'Back to the Future': Where Are They Now?
Jan. 17, 2013— -- intro: It's nearly the future for the stars of "Back to the Future."
In the hugely successful 1980s film franchise, director Robert Zemeckis aged his stars, including Michael J. Fox, with makeup and lighting as they traveled in time from 1985 to 1955, back to 1885 and forward to 2015. Now, 28 years after the first film, time has caught up with the stars.
Fox, who played Marty McFly, went on to become a major movie star, but the other actors who played relatives of Marty McFly, the wacky scientist Dr. Emmett "Doc" Brown and the bully Biff Tannen, remain recognizable faces.
Click through to see where the cast of "Back to the Future" is now.
quicklist: title: Michael J. Foxtext: Fox, now 51, was in his early 20s and the star of the hit TV series "Family Ties" when he took on the role of Marty McFly.
In the film, McFly is accidentally sent back in time from 1985 to 1955, where he meets his future parents in high school. But when he accidentally sparks the romantic interest of his future mother, played by Lea Thompson, he has to work to get his parents to fall in love in order to keep history -- and his future family -- intact. He enlists the help of scientist Dr. Emmett "Doc" Brown to get back to 1985.
Fox went on to star in both "Back to the Future" sequels, released in 1989 and 1990, as well as several films, including "Bright Lights, Big City," "Casualties of War" and "Doc Hollywood," before returning to television in another hit series, "Spin City."
During the series' third season, Fox announced that he had Parkinson's disease and he left the show after the fourth season to spend more time with family.
Since then, he has made guest appearances on several TV shows and written three books while becoming one of the most visible advocates for Parkinson's research. Last August, he signed a deal with NBC to star in a new comedy series based loosely on his life. It's scheduled to air this fall.
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quicklist:title: Crispin Glovertext: At 20, Glover was actually younger than Fox when he was cast to play his father in the first film.
Glover played both the 17-year-old and 47-year-old version of his character, George McFly. Though the 48-year-old actor looked oddly buttoned up in black with a scruffy beard and floppy hair during a recent sighting at the Los Angeles airport, his face still appeared youthful.
Glover did not reprise his role in the sequels, "Back to the Future II" and "Back to the Future III," and filed suit against Universal Studios for using his unauthorized likeness after another actor wore prosthetics in order to resemble him. The case was later settled for an undisclosed amount.
Glover continued to act in films, including "Charlie's Angels" and Tim Burton's "Alice in Wonderland."
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quicklist:title: Lea Thompsontext: Thompson played Lorraine Baines McFly in the entire trilogy, while adding the role of Marty's great-great grandmother, Maggie McFly, in "III."
Lorraine McFly was Thompson's most famous role, but she also starred in "All the Right Moves" opposite Tom Cruise and "Howard the Duck" opposite Tim Robbins. Her '90s sitcom, "Caroline in the City," was a moderate hit.
Since 2011, Thompson, 51, has starred in the ABC Family series "Switched at Birth."
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quicklist:title: Elisabeth Shuetext: Oscar-nominated actress Elisabeth Shue took over the role of Marty's girlfriend, Jennifer Parker, in the two sequels after Claudia Wells declined to reprise the role.
Shue, 49, has had a prolific career starring alongside some of Hollywood's biggest names, including Tom Cruise, Sally Field, Robert Downey Jr., Jessica Lange, Nicolas Cage and, most recently, Meryl Streep in "Hope Springs." She is married to film director Davis Guggenheim, who won an Oscar for "Inconvenient Truth," and they have three children.
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quicklist: title: Christopher Lloydtext: Rising to prominence in the 1980s as Jim Ignatowski on the hit TV series "Taxi," Christopher Lloyd was cast as wacky scientist Dr. Emmett "Doc" Brown in all three films. It became his best known role.
After the trilogy, Lloyd was cast as Uncle Fester in "The Addams Family" and its sequel, "Addams Family Values."
The 74-year-old Emmy-Award-winning actor continues to make frequent guest appearances on television series, lend his voice for animated series and promote his best known character, Doc Brown.
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quicklist:title: Thomas Wilsontext: Thomas Wilson became famous playing bully Biff Tannen -- and his grandson Griff Tannen and great-grandfather Buford "Mad Dog" Tannen -- in the "Back to the Future" trilogy.
Wilson, now 53, went on to play Coach Ben Fredricks on NBC's "Freaks and Geeks" for its sole season and to make guest appearances in various TV shows, but he has been unable to escape his most famous role. In fact, he wrote a song about all the questions he is perpetually answering about "Back to the Future." He called it, "Biff's Question Song."
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