If the Back to the Future cast had a flux capacitor on hand when Robert Zemeckis‘ genre-bending adventure premiered on July 3, 1985, they might have been shocked that, four decades later, no other time-travel movie would come close to its impact. The film has traveled through pop culture in every direction: It inspired a Broadway musical adaptation, video games, theme park attractions, and a warped animated riff via Rick and Morty.
They’d probably be just as floored by their personal and professional timelines. But here at EW, “we don’t need roads” to track down where Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd, and the rest of the cast ended up after their ride through Hill Valley.
In celebration of Back to the Future‘s 40th anniversary, let’s catch up to speed (88 mph, to be exact) with the cast over the past decades.
Michael J. Fox (Marty McFly)
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Michael J. Fox famously stepped in to play the film’s time-traveling protagonist Marty McFly in the Back to the Future franchise after director Robert Zemeckis parted ways with original lead Eric Stoltz, who had already filmed for several weeks. Fox had been Zemeckis’ first pick, but initially had to pass due to scheduling conflicts with Family Ties. Looking back, Fox is proud to be part of such a perennial classic.
“It’s cross-generational…in its own way, in maybe a small way, it’s become like The Wizard of Oz or something,” Fox told PeopleTV in 2010 during an episode of EW Reunites. “It’s something that kids love and don’t think about when it was made. They don’t think of it as an old movie.”
“It was just a blast,” he added. “It’s really great to be associated with something like that — just something that just gives people pleasure, and what a privilege that is.”
Fox maintained a busy film career throughout the 1990s, in addition to winning Emmys for his hit sitcoms Family Ties and Spin City. He won a fifth Emmy for a guest spot on Rescue Me in 2009, and starred on the NBC sitcom The Michael J. Fox Show from 2013 to 2014. Fox has appeared in a number of roles as both himself and other characters over the years, including The Good Wife, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Designated Survivor, and The Good Fight. He also lent his voice to Telltale Games’ Back to the Future: The Game.
Following his diagnosis with Parkinson’s disease in the ’90s, Fox has dedicated himself to advocacy and raising funds for research. His efforts have earned him several honors, including the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in 2022 and the Presidential Honor of Freedom from Joe Biden in 2025. His life and legacy were highlighted in the 2023 documentary Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie, and his latest memoir, Future Boy: Back to the Future and My Journey Through the Space-Time Continuum, arrives in October 2025. Fox will return to acting in season 3 of Shrinking.
Since 1988, Fox has been married to his Family Ties costar Tracey Pollan, who played his onscreen girlfriend. Together, they have four children: one son and three daughters.
Christopher Lloyd (Emmett “Doc” Brown)
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Christopher Lloyd plays the kooky Emmett “Doc” Brown, whose cry of “1.21 gigawatts!” remains one of the film’s most iconic lines. The impetus for Marty’s adventures, it would be difficult to separate Doc Brown from the love of Back to the Future that has endured in the decades since its release — a sentiment Lloyd wholeheartedly shares, calling Doc his most lasting role.
“There’s no other character that has come up, that keeps going for 30 years,” he told EW in October 2015. “They all have their time, and then they fade away. Back to the Future refuses to fade away. I saw it last night, and I have to say it seems fresh and contemporary, not 1985, 1986. It has a lot of laughs.”
Lloyd has continued working in film and television since Back to the Future, with memorable stints in Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988) and the two Addams Family films in the ’90s (and he’s set to return to the Addams Family world in season 2 of Wednesday). In 2015, he was a regular on Granite Flats and had a gig on the series 12 Monkeys from 2017 to 2018. In addition, he’s appeared on The Big Bang Theory, A.P. Bio, NCIS, The Conners, The Mandalorian, and Hacks. He has also reprised his Doc Brown role several times, including lending his voice to the video game Lego Dimensions.
In 2016, Lloyd wed former real estate agent Lisa Loiacono.
Lea Thompson (Lorraine Baines-McFly)
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Lea Thompson plays Marty McFly’s mother, Lorraine, who unknowingly develops a crush on her own son when he travels back in time, pretending to be a young man named “Calvin Klein.”
“When I started to do Lorraine, it fit me perfectly,” Thompson told PEOPLE in July 2015. “It was really easy. So I just feel really blessed that if I’m really going to be known for one thing, on my headstone, that it’s this movie, and that it was such a great product.”
