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He is an American actor, producer, singer, stand-up comedian and an accomplished banjo player. Here are interesting facts about this versatile actor who received all kinds of awards except an Oscar.
- Born as Stephen Glenn Martin on August 14, 1945 in Waco, Texas.
- He was born to Mary Lee and Glenn Vernon Martin, who was a real estate salesman and an aspiring actor.
- He was the cheerleader of the “Garden Grove high School.” His classmates had voted him as the most talented during those days.
- He teamed up with classmate Kathy Westmoreland and participated in comedies and other productions in the Bird Cage theatre.
- He developed comedy routines with budding actress Stormie Sherk, when he met her during his time with a comedy troupe.
- His first job was selling guide book at Disneyland during weekends and during school summer breaks.
- He learned many magic tricks and illusions at the “Main Street Magic Shop” and took a job at a magic shop in “Fantasyland.”
- He perfected his skills such as juggling, creating balloon animals and magic under his mentor Wally Boag.
- He was romantically involved with Stormie Sherk which prompted him to move to California State University in Long Beach for a major in Philosophy.
- He got transferred to ULCA (University of California Los Angeles) and switched his major to theatre.
- At the age of 21 he quit college and began working at local clubs at night.
- He was romantically involved with actress and singer Bernadette Peters during 1970’s and early 1980’s. She was his co-star in the movies “The Jerk” and “Pennies from Heaven.”
- He has been an avid art collector since 1968. His first collection was a print by artist Ed Ruscha.
- He sold Edward Hopper’s “Hotel Window” in 2006 for $26.8 million.
- He displayed his art collection to the public at the Bellagio Gallery of Fine Arts which included works by Roy Lichtenstein, Pablo Picasso, David Hockney and Edward Hopper.
- He became the victim of German master art forger Wolfgang Beltracchi, when he bought a painting of Heinrich Campendonk from Paris Gallery.
- He is suffering from Tinnitus, where one hears a ringing sound in the ear. This is a symptom of hearing loss.
- Asked about it he said, “You just get used to it or you go insane.”
- He landed a job in 1967 as a waiter for the show “The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour” with the help of his former girlfriend Nina Goldblatt, a dancer in the show.
- He won his first Emmy Award in 1969 for his writing works. He was only 23 at that time.
- During 1970’s, he was a frequent standup comedian on shows such as “The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson,” “The Gong show,” “On Location,” “The Muppet Show” and “Saturday Night Live.”
- He has guest hosted “SNL” 15 times, second only to Alec Baldwin. He has appeared on the show a total of 27 times.
- He was considered as one of the successful host of “SNL” when his appearance in the show resulted in the increase of viewers by one million.
- He won Grammy Award for Best Comedy Recording for his two comedy albums “Let’s Get Small” in 1977 and “A Wild and Crazy Guy” in 1978.
- A track “Excuse Me” in the first album “Let’s Get Small” became a national catch phrase. Another track “Just a Wild and Crazy Guy” from the second album “Wild and Crazy Guy” became his known catch phrase.
- His second album was sold over one million copies and listed at #2 on the US Sales Chart.
- In 1977 he appeared in a short film “The Absent Minded Waiter” written by him. It was nominated at Academy Awards for “Best Short Film Live Action.”
- He co-wrote and starred in the 1979 movie “The Jerk.” It was a huge success amassing $100 million considering the $4 million budget it was made on.
- To avoid being typecast he tried his first serious movie “Pennies from Heaven.” He took acting classes from director Herbert Ross and learned how to tap dance.
- The movie was a financial failure and he commented “I don’t know what to blame, other than it’s me and not a comedy.”
- In 1986 he acted in the movie “Three Amigos” joining with his Saturday Night Live co-stars Martin Short and Chevy Chase.
- He got married to actress Victoria Tennant on November 20, 1986. They got divorced in 1994.
- He won “Writers Guild of America Award” for co-writing the movie “Roxanne” in 1987.
- He provided his voice to Sanitation Commissioner Ray Patterson in the #200 episode of “The Simpsons” titled “Trash of the Titans.”
- In 2003 he starred in “Bringing Down the House” and “Cheaper by the Dozen”, each earning over $130 million.
- The same year he was listed at #4 on the box office stars list.
- He starred as Inspector Clouseau in 2006 movie “The Pink Panther” and reprised his role in 2009 movie “The Pink Panther 2.” When combined, the two movies grossed over $230 million.
- He still remains as one of the best actors to not receive an Oscar, according to the list by “The Guardian” in 2009.
- He wrote a novel “Shopgirl” that was converted into a movie of the same name starring himself and Claire Danes.
- He wrote a memoir “Born Standing Up” in 2007 that was ranked at #6 among Top 10 Nonfiction Books of 2007 by Time Magazine.
- He married Anne Stringfield on July 28, 2007. She is a writer and former staff of "The New Yorker" magazine.
- During his marriage ceremony he surprised his friends Tom Hanks, Eugene Levy, Carl Reiner and Ricky Jay by inviting them for a party and not informing about his marriage.
- He became father at the age of 67, when his wife delivered a daughter in December 2012.
- He hosted Academy Awards in 2001 and 2003 in solo and with Alec Baldwin in 2010.
- He first started playing banjo at the age of 17. To perfect the tune he would slow down the 33rpm bluegrass records to 16rpm and learn with them.
- Martin learned to play Banjo from John McEuen who later joined Nitty Gritty Dirt Band.
- He played banjo on the remake of “Foggy Mountain Breakdown” in 2001. He won the Best Country Instrumental Performance at Grammy Awards 2002.
- He released his first musical album “The Crow: New Songs for the 5-String Banjo” produced by John McEuen in 2009. It received Grammy Award for Best Bluegrass Album in 2010.
- He created the Steve Martin Prize for Excellence in Banjo in 2010 to reward bluegrass performance. It also includes a cash prize of $50,000, a bronze sculpture by artist Eric Fischl and a chance to perform with Martin at “Late Show with David Latterman.”
- The recipients of the award include Noam Pikelny, Sammy Shelor, Mark Johnson, Jens Kruger and Eddie Adcock.
