Steve Martin Bio
Stephen Glenn Martin (born August 14, 1945) is an American comedian, actor, writer, producer and musician whose career spans stand-up comedy, film, television, theater and recorded music. Martin has received multiple major honors including five Grammy Awards, a Primetime Emmy Award, a Screen Actors Guild Award, the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor, the Kennedy Center Honors, an Honorary Academy Award and an AFI Life Achievement Award.
Early Life and Background
Stephen Glenn Martin was born in Waco, Texas, and raised in California. His parents are Glenn Vernon Martin and Mary Lee; Martin began performing at an early age and developed an interest in comedy and music while growing up in Southern California.
Martin attended Garden Grove High School and studied at Santa Ana College before enrolling at California State University, Long Beach. He learned to play the banjo as a teenager, an instrument that later became a signature element of his work and one of his artistic pursuits outside of acting.
Path to Celebrity
Martin began his professional career in the mid-1960s and first gained public notice as a writer for The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour, a role that earned him a Primetime Emmy Award in 1969. His early television writing led to appearances on national shows and to the release of several comedy albums in the 1970s.
Throughout the 1970s Martin developed a distinctive stage persona combining absurdist humor, banjo playing and physical bits. That period established him as one of the most popular stand-up comedians in the United States and paved the way for a transition into film and broader entertainment projects.
Steve Martin Career
Early Career (1966–1978)
Martin’s professional career formally began in the late 1960s with television writing credits that included The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour, for which he won an Emmy. He continued writing for television variety shows and made frequent stand-up appearances on programs such as The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson and The Gong Show.
In the mid-to-late 1970s Martin released several best-selling comedy albums, including Let’s Get Small and A Wild and Crazy Guy, which helped popularize catchphrases and established him as a recording artist as well as a live performer. These recordings won Grammy Awards and expanded his audience beyond live touring venues.
Breakthrough (1979–1991)
Martin’s first major film breakthrough arrived with The Jerk (1979), directed by Carl Reiner, which he co-wrote and starred in. The Jerk became a commercial success and marked Martin’s arrival as a leading film comic, launching a string of film roles through the 1980s and early 1990s.
After The Jerk, Martin pursued a range of film projects that showcased both comedic and more dramatic impulses. He starred in Dead Men Don’t Wear Plaid, The Man with Two Brains and All of Me, and earned wider recognition for performances in Roxanne and Planes, Trains and Automobiles. In Roxanne he co-wrote the screenplay and received a Writers Guild recognition for his work.
During this period Martin also returned intermittently to theater and writing. He wrote plays and short fiction, and published books that included comic essays and longer works. His creative range expanded beyond film and stand-up to include plays that later played in major regional theaters and on Broadway.
Notable Works and Milestones
Key works across Martin’s career include his stand-up recordings Let’s Get Small and A Wild and Crazy Guy, the films The Jerk and Roxanne, and his later television work, notably the Hulu series Only Murders in the Building, which he co-created and stars in with Martin Short and Selena Gomez. Martin’s contributions to bluegrass and American roots music, his Broadway musicals and his books and plays are significant milestones in a diversified career.
Steve Martin Award Nominations
Across his career Martin has received a wide array of nominations in film, television, theater and recording. He has been nominated for Golden Globe Awards and Tony Awards and received multiple Primetime Emmy Award nominations for television work. His projects have also drawn nominations and recognition from guilds and critics organizations.
Steve Martin Awards Won
Martin’s verified honors include five Grammy Awards for comedy and musical recordings, a Primetime Emmy Award, a Screen Actors Guild Award and an Honorary Academy Award presented in 2013. He is also the recipient of the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor, the Kennedy Center Honors and the AFI Life Achievement Award, reflecting achievements across comedy, film and music.
Steve Martin Family
Martin is the son of Glenn Vernon Martin and Mary Lee. He married actress Victoria Tennant in 1986; the couple divorced in 1994. In 2007 he married writer Anne Stringfield; the pair had a daughter in December 2012.
Personal Life
Outside of performance, Martin is a committed musician and art collector. He has maintained an active career in bluegrass and roots music, releasing albums and touring with established ensembles, and he established the Steve Martin Prize for Excellence in Banjo and Bluegrass to support contemporary players.
Martin has been active in arts philanthropy and curating exhibitions and has served on museum boards. He has spoken publicly about his beliefs and personal health details including tinnitus. Martin has described himself in biographical accounts as not affiliated with organized religion and has long been engaged in collecting and exhibiting visual art.