After starring as the lead on the 1990s sitcom Caroline in the City, Thompson appeared on the early-2000s shows For the People and Ed. She then followed them up by playing Cathy Davis in the Jane Doe movie series for the Hallmark Channel. Thompson had a long-running role as Kathryn Kennish on Switched at Birth, in addition to directing four episodes of the series. Smaller parts include stints on Scorpion, Penn Zero: Part-Time Hero, The Goldbergs, Stargirl, and Star Trek: Picard. She also competed in the 19th season of Dancing With the Stars, coming in sixth place.
Thompson is married to film director Howard Deutch, with whom she shares two daughters: actresses Zoey Deutch and Madelyn Deutch.
Crispin Glover (George McFly)
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Crispin Glover plays Marty’s father, George, who — with Marty’s help — begins a relationship with Lorraine (to ensure Marty exists in the future).
Jeffrey Weissman replaced Glover in the Future sequels. Though he’s acted in mainstream films periodically since the original BTTF (notably in 2003’s Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle, 2010’s Alice in Wonderland, and 2010’s Hot Tub Time Machine), Glover has moved into several other fields during his career. He began to release music in the late ’80s and also started a company, Volcanic Eruptions, which serves as a platform for Glover to release movies he’s written and produced. From 2017 to 2021, Glover had a recurring gig on American Gods. He also showed up in an episode of Guillermo del Toro’s Cabinet of Curiosities.
Thomas F. Wilson (Biff Tannen)
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Thomas F. Wilson plays Biff Tannen, the bully who picked on George McFly and became a major obstacle as Marty attempted to unite his parents.
“When Back to the Future was released, I was a homeless actor living in my car — I was just trying to get a job,” he told PEOPLE in July 2015. “Here we are, 30 years later, and I’m just basking in this unexpected glory.”
Wilson appears in the sequels as Biff and other members of the Tannen family. Since then — aside from acting — he’s hosted his own podcast; uploaded on his YouTube channel; continued a stand-up comedy career; and done voice-over work for film, television, and video games, including a long run on SpongeBob SquarePants and its many spinoffs.
He’s also become known for “Biff’s Question Song” and his business card, which answers all of the most frequently asked questions he’s been asked over the years about Back to the Future.
Wilson tied the knot with Caroline Thomas on July 6, 1985, just three days after Back to the Future premiered. They went on to have four children.
Claudia Wells (Jennifer Parker)
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Claudia Wells plays Marty McFly’s girlfriend, Jennifer Parker, who appears in scenes that bookend the original Back to the Future. At the time, though, she admits she didn’t fully understand just how massive the film’s impact would be.
“I didn’t get it at all,” she told PEOPLE in July 2015. “I got the movie, but I didn’t get any of the big deal or the fame. That didn’t ever hit me.”
Parker was replaced in subsequent sequels by Elisabeth Shue, though she did reprise her role in the Back to the Future video game in 2011 and 2015. In the late ’80s, she took an extended leave from acting, but returned to it in 2008.
Wells has a son named Sebastian.
James Tolkan (Mr. Strickland)
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James Tolkan plays Gerald Strickland, who worked at Hill Valley High School and, in both 1955 and 1985, was a thorn in the side of the McFlys. An authoritarian at Hill Valley, Mr. Strickland lived a life with the sole purpose of whipping as many “slackers” into shape as he could.
Tolkan has appeared on a number of television series since his time in Back to the Future, with later roles in the HBO TV movie Phil Spector and the 2015 feature Bone Tomahawk.
Tolkan has been married to Parmelee Welles since 1971.
Marc McClure (Dave McFly)
Universal Pictures; Steve Granitz/WireImage
Back to the Future may showcase Marty McFly’s quest to make sure his parents meet and fall in love, but he wasn’t the only McFly kid whose existence was at risk. Marc McClure plays the oldest McFly child, Dave. He — along with Wendie Jo Sperber (who died in 2005) as Linda — rounded out the McFly clan.
“When you read the script, you weren’t quite sure what was happening,” McClure told Comic Books, Beer & Sci-fi in January 2023. “But I remember when we went to the screening and we saw the movie, and afterwards [there was] this standing ovation…when you saw it on the screen, it was like, ‘We just went on the greatest roller-coaster ride ever.”
McClure has popped up in several roles throughout the years on television shows like Nash Bridges, The Shield, Smallville, and Powerless. His prominent film projects include 2008’s Frost/Nixon and the 2017 and 2021 versions of Justice League.