Michael was born in Canada. His family moved a lot, before settling in Burnaby, a suburb of Vancouver. Michael then moved to Los Angeles at the age of 18, to begin his acting career, appearing in some television series, until he presented his role in the 1982 movie Family Ties, which brought him fame, after which he appeared in a number of successful movies, including Back to the Future (1985) and its sequels in 1989 and 1990. He also worked as a voice actor in Atlantis: The Lost Empire (2001), and the Stuart Little movies.