Martin Short (March 26, 1950-) is a Canadian-American actor, comedian, singer, and writer. He is known for his work on the television programs SCTV and Saturday Night Live. He has starred in comedy films such as Three Amigos (1986), Innerspace (1987), Three Fugitives (1989), Captain Ron (1992), Clifford (1994), Mars Attacks! (1996), Jungle 2 Jungle (1997), and The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause (2006). Short created the characters Jiminy Glick and Ed Grimley. He also acted in the sitcom Mulaney (2014-2015), the variety series Maya and Marty (2016), and The Morning Show (2019). He provided the voice for  The Jester in Legends of Oz: Dorothy's Return.

Biography

Short was born on March 26, 1950, in Hamilton, Ontario, the youngest of five children of Olive Grace , a concertmistress of the Hamilton Symphony Orchestra, and Charles Patrick Short , a corporate executive with Stelco, a Canadian steel company. She encouraged his early creative endeavours. His eldest brother, David, was killed in a car accident in Montréal in 1962 when Short was 12, His mother died of cancer in 1968, his father two years later of complications from a stroke. Short attended Westdale Secondary School and graduated from McMaster University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Social Work in 1971.

When Short graduated from McMaster University, he intended to pursue a career in social work; however, he became interested in acting once he was cast in a Toronto production of Godspell that same year. Among other members of that production's cast were Victor Garber, Gilda Radner, Eugene Levy, Dave Thomas, and Andrea Martin; Paul Shaffer was the musical director. Short stated in the documentary Love, Gilda that he and Gilda Radner dated each other on and off during that time. n 1979, Short starred in the US sitcom The Associates about a group of young novice lawyers working at a Wall Street law firm.

In 1980, he joined the cast of I'm a Big Girl Now, a sitcom starring Diana Canova and Danny Thomas. Canova was offered the sitcom because of her success playing Corinne Tate Flotsky on ABC's Soap and left Soap shortly before Short's newlywed wife Nancy Dolman joined it.

In America, Martin Short worked in popular comedy shows on TV and subsequently he went on to feature in the hugely popular show ‘Saturday Night Live’ that made him a household name. Short also went on to host talk shows and comedy shows on his own that were highly successful. It was not long before Short decided that he could also be a successful film star and some of his well-known films include ‘Three Amigos’, ‘Innerspace’ and two ‘Father of the Bride’ films. Despite being an extremely busy comedian and actor; Martin Short went back to the stage time and again to act in plays. Martin Short is without doubt one of the most iconic comedians from Hollywood and his appearances on ‘Saturday Night Live’ are still regarded as memorable.