Martin Short

Actor

• Born: March 26, 1950
• Place of Birth: Hamilton, Ontario

Contribution: Canadian Martin Short is an award-winning comedian, actor, and screenwriter who began his professional career in the entertainment industry in the 1970s. He is perhaps best known for his work on the television programs Saturday Night Live, SCTV, and Only Murders in the Building, as well as for his Tony Award-winning stage performances.

Early Life & Education

Martin Hayter Short was born on March 26, 1950, in Hamilton, Ontario. He was one of five children. Short’s father, Charles Patrick Short, was a steel industry executive, and his mother, Olive, was a concert violinist. An older brother, David, died in an automobile accident while Short was still in his early teens; other siblings include his brother Michael, an Emmy Award-winning television writer, and his sister Nora, who is an anesthesiologist. By the time Short was twenty-two, both his parents had died.

After graduating from Westdale High in Hamilton, Short earned a bachelor of arts degree in social work in 1972 from McMaster University, also in Hamilton. He worked for one year in mental health services before entering the entertainment industry.

Career

In 1973, Short debuted in the Toronto production of Godspell. His first film role was in Lost and Found in 1979, which was followed by a starring role in the critically acclaimed, but short-lived, American situation comedy The Associates.

Short’s career as a comic started to take off when he joined the comedy sketch show SCTV, or Second City TV, in 1982 as a performer and writer. This early success led to Short joining the cast of Saturday Night Live in 1984 and 1985. During his time on these shows, Short solidified his reputation as a comedian with impressions of actors such as Jerry Lewis and Katherine Hepburn and through characterizations such as Ed Grimley, a character that became so successful it was turned into a cartoon series.

Short’s film career also began to take off. He starred in a number of successful movies, including Three Amigos (1986), with Steve Martin and Chevy Chase; Father of the Bride (1991), starring Steve Martin and Diane Keaton; and Mars Attacks! (1996), starring Glenn Close and Jack Nicholson. Short also lent his voice to animated films such as The Prince of Egypt (1998), Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted (2012), and Frankenweenie (2012), as well as the fantasy movie The Spiderwick Chronicles (2008).

In the 2000s, Short also took on additional television roles. He was a regular on the third season of the legal drama Damages; he played attorney Leonard Winstone and was nominated for a 2010 Emmy Award for outstanding supporting actor in a drama series. Short also made appearances as a different lawyer character in three episodes of the comedy-drama series Weeds in 2011. The same year he played a lawyer yet again, this time on three episodes of the sitcom How I Met Your Mother.

Short continued making film and television appearances throughout the remainder of the 2010s, most notably playing the recurring role of Lou Cannon on Mulaney (2014-2015) and starring alongside Maya Rudolph in the shortlived Maya & Marty (2016) series. He starred in the comedy film The Willoughbys in 2020. His next great success came in when he joined comedian Steve Martin and pop star Selina Gomez as washed-up Broadway impresario Oliver Putnam on the Hulu series Only Murders in the Building in 2021. As of 2024, the show was renewed for a fifth season. Only Murders in the Building was a smash hit that earned Short several Emmy and Golden Globe nominations.

In 2024, Short appeared on Real Time with Bill Maher, starring as Jiminy Glick. He also guest-hosted Jimmy Kimmel Live. During the same year, Short went on tour with Steve Martin.

Awards

Short has received numerous accolades for his work, including a 1999 Tony Award for best performance by a leading actor in a musical for his role in LittleMe. He had previously been nominated in the same category for his role in the musical The Goodbye Girl in 1993. Short received the Order of Canada in 1994 and was inducted into Canada’s Walk of Fame in 2000. He was made an Officer of the Order of Canada in 2019.

In addition to his Emmy nod for Damages, Short received a second Emmy nomination in 2011 for outstanding performer in an animated program for the children’s series The Cat in the Hat Knows a Lot About That! (2010–), on which he voices the titular Cat in the Hat. Further Emmy nominations came thanks to his performance on Only Murders in the Building.

Personal Life

In 1980, Short married fellow Canadian actress Nancy Dolman, whom he met during the Toronto production of Godspell. The couple’s three children are a daughter, Katherine Elizabeth, and two sons, Oliver Patrick and Henry. Short’s wife died on August 21, 2010.

Bibliography

Clark, Cindy. “Something New for Short: A Regular TV Roles on ‘Damages.’” USA Today. USA Today, 24 Jan. 2010. Web. 31 July 2013.

Johnson, Brian D. “Martin Short Set to Host Canadian Screen Awards Gala: ‘A Hard Laugh Here, a Soft Laugh There.’” Maclean’s. Rogers Media, 19 Feb. 2013. Web. 31 July 2013.

Kamp, David. “The Cat’s Meow.” Vanity Fair. Condé Nast, Jan. 2013. Web. 31 July 2013.

"Martin Short." IMDb, 2024, www.imdb.com/name/nm0001737. Accessed 18 Sept. 2024.

Nudd, Tim. “Martin Short’s Friends & Costars Celebrate Him at the Emmys.” People. Time, 30 Aug. 2010. Web. 31 July 2013.

Wenzel, John. “Interview: Comedian, Actor Martin Short’s Loose, Goofy Energy Defies Genre—and Age.” Denver Post. Denver Post, 21 Feb. 2013. Web. 31 July 2013.