Michael J. Fox became a household name when he starred as the protagonist Marty McFly in Robert Zemeckis’ sci-fi comedy Back to the Future. While the actor was not the first choice for the role, he replaced actor Eric Stoltz who had already begun filming for the movie. Fox has now become synonymous with the role and starred in two more sequels.
Before he became known for his role in Back to the Future and the sitcom Family Ties, Michael J. Fox was reportedly at the worst of his finances. He revealed once that his situation was so bad that he used to check at dumpsters for food because he could not afford it. However, once he bagged the roles of his lifetime, there was no turning back.
Michael J. Fox Had To Find Food At A Dumpster To Survive As A Struggling Actor
Actor Michael J. Fox has now been etched in the minds of cinephiles due to his appearance in the popular Back to the Future trilogy. The film gave the actor his Hollywood breakthrough as the sci-fi comedy became the highest-grossing film of the year in 1985, earning $388 million against a $19 million budget. He starred along with Christopher Lloyd.
Before he became the star of the franchise, however, Fox was known for his role as Alex Keaton in the sitcom Family Ties, and before that, he was an unknown child actor from Canada who believed that he would make it in Hollywood. The actor had reportedly dropped out of school in Canada and moved to LA to pursue his dreams.
Fox had a starring role in the Canadian TV show Leo and Me, but when he came to LA as a child actor, things were different. Fox was the son of a Canadian Forces police dispatcher and a payroll clerk. He did not come from money, but he believed that he was talented and would make it in Hollywood. He said to Variety,
“It’s not that I wished them [other budding actors] unhappiness or bad luck — I wished them all the success in the world. But I knew I was going to make it. God knows why. I was living on the margins. I was 18 years old, with no money, no connections, literally dumpster diving for food.”
The actor mentioned how dire his situation was when he moved to LA looking for roles. According to Variety, he used to reportedly play roles that were much younger than he actually was to sustain his life, and there were times when he was looking in the dumpster for food.
Michael J. Fox Had A Terrible Audition With Robert Redford
The success of shows such as Family Ties and the Back to The Future trilogy picked him up from rigs and put him into the riches. The actor currently has a net worth of $65 million after working in the industry for more than four decades. While the actor has faced health issues in the form of Parkinson’s disease, he has seen worse days when he was a struggling actor.
Michael J. Fox mentioned that though he hit it big as a child star with Family Ties, he had many failed auditions before. He recounted an incident where he was auditioning for a role in Robert Redford’s directorial Ordinary People. He said to Variety that while he was reading for the part, Redford was barely concentrating as he was too busy with another activity.
Fox said that Redford was flossing his teeth while Fox was trying out for the film, which he did not end up getting. Redford would go on to win the Oscar for Best Director for the film, which starred Donald Sutherland and Mary Tyler Moore. While Fox had to go through many such forgettable and terrible auditions, he still had unwavering confidence.
“I knew I was more talented than a lot of people. And I knew that if I wanted to be someone, I couldn’t just sit on my parents’ porch and think, ‘Boy, if I was only born in the States and my parents had money and weren’t living paycheck to paycheck, I could do something with my life.’”
The actor would go on to feature in films such as Midnight Madness and Class of 1984 before getting a breakthrough in Family Ties. The actor won three Emmys and a Golden Globe for his role in the sitcom.
