Career: Fox debuted as a professional actor at the age of 15 in the sitcom Leo and Me. At 18, he moved to Los Angeles and took several bit parts, eventually making his mark in the sitcom Family Ties. Despite the show's heavy schedule, he found time to star in films, including the first of the Back to the Future trilogy, Teen Wolf, The Secret of My Success, and Bright Lights, Big City. In 1989, the series came to an end, giving Michael time to devote to his movie career, but he returned to TV in 1996 for Spin City and has guest starred in Scrubs. Despite ill health caused by Parkinson's disease, he has continued to work, most notably providing the voice for Stuart Little and featuring on TV in Boston Legal, Rescue Me and The Good Wife.

Career: Steenburgen got her big break when she was discovered by Jack Nicholson and cast in the female lead of Goin' South (1978). She had a leading role in her second film, Time After Time (1979), and for her third film, Melvin and Howard (1980), she won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress. Steenburgen's children persuaded her to play the role of Clara Clayton in Back to the Future Part III (1990) and she reprised the role for Back to the Future: The Animated Series. Throughout the 90s, she appeared in the films What's Eating Gilbert Grape (1993) and Nixon (1995) as well as the TV series Ink. From the 2000s onwards, she got recurring roles in Curb Your Enthusiasm, 30 Rock and Orange is the New Black. Steenburgen also went on to appear in the films Elf (2003), Step Brothers (2008), The Proposal (2009) and The Help (2011). Since 2015, she has played Gail Klosterman in The Last Man on Earth. Her recent film roles include Dean (2016) and The Discovery (2017).

Career: At USC, Zemeckis developed a close friendship with fellow student Bob Gale, who he co-wrote the Back to the Future trilogy with. After winning a Student Academy Award at USC for his film A Field of Honor, Zemeckis formed a working relationship with director Steven Spielberg, who executive produced a number of his films. Zemeckis was struggling to find work in the early 1980s until Michael Douglas hired him to direct Romancing the Stone. It was a box-office hit and gave Zemeckis the clout he needed to direct Back to the Future (1985), which was hugely successful and was followed by two sequels. He went on to direct a string of successful movies, including Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988), Death Becomes Her (1992), Forrest Gump (1994), Contact (1997), What Lies Beneath (2000), Cast Away (2000), The Polar Express (2004) and A Christmas Carol (2009). He produced box-office animated flop Mars Needs Moms (2011) but bounced back by directing live-action drama Flight (2012).