After 5 years, Michael J. Fox is returning to acting – Deseret News

Deseret NewsDeseret MagazineChurch NewsDeseret NewsDeseret MagazinePrint SubscriptionsNewsletter Sign UpLatestLatestPoliticsPoliticsUtah Utah Sports Sports OpinionOpinionMagazineMagazineMore More Sign In RegisterSign InSearchGoTelevisionEntertainmentAfter 5 years, Michael J. Fox is returning to acting The specifics of Fox’s upcoming role in ‘Shrinking’ are currently under wraps, but it’s likely his storyline will be connected to Harrison Ford’s character, a therapist who is in the early stages of Parkinson’s diseasePublished: May 17, 2025, 3:00 p.m. MDTView 7 CommentsShareMichael J. Fox and others that produced “Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie” arrive for the film’s premiere at the Eccles Theatre in Park City during the Sundance Film Festival on Friday, Jan. 20, 2023. Fox has a guest role in the upcoming season of “Shrinking,” marking his first on-camera acting role in five years. Scott G Winterton, Deseret News By Lottie Elizabeth JohnsonLottie Elizabeth Johnson covers entertainment for the Deseret News, with a particular focus on reality competition shows, music and “Jeopardy!”When Michael J. Fox announced his retirement from acting in 2020, a decision primarily influenced by the progressively debilitating effects of Parkinson’s disease, he wasn’t completely closed off to the idea of returning to the screen one day.“If someone offers me a part and I do it and I have a good time, great,” the actor told Entertainment Tonight last year. “I would do acting if something came up that I could put my realities into it, my challenges, if I could figure it out.”Now, the 63-year-old actor has found such a project in the Apple TV+ comedy-drama series “Shrinking.”“Big feelings incoming. Michael J. Fox joins the Shrinking cast as a guest star in season 3,” the streaming platform recently revealed. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Apple TV (@appletv)
The “Back to the Future” star’s role in the upcoming season, which does not yet have a release date, marks his first on-camera acting role in five years, People reported. The specifics of Fox’s role in “Shrinking” are currently under wraps, but it’s likely his storyline will be connected to Harrison Ford’s character. In the series, Ford’s character, the therapist Dr. Paul Rhoades, learns he is in the early stages of Parkinson’s, as the Deseret News previously reported. “Shrinking” co-creator Bill Lawrence, who had his breakthrough with the 1990s sitcom “Spin City,” starring Fox, has said Ford’s character was inspired by the actor. “I found the first mentor in my life and career, Michael J. Fox, to be so inspiring with the way he took it in stride and continues to work harder than anybody I know,” Lawrence said, per People. “And we want to kind of carry that spirit if we can into the show.”RelatedJason Segel opens up about playing a sad therapist in ‘Shrinking’ — which landed him his first Emmy nomination‘It’s been an amazing life’: Michael J. Fox tells his story at SundanceWhat is ‘Shrinking’ about? In “Shrinking,” Jason Segel plays a widowed dad and therapist whose attempts to cope with loss include trying a new approach in his career: ignoring his training and ethics by being brutally honest with his patients, as the Deseret News reported. Segel’s unpredictability is tempered by Ford’s more stoic character, who supplies a voice of reason as he grapples with the early stages of a debilitating disease. Getting Ford for the role was a major win for the show, Segel previously told the Deseret News.“You offer something to Harrison Ford, knowing that he’s gonna say no,” the actor said. “But then he said yes. It’s like you’ve asked the prettiest girl in school to prom. And somehow she said yes. And then you’re like, panicked. ‘What am I going to wear? Where do I take them to dinner? Oh, no, I don’t even really know how to dance.’”Since its 2023 premiere, “Shrinking” has earned two Emmy nominations. Fox’s upcoming role marks a major moment for the show — and a reunion between the actor and Lawrence. Fox left “Spin City” at the end of the fourth season due to the worsening effects of Parkinson’s — a diagnosis he had gone public with just the year before in 1998, according to Deadline. He won his fourth Emmy for his role on the show (the previous three were for “Family Ties”). What has Michael J. Fox been up to? Fox’s return to acting comes roughly two years after he revealed “it’s getting tougher” to live with Parkinson’s disease. “I mean, I’m not gonna lie. It’s getting hard, it’s getting harder,” Fox told CBS News’ Jane Pauley in an interview that aired in April 2023, per Deseret News. “It’s getting tougher. Every day it’s tougher. But that’s — that’s the way it is.”Actor Michael J. Fox, 61, was diagnosed with early-onset Parkinson’s disease in 1991 when he was just 29. Fox tells Jane Pauley that dealing with the incurable disease is getting more challenging, and he can’t imagine living until he’s 80. More this ‘Sunday Morning.’ pic.twitter.com/hE7KeTiDUi— CBS Sunday Morning 🌞 (@CBSSunday) April 28, 2023

Fox also opened up about his life at the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah. 7CommentsThe Apple TV+ documentary “Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie” — which premiered at Sundance in January of 2023 — chronicles the actor’s rise to fame, his Parkinson’s diagnosis at the shockingly young age of 29, and how he went from masking that disease in the early stages by holding objects in his left hand to hide tremors to facing it head on and forming a foundation that has raised more than $2 billion for Parkinson’s research. The actor received an emotional standing ovation following the premiere. RelatedMeeting Michael J. Fox: Why these fans spent over $1,000 on ‘Back to the Future’ fandomLiving with Parkinson’s disease is ‘getting tougher,’ Michael J. Fox says“When I look at the film, the thing that screams at me with how lucky I’ve been and how successful my life has been is the stuff with my family,” Fox said in a post-screening Q&A with the audience, per Deseret News. “It’s such joy.“It’s been an amazing life and the biggest part of it has been them.” Join the Conversation
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