”.

He enjoyed acting so much that he dropped out of high school and moved to Los Angeles. When he arrived there, he discovered the name Michael Fox was already registered, so he took the middle initial J, and registered himself as actor “Michael J Fox”.

In Los Angeles he found work in the TV series “Palmers town USA”. He also got a role in the Walt Disney feature film, Midnight Madness.

All of this was only the beginning though. What came next for Michael was a role on a new NBC sitcom called ” Family Ties” which was a big success that stayed on air from 1982 to 1989, an impressive 7 years run. He played the role of Alex P. Keaton, the neo-conservative son obsessed with money and politics, amongst a white middle class family, headed by two former hippie parents. The show was a hit around the world and Fox would win three Emmy Awards for his role.

It was also during “Family Ties” that he met and married his wife Tracy Pollen, she played his girlfriend on the show. They have been married for eleven years already and are the parents of a son named Sam and identical twin daughters named Aquinnah and Schuyler.

This cute as a button couple was nominated as one of ” The 25 most romantic couples ever” by writer Janet Cawley from “Biography” magazine on their February 1999 issue.

Soon after he began appearing on the show, Michael squeezed time into his schedule to make a new movie ” Back to the future”. The film was a great success and proved to the world that Fox was a viable talent actor. In the words of various admiring critics, he demonstrated an incredible comic sensibility and an infallible charm.

He also had enormous success playing comic roles like the one in “Teen Wolf” and “The secret of my success”; but Michael wanted to broaden his range and took some dramatic roles like in movies “Light of Day”, “Bright Lights, Big City”, “Casualties of War”.

Audience applauded Fox’s return to “Back to the Future”, for sequels II and III in 1989 and 1990. His role in “The American President” in 1995, earned Michael accolades once again, but it was his ceremonious return to prime time television in the ABC sitcom “Spin City”, which premiered in 1996, that put Fox back where he belonged.

Fox plays the lovably deputy mayor of New York City. This show is a combination of political satire and silly humor.

Spin City was a critical success, rating between 17 and 20 million viewers per episode.

Everything seemed to be on track with Michael’s life, his TV series was a success and he also won several awards thank to it, like:

“The People’s choice award in 1997″

“The golden globe in 1997,1998 and 1999, he won in the category of best actor in a television series.

Also in 1999 he won the GQ Man of the year award.

But things were not perfect at all, as they seemed to be.

In November 1998 in an interview with “People magazine”, Michael revealed that he had been secretly battling Parkinson’s disease for the past seven years.

Parkinson’s disease is a slowly progressive deterioration of control over one’s voluntary movements. Every movement from swallowing to walking can be involved. Two types of disturbances occur: a tremor or shaking that is characteristic of the disease and a decreased ability to move parts of the body. Because it involves mostly movement, Parkinson’s disease is called a “motor” disorder. It begins so slowly that it may not be identified for months. Then it gradually worsens, involving more and more parts of the body to greater and greater degrees.

Despite Spin City’s incredible success and a showering of Emmys and Golden Globes awards, Michael announced in early 2000 that he would leave the show, which he also executive produced, to spend time with his family, and to concentrate on raising money and awareness for Parkinson’s disease.

He founded ” the MJF Parkinson’s Foundation”, which was born out of Michael’s determination to raise funds for Parkinson’s cure.

He has also participated in several events to collect funds too.