Michael J. Fox

Fox began acting professionally as a teenager in Canadian television before moving to Los Angeles, where years of small, unremarkable roles preceded his breakout casting on the sitcom Family Ties, the very success of which nearly cost him his signature film role.

Cast mid-season while shooting that sitcom by day, Fox gave Marty McFly the comic timing and warmth that makes Back to the Future endlessly rewatchable. He was the production's first choice, but his sitcom commitment initially made him unavailable, forcing Zemeckis to briefly cast and then replace another actor weeks into filming once Fox's schedule finally opened up.

He shot many of his film scenes late at night after full days on the sitcom set, sleeping only a few hours between productions for most of the shoot, a punishing schedule he has described in later interviews as one of the hardest stretches of his career.