Biography for
Martin Short (I) More at IMDbPro »

Date of Birth

26 March 1950, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada

Birth Name

Martin Hayter Short

Nickname

Marty
Shorty

Height

5' 7½" (1.71 m)

Spouse

Nancy Dolman

(1980 - present) 3 children

Trivia

Received the Earl Grey Award for his work in "Second City TV" (1976) at the Gemini Theatre in Toronto. [1995]

Was trained to be a social worker but got bit by the acting bug after taking a part in a production of "Godspell" in Toronto, Ontario.

His older brother died when Martin was 12, and, by age 22, both parents were dead, as well.

Graduated from Westdale High school in Hamilton, Ontario.

Won a Tony Award for best actor in a musical for his performance in the Broadway revival of Little Me. [1999]

Brother-in-law of Bob Dolman and ex-brother-in-law of Andrea Martin.

Was supposed to host the 1994 season premiere of "Saturday Night Live" (1975), but he had to back out at the last minute. He was replaced by Steve Martin.

On "Inside the Actors Studio" (1994), said his favorite curse word is "poo".

Brother of Michael Short

Went dramatic and appeared in a 1974 production of "Fortune and Men's Eyes" which dealt with prison rape.

First acting job was playing a giant Visa card in a TV commercial.

Met future Second City collaborator Dave Thomas in college in 1970, where they began acting together. Short appeared with Thomas in a production of MacBeth with Short as Lennox and Thomas as Banquo. A legendary production of Godspell in 1972 would include Thomas, plus other Canadian funsters Gilda Radner, Eugene Levy, Paul Shaffer, and Andrea Martin. His future wife Nancy Dolman was Radner's understudy. Short first dated Radner and then began dating Dolman in 1974. They married in 1980.

Majored in social work at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario after beginning as a pre-med student and then studying sociology.

Older brother David was killed in a car accident in 1962. His mother, Olive Short, was a child prodigy of the violin, and the first female concert-mistress in North America. She was concert-mistress for the Hamilton Philharmonic Orchestra. She married Short's father, Charles Patrick Short, in 1935 - an Irish VP of Canada's largest steel company who came to North America as a stowaway. Olive Short died in 1970 after a five-year battle with cancer. Charles Patrick Short died in 1972 as a result of complications from a stroke.

Has three children: Katherine Elizabeth (born December 3rd, 1983), Oliver Patrick (born 1986) and Henry (born 1990)

Is one of very few former "Saturday Night Live" (1975) cast members to make guest appearances on the rival Saturday night sketch comedy show "MADtv" (1995) .

Won Broadway's 1999 Tony Award as best actor (musical) for a revival of Little Me. He was also nominated in the same category in 1993 for The Goodbye Girl.

Uncle to Bob Dolman's and Andrea Martin's two sons, Jack (born 1981) and Joe (born 1983).

Husband of Canadian comic actress Nancy Dolman, most notable for her recurring role on the ABC cult sitcom "Soap" (1977) and "Custard Pie" (1977). She also appeared in his critically acclaimed 1985 television special, Martin Short: Concert for the North Americas (1985) (TV).

Short is the youngest of five children. In addition to his two aforementioned brothers, the late David Short and Emmy winning television writer Michael Short, Short has an older brother Brian, vice president of Dover Industries in Canada, and an older sister Nora, an anesthesiologist.

Daughter Katherine Elizabeth Short currently attends New York University. She was chosen in 2003 to serve as Queen Shenandoah LXXVI for the Shenandoah Apple Blossom Festival in Winchester, Virginia. She is an aspiring actress.

Son Oliver Patrick Short currently attends The University of Notre Dame's Mendoza College of Business for marketing and film, television and theatre. He is an aspiring director/producer.

He was Mel Brooks's first choice to star opposite Nathan Lane as Leo Bloom in his Broadway version of The Producers. In 2000, Short was hosting his short-lived talk show, "The Martin Short Show" (1999), and Brooks and Lane appeared as guests on the same episode - during which, sitting between Lane and Short, Brooks pulled out the contract for The Producers, wanting them both to sign it right there. This was met with gales of surprised and flattered laughter from the two actors. Having professional obligations on the West Coast due to the talk show, as well as family obligations (he had three children enrolled in school in the Los Angeles area at the time) Short had to decline, and was visibly guilty as he told Brooks he couldn't sign at that moment and would consider the offer later. Lane helped the situation by doing the same. While Lane later accepted, Short declined and Matthew Broderick took his place (earning a Tony Award nomination). Short wound up enjoying a successful run opposite Jason Alexander in the Los Angeles production of The Producers in 2003.

In the fall of 1980, Short joined the cast of "I'm a Big Girl Now" (1980), a sitcom vehicle for Diana Canova that also starred Danny Thomas. Canova was offered the sitcom after her huge success playing Corinne Tate Flotsky on ABC's "Soap" (1977). She left the cast of the latter show in order to accept the offer - shortly before Short's newlywed wife, Nancy Dolman, joined the cast. "I'm a Big Girl Now" (1980) was an instant flop, and ratings declined for "Soap" (1977), causing both shows to be canceled that season.

Owns a luxury vacation home in the affluent Ontario area of Muskoka, along with friends Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson, Kurt Russell and Goldie Hawn, and Steven Spielberg and Kate Capshaw.

In Pure Luck (1991) Proctor's (Martin Short) violent, allergic reaction to bee stings influenced the make-up idea behind "Primetime Glick" (2001).

He was awarded the C.M. (Member of the Order of Canada) on April 13, 1994 for his services to entertainment.

Was nominated for the 2007 Tony Award for supporting or featured actor in a musical for Martin Short: Fame Becomes Me.

Personal Quotes

"What's great about being a character actor is you know that you can survive forever. It's not about the gloss of your eyebrows...One of my great influences was Don Knotts as Barney Fife."

"Two words, sweetie: balloon mortgage. And the need to be loved." [On why he remains in show business]

"I'm totally aware of how lucky I am. I have health, family, children. I do work that gives me total joy and allows me to make a living, and maybe, if I'm lucky enough, I'll feel I've fulfilled a little bit of service to society because I brought other people some laughter." [2000]

"This is satire. I am a satirist. Modern-day society has this obsession with needing to know every ounce of angst about performers' lives, to the point that it becomes more important than whether they can perform." [On his Broadway show Martin Short: Fame Becomes Me, 2006]

"I truly believe that when you're funny, you're blessed. Your whole life is kind of golden. I was happy, although it was not perfect happiness. There was illness and sadness and death." [2000]

Where Are They Now

(March 2003) Rehearsing to play Leo Bloom in The Producers at Pantages Theatre in LA beginning May 2.

(August 2006) Opened his one man show (with a full cast of six), Martin Short: Fame Becomes Me, at the Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre on Broadway on August 17th. He had been enjoying a successful preview run since July 29th, 2006.

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