Andrea Martin

Andrea Martin Bio

Andrea Louise Martin (born January 15, 1947) is an American and Canadian actress, comedian, and singer with a career spanning more than five decades across stage, film, and television. She first rose to international fame as a cast member of the Canadian sketch comedy series SCTV, where her sharp character work and impersonations earned her Emmy recognition. Martin has built a reputation as one of Broadway’s most honored featured performers, with multiple Tony Awards and Drama Desk Awards to her name. She is equally well known to general audiences for her portrayal of Aunt Voula in the My Big Fat Greek Wedding film series.

Early Life and Background

Andrea Louise Martin was born on January 15, 1947, in Portland, Maine, the eldest of three children. She was raised by her mother, Sybil Martin, and her father, John Papazian Martin, both Armenian-American. Her paternal grandparents had escaped the Armenian Genocide in Van, in present-day Turkey, and her maternal grandparents had immigrated from Constantinople and helped start an Armenian school at the Chestnut Street Church in Portland. Her paternal grandfather, an amateur actor, shortened the family name from Papazian to Martin, and her father later owned Martin’s Foods, a regional grocery-store chain.

From an early age, Martin found comfort and inspiration in storytelling. When she was two, her mother was recovering from a broken leg and often read to her, and the two took turns reading Shakespeare, Paul Revere’s Ride, and Edgar Allan Poe’s The Raven. She began piano lessons at eight and once recited a poem at the Portland Museum of Art. Martin attended Nathan Clifford School and St. Joseph’s Academy before enrolling at Deering High School, where she graduated in 1965, participated in the Dramatic Club, and was named Miss Deering High. She later studied at Emerson College in Boston.

Path to Acting

After college, Martin won a spot in a touring company of You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown, an early step that carried her from Portland to the professional stage. After frequent visits to Toronto, she relocated from New York City to Toronto in 1970 and quickly found steady work in television, film, and theater. In 1972, she played Robin in a Toronto production of Godspell alongside future stars Gilda Radner, Martin Short, Eugene Levy, and Victor Garber, with Paul Shaffer as musical director. That same period led her to the Toronto branch of The Second City, the improvisational comedy troupe that produced nearly the entire cast of SCTV.

Andrea Martin Career

Early Career (1970–1980)

Martin’s first notable screen work came with two early horror films: Cannibal Girls (1973), directed by Ivan Reitman, for which she won the Sitges Film Festival Award for Best Actress, and Black Christmas (1974). She joined the cast of SCTV in 1976, helping to launch the show alongside John Candy, Dave Thomas, Eugene Levy, Catherine O’Hara, Harold Ramis, and Joe Flaherty. Her signature characters included leopard-print station manager Edith Prickley, immigrant Pirini Scleroso, organ saleswoman Edna Boil, feminist host Libby Wolfson, and children’s entertainer Mrs. Falbo, and her impersonations of Barbra Streisand, Ethel Merman, Sophia Loren, and others became defining moments of the series.

By 1981, Martin’s work on SCTV had earned her a Primetime Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Variety Show. The early 1980s also brought two consecutive Emmy Awards for Outstanding Writing in a Variety or Music Program, in 1982 and 1983, reflecting her influence on the show’s writing staff. She later played Wanda Falbo the Word Fairy on Sesame Street beginning in 1989 and went on to voice work in many animated productions.

Breakthrough (1990–2000)

Martin made her Broadway debut in the musical My Favorite Year in 1992, a performance that earned her the Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical, along with a Theatre World Award and a Drama Desk Award. The role marked her transition from sketch comedy and supporting screen parts to leading musical theater acclaim. Her subsequent Broadway appearances in Candide (1997) and Oklahoma! (2002) brought further Tony nominations for Best Featured Actress in a Musical, while Young Frankenstein (2007) added another.

On screen, Martin appeared in Wag the Dog (1997) alongside Robert De Niro and Dustin Hoffman, took a supporting role in the cult favorite Hedwig and the Angry Inch (2001), and stepped into the role of Aunt Voula in My Big Fat Greek Wedding (2002), a part that would become one of her most beloved characters. She also wrote and performed the one-woman show Nude, Nude, Totally Nude, winning a 1996 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding One-Person Show, and provided voice work for animated films including Anastasia (1997) and The Rugrats Movie (1998).

Notable Works and Milestones

Martin’s signature works include her run on SCTV, her Tony-winning turns in My Favorite Year and the 2013 revival of Pippin, and the My Big Fat Greek Wedding film series. She also earned acclaim for roles in Wag the Dog, Hedwig and the Angry Inch, and the Paramount+ supernatural series Evil (2021–2024), and joined the recurring cast of Only Murders in the Building in 2021. In 2018, she was inducted into Canada’s Walk of Fame alongside Seth Rogen and Leonard Cohen.

Andrea Martin Award Nominations

Andrea Martin has received five nominations for the Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical, more than any other actress in the category’s history, along with a Tony nomination for Best Featured Actress in a Play for the 2016 revival of Noises Off. Her additional Tony nominations came for Candide, Oklahoma!, and Young Frankenstein. She also received multiple Drama Desk Award nominations, including an Outstanding One-Person Show nod for Nude, Nude, Totally Nude, and Outer Critics Circle Award nominations for her Broadway work.

Andrea Martin Awards Won

Andrea Martin has won two Tony Awards for Best Featured Actress in a Musical, first for My Favorite Year in 1992 and again for the 2013 revival of Pippin, in which she played Berthe, Pippin’s grandmother. She has also received two Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Writing in a Variety or Music Program, in 1982 and 1983. Her additional honors include a 1996 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding One-Person Show and the 2013 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical.

Andrea Martin Family

Andrea Martin was raised in Portland, Maine, by her father, John Papazian Martin, who owned Martin’s Foods, and her mother, Sybil Martin, both of Armenian descent. She is the eldest of three children. Through her marriage to Bob Dolman, she became the sister-in-law of actor and comedian Martin Short, whose wife, Nancy, is Dolman’s sister. Martin and Dolman had two sons, Joe and Jack Dolman, and she has a grandchild through her elder son.

Personal Life

Martin was previously married to screenwriter Bob Dolman; the couple later divorced. She divides her time between Los Angeles and Toronto, and in 2017 she became a Canadian citizen in addition to her American citizenship. Beyond her screen and stage career, she is a frequent supporter of the Children of Armenia Fund alongside close friend Tina Fey, with whom she shares an Armenian heritage. She has continued to perform her one-woman show Andrea Martin: Final Days, Everything Must Go! across Canada and the United States.