Steve Martin:

Is an American actor, comedian, writer, producer and musician.

Birth Name: Stephen Glenn Martin 

Born: August 14, 1945 (age 72)

Waco, Texas, U.S. 

 Martin came to public notice in the 1960s as a writer for The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour, and later as a frequent guest on The Tonight Show. In the 1970s, Martin performed his offbeat, absurdist comedy routines before packed houses on national tours. Since the 1980s, having branched away from comedy, Martin has become a successful actor, as well as an author, playwright, pianist, and banjo player, eventually earning him an Emmy, Grammy, and American Comedy awards, among other honors. 

As a teenager, Martin sold guidebooks and performed magic tricks at Disneyland and at Knotts Berry Farm. He enrolled in Long Beach State College to study philosophy, but soon transferred to the theater program at the University of California, Los Angeles. He left college altogether to be a comedy writer for The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour (1967-68), winning an Emmy Award in 1969

In 2004, Comedy Central ranked Martin at sixth place in a list of the 100 greatest stand-up comics. He was awarded an Honorary Academy Award at the Academy's 5th Annual Governors Awards in 2013.  

Early Career: 

Steve Martin's first feature, a short film he wrote called The Absent-Minded Waiter (1977), was nominated for an Academy Award. In 1979, he starred in his first full-length feature film, The Jerk, the first of many collaborations between Martin and director Carl Reiner, including the lampoon of detective thrillers Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid (1982), the sci-fi comedy The Man With Two Brains (1983) and the identity-swapping comedy All of Me (1984) with Lily Tomlin.  In 1986, Martin joined fellow Saturday Night Live veterans Martin Short and Chevy Chase in ¡Three Amigos!, directed by John Landis, and written by Martin, Lorne Michaels, and singer-songwriter Randy Newman; and in the same year he  was in the movie musical film version of the hit Off-Broadway play Little Shop of Horrors (based on a famous B-movie), playing the sadistic dentist, Orin Scrivello. The film was the first of three films teaming Martin with Rick Moranis. 

In 1987, Martin joined comedian John Candy in the John Hughes movie Planes, Trains and Automobiles. He stretched his talent even further by co-writing, executive-producing and starring in Roxanne (1987), a modern interpretation of the story of Cyrano De Bergerac. For his work in Roxanne he won a Best Actor award from the Los Angeles Film Critics Association as well as an award for Best Screenplay from the Writers Guild of America. In 1991, Martin wrote, starred in and co-executive produced L.A. Story. In 1988, he performed in the Frank Oz film Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, a remake of Bedtime Story, alongside Michael Caine. Also in the same year, he appeared at the Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater at Lincoln Center in a revival of Waiting for Godot directed by Mike Nichols. He played Vladimir, with Robin Williams as Estragon and Bill Irwin as Lucky.  He also starred in the Disney remake of Father of the Bride (1992) and its 1995 sequel. 

Film Success:

In 1993, Martin had success as a playwright with Picasso at the Lapin Agile, which opened at Chicago's Steppenwolf Theatre, moving to Boston and Los Angeles as well as running off-Broadway.

In 1998, Martin guest starred with U2 in the 200th episode of The Simpsons titled "Trash of the Titans", providing the voice for sanitation commissioner Ray Patterson. In 1999, Martin and Hawn starred in a remake of the 1970 Neil Simon comedy, The Out-of-Towners. By 2003, Martin ranked fourth on the box office stars list, after starring in Bringing Down The House and Cheaper by the Dozen, each of which earned over $130 million at U.S. theaters. That same year, he also played the villainous Mr. Chairman in the animation/live action blend, Looney Tunes: Back in Action.

 

More recent work included David Mamet's The Spanish Prisoner (1997), a voice role in the animated Dreamworks film The Prince of Egypt (1998) and a co-starring role with Goldie Hawn in a remake of The Out of Towners (1999). Martin wrote and starred in the comedy Bowfinger with Eddie Murphy in 1999. In 2005, Martin wrote and starred in Shopgirl, based on his own novella (2000), and starred in Cheaper by the Dozen 2. In 2006, he starred in the box office hit The Pink Panther, as the bumbling Inspector Clouseau. He reprised the role in 2009's The Pink Panther 2. When combined, the two films grossed over $230 million at the box office. In Baby Mama (2008), Martin played the founder of a health food company, and in It's Complicated (2009), he played opposite Meryl Streep and Alec Baldwin. In 2009, an article in The Guardian listed Martin as one of the best actors never to receive an Oscar nomination. 

Recent Work: 

In 2011, he appeared with Jack Black, Owen Wilson, and JoBeth Williams in the birdwatching comedy The Big Year. After a three-year hiatus, Martin returned in 2015 when he voiced a role in the animated film Home. In 2016, he played a supporting role in the war drama Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk. 

Writting and Music Career: 

A frequent contributor to The New Yorker magazine, Martin published Shopgirl, a novella, to great acclaim in 2001. (A collection of his New Yorker writings was published as Pure Drivel in 1998.) The story of a disenchanted saleswoman struggling to choose between a would-be musician and a wealthy married man, the book was adapted to film in 2005 starring Martin and Claire Danes. He followed that work with The Pleasure of My Company (2003), which also topped best-seller lists, and his autobiography, Born Standing Up: A Comic’s Life (2007). 

Personal Life:

In 1986, Martin married actress Victoria Tennant, his future co-star in L.A. Story (1991), but the couple divorced in 1994.

In the early 2000s, Martin began dating Anne Stringfield, a former staffer at The New Yorker. He and Stringfield wed in 2007 before 75 guests at a surprise ceremony, and in 2012 they welcomed their first child—a girl—marking Martin's entrance into fatherhood at age 67.