Martin Short Biography Quotes 24 Report mistakes

Early Life and Education
Martin Short was born on March 26, 1950, in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. Raised in a close-knit family, he discovered performing early and gravitated to music, theater, and comedy. He studied at McMaster University, where he earned a degree in social work, but the pull of the stage quickly eclipsed any plans for a conventional career. The Toronto theater scene became his training ground, particularly a storied local production of Godspell in the early 1970s. That company gathered future luminaries including Gilda Radner, Eugene Levy, Andrea Martin, Victor Garber, and Paul Shaffer, and the camaraderie and creative rivalry of that circle became foundational to his sensibility and future collaborations. During this period he met actress Nancy Dolman, who would become his life partner and a grounding presence throughout his ascent.

Second City, SCTV, and Breakthrough on SNL
Short joined the Second City troupe in Toronto, sharpening his improvisational instincts alongside performers such as John Candy, Catherine O Hara, Rick Moranis, Dave Thomas, and Eugene Levy. The ensemble s chemistry migrated to television with SCTV, where Short became a key player and an Emmy-winning writer-performer. On SCTV he honed the satirical precision and exaggerated character work that would define his public persona. In 1984, he moved to Saturday Night Live under producer Lorne Michaels. On SNL, Short became a breakout star in a single season, introducing the nervy and uncontainable Ed Grimley, the slippery political operative Nathan Thurm, and the crooner Jackie Rogers Jr., characters that showcased his physical bravura and pinpoint parody.

Film and Television Stardom
Short translated that momentum into a series of memorable film roles. He joined Steve Martin and Chevy Chase in Three Amigos!, creating a trio dynamic that turned into a durable comedic friendship with Martin. He played an everyman in over his head in Joe Dante s Innerspace with Dennis Quaid and Meg Ryan, partnered with Nick Nolte in Three Fugitives, sparred with Charles Grodin in Clifford, and deadpanned as the mercurial planner Franck Eggelhoffer opposite Steve Martin and Diane Keaton in Father of the Bride and its sequel. He worked opposite Kurt Russell in Captain Ron and played the frosty foil Jack Frost in The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause with Tim Allen. On television, he ranged widely: the late-night talk experiment The Martin Short Show, the satirical interview series Primetime Glick (as the gluttonous Jiminy Glick), and a dramatic turn on Damages that revealed a darker, tightly coiled register beneath his comic exuberance.

Voice Work and Family Fare
Short s elastic voice and musicality lent themselves to animation and family projects. He partnered again with Steve Martin as the duo Hotep and Huy in The Prince of Egypt, voiced characters in Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius, and brought jaunty energy to The Cat in the Hat Knows a Lot About That! for young audiences. He continued to pop up across film and television with quick, sharply drawn turns, often stealing scenes through carefully engineered chaos and impeccable timing.

Stage and Variety
A gifted stage performer, Short returned frequently to theater and live variety. On Broadway he headlined productions including Little Me and The Goodbye Girl, earning Tony recognition and reaffirming his roots in song-and-dance comedy. He later created Martin Short: Fame Becomes Me, a meta-theatrical showcase built around his gallery of alter egos. Between these projects, he maintained long-running partnerships with musical director Marc Shaiman and bandleader Paul Shaffer, who understood his vaudevillian instincts and helped frame them for modern audiences.

Signature Characters and Craft
Few comedians maintain as many fully realized alter egos as Short. Ed Grimley is his purest clown creation, all jutting angles and eager, flattened vowels; Nathan Thurm is a study in evasive authority; Jackie Rogers Jr. lampoons showbiz legacy with show-tune confidence; Jiminy Glick interrogates celebrity by mangling flattery into combat. Each character reflects Short s meticulous approach to rhythm, cadence, and physical punctuation. Behind the exuberance lies a precise technician who calibrates pauses, eye-lines, and body tension the way a musician tunes an instrument.

Partnership with Steve Martin and Later Career
Short s friendship and professional partnership with Steve Martin deepened over decades. Their live tours, backed by the Steep Canyon Rangers, became a signature attraction, culminating in a widely praised Netflix special, An Evening You Will Forget for the Rest of Your Life. The duo reinvented themselves again with Only Murders in the Building, co-starring Selena Gomez. As Oliver Putnam, a flamboyant and beleaguered theater director turned podcaster, Short deftly mixed pathos with farce, and the series earned him some of the most sustained acclaim of his later career. The interplay among Short, Martin, and Gomez bridged generations and reintroduced his comic style to new audiences.

Personal Life
Short married Nancy Dolman in 1980 after meeting her during Godspell, and together they built a family with three children: Katherine, Oliver, and Henry. Dolman stepped away from performing and became an anchoring force as Short navigated a peripatetic career spanning stages, soundstages, and concert halls. Her death in 2010, following a private struggle with cancer, was a profound loss. Short has spoken and written with candor and humor about love, grief, and resilience, notably in his memoir I Must Say: My Life as a Humble Comedy Legend, which intertwines show-business anecdotes with reflections on family and friendship. He has supported charitable causes on both sides of the border, often tied to health care, arts education, and cancer research, honoring Dolman s memory through quiet philanthropy and public advocacy.

Honors and Influence
Over the decades Short has received numerous accolades, including Emmy recognition for his work on SCTV and other projects, and national honors in Canada acknowledging his contributions to entertainment. His influence is evident in generations of sketch comedians who borrow his full-body commitment to character and his willingness to push vocal and physical extremes without losing emotional truth. Colleagues like Steve Martin, Catherine O Hara, Eugene Levy, and Andrea Martin frequently cite his generosity in collaboration, and directors from Joe Dante to Lorne Michaels have relied on his inventiveness to elevate material in unexpected ways.

Legacy
Martin Short s career traces a path from Canadian ensemble performer to international star, but the throughline is consistent: a belief that comedy is a craft built on character, music, movement, and heart. Whether as a scene-stealing supporting player, a talk-show anarchist, or a co-lead in a prestige comedy series, he remains a human sparkler, brightening and complicating every frame he enters. In an industry that changes rapidly, he has kept faith with the tools he honed alongside John Candy and Catherine O Hara at Second City, with the exuberance of Ed Grimley, and with the discipline of a lifelong theater rat. Anchored by lasting friendships with Steve Martin and others from his earliest ensembles, and shaped by the family he built with Nancy Dolman, Martin Short stands as one of modern comedy s most distinctive and durable voices.

Our collection contains 24 quotes who is written by Martin, under the main topics: Witty One-Liners - Motivational - Wisdom - Art - Writing.

Other people realated to Martin: Chevy Chase (Comedian), Dennis Quaid (Actor), Pamela Stephenson (Actress), Harry Shearer (Actor), Bernadette Peters (Actress), Nathan Lane (Actor), Billy Crystal (Comedian), Catherine O'Hara (Actress), Joe Dante (Director), Judge Reinhold (Actor)