Emmett Brown

Dr. Emmett Lathrop Brown, commonly referred to as "Doc Brown" or simply "Doc", is a fictional scientist in the Back to the Future franchise. He was created by Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale. First appearing in the 1985 film Back to the Future, he is an eccentric mad scientist and friend to the protagonist Marty McFly. In the franchise, he invents a time machine using a DMC DeLorean. He is portrayed by Christopher Lloyd in all three films and in the television series and was loosely inspired by Leopold Stokowski and Albert Einstein. Lloyd also voiced Brown on the 2010 videogame Back to the Future: The Game and the 2015 videogame Lego Dimensions. He is also voiced by Dan Castellaneta in the animated sections of the television series. In Back to the Future, he introduces Marty McFly to the DeLorean time machine that he invented, which results in Marty being accidentally transported back to the year 1955. He returned alongside Marty in Back to the Future Part II, in which they travel into the future to 2015. In Back to the Future Part III, he is accidentally transported back to 1885 and there builds another time machine using a steam engine locomotive. Emmett Brown has been ranked by critics as one of the greatest film characters of the 1980s and is regarded as Lloyd's most memorable film role. He was listed by Empire as one of the greatest film characters of all time. Christopher Lloyd speaks at length about his experiences portraying Doc Brown in his memoir In My Own Time releasing October 2026.