Marty McFly was born in Hill Valley, California to the McFlys, a family of Irish descent. Little is known about Marty's life prior to the first "Back to the Future" film, except for the fact that he set fire to the living-room rug when he was 8 years old (in a statement of Marty's to his future parents). He met his friend Dr. Emmett "Doc" Brown when he was around fourteen after hearing that Brown was a dangerous lunatic. Marty, being the “red-blooded American teenager” he was, wanted to go see what it was all about for himself. He snuck into Doc’s lab and was fascinated by all his inventions. When Doc caught him, he was glad to have someone who liked his work and their friendship started there.