Michael J Fox says he's open to acting comeback despite retirement

The Back To The Future star announced his retirement from on-screen work in 2020
Michael J Fox pictured above
PA Archive
Ellie Iorizzo5 April 2024
The Weekender

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Michael J Fox said he would consider a return to acting if he was offered the right role that incorporated the “realities” of his Parkinson’s disease.

The Back To The Future star announced his retirement from on-screen work in 2020, having been open about how the disease affected his memory and made it difficult to remember lines of dialogue.

The 62-year-old told Entertainment Tonight he would consider acting again “if I could figure it out”.

“If someone offers me a part and I do it and I have a good time, great,” he said.

“I would do acting if something came up that I could put my realities into it, my challenges, if I could figure it out.”

The activist and former Hollywood actor was diagnosed with young-onset Parkinson’s disease a year after Back To The Future Part III was released in 1990.

BRITAIN-ENTERTAINMENT-FILM-AWARDS-BAFTA
Fox (L) and his wife, US actress Tracy Pollan at 2024’s BAFTAs
AFP via Getty Images

Fox first noticed a tremor in his little finger before his diagnosis at the age of 29 and the progressive neurological condition has severely affected his mobility. He has suffered broken bones from numerous falls.

During the interview with Entertainment Tonight, Fox said his goals were always shifting, but his biggest goal had been “to raise a family” with his wife Tracy Pollan.

“We have four amazing kids and that’s been the big thing,” Fox said referring to Pollan, who he married in 1988.

“And then the other is with the foundation.”

Fox founded the Michael J Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s research in 2000, which has raised more than two billion dollars (£1.58 billion), CBS News reported in November.

In 2023, he starred in the Apple+ documentary Still: A Michael J Fox Movie, exploring how Parkinson’s impacted his life.

As well as starring in the Back To The Future trilogy, Fox is known for films including Teen Wolf and Doc Hollywood along with the TV series Spin City.

In February, he received a standing ovation after making a surprise appearance in a wheelchair at the Bafta film awards in London to present the best film award to Sir Christopher Nolan for Oppenheimer.