Michael J Fox isn’t legendary actor’s real name

Michael J Fox is one of many Hollywood stars who don't actually use their real name when it comes to their most famous roles.

Shooting to fame as Marty McFly in the Back to the Future movies, Michael J Fox is a name film fans know well.

However, it's not actually his real name as – like many famous stars of the silver screen – he's had to tweak it a bit.

For example, Meryl Streep's real name is Mary, Emma Stone is actually Emily Stone, and before the world knew Liam Neeson he went by William Neeson.

Movie stars change their stage names for a number of reasons, mostly because someone else has already nabbed their name but sometimes because they want to be called something else.

Then again, when it comes to Michael J Fox his real name is so close you might wonder why he even thought it was worth changing, but his reason is brilliant.

SOPA Images Limited / Alamy Stock Photo

See, he's not really Michael J Fox, his real name is Michael A Fox, and he didn't want that to be his acting moniker because it sounds like 'Michael, a fox'.

By the way, that middle 'A' stands for 'Andrew' and he chose to switch it to a 'J' because he wanted to pay tribute to character actor Michael J Pollard.

The Back to the Future star couldn't just give his name as Michael Fox because there was already someone registered under the same name with the Screen Actor's Guild.

According to their rules there can't be duplicate names, and since he didn't want to be 'Michael, a fox' he became the Michael J Fox who travelled back and forth in time in a DeLorean as Marty McFly.

MARKA / Alamy Stock Photo

In recent years he's returned to make cameos in the role that made him famous, including in the music video to Lil' Nas X's song Holiday.

He's also had a few reunions with Doc Brown star Christopher Lloyd, including at his annual foundation gala to help raise money to fight against Parkinson's disease.

Fox was diagnosed with the disease in 1991 when he was 29 years old, and has been a major advocate for raising funding into researching a possible cure.

The star has said he 'won't stop' until a cure for the condition is found and since his foundation started in 2000 he's raised more than $1 billion, which has been put into treatment.

While a cure has not yet been found, there have been major developments made along the way and Fox's foundation has been looking at possible ways to prevent the disease in the first place.

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