Martin
Short
For more than 50 years, the skinny kid from Hamilton, Ontario, has been one of comedy’s busiest men. Martin Short is a Canadian-American actor, comedian and writer who made his name on SCTV and Saturday Night Live, starred in Three Amigos, Innerspace and Father of the Bride, and won a Tony Award on Broadway. Today he plays Oliver Putnam on Hulu’s Only Murders in the Building, tours the US with his best friend Steve Martin, and is the subject of the 2026 Netflix documentary Marty, Life Is Short.
| Date of Birth | March 26, 1950 |
|---|---|
| Age | 76 years |
| Nationality | Canadian, American |
| Zodiac Sign | Aries |
| Occupation | Actor, Comedian, Writer, TV Host |
| Full Name | Martin Hayter Short |
| Parents | Charles Patrick Short and Olive Grace Short |
| Siblings | David (died 1962), Michael, Brian, Nora |
| Education | McMaster University (BA Social Work, 1971) |
| Spouse | Nancy Dolman (m. 1980, until her death in 2010) |
| Children | Katherine (1983 to 2026), Oliver, Henry |
| Known For | SCTV, Saturday Night Live, Father of the Bride, Only Murders in the Building |
| Awards | Tony Award (1999), two Primetime Emmys, SAG Award (2025) |
Ella Jonas FarlingerBiography
Martin Hayter Short was born on March 26, 1950, in Hamilton, Ontario, the youngest of five children. His father, Charles Patrick Short, was an executive at the steel company Stelco who had come to Canada from Crossmaglen in Northern Ireland as a stowaway. His mother, Olive, was the concertmistress of the Hamilton Symphony Orchestra. His siblings are David, Michael, Brian and Nora, and his brother Michael went on to become an Emmy-winning comedy writer.
Loss came early. His eldest brother, David, died in a car accident in Montreal in 1962, when Martin was 12. His mother died of cancer in 1968, and his father died of complications from a stroke in 1970. Speaking to CBS Sunday Morning in May 2026, Short said those years built “this muscle of survival and handling grief.” By 20, he added, “I knew something about life that no other 20-year-old knew.”
The showbiz dream started in the family attic. “When I was 15, I for example had an imaginary contract with NBC to do an hour show but every other week, which left me time for my imaginary film career,” he told CBS.
He didn’t tell his parents he wanted to act, because it didn’t feel real. At McMaster University he began in pre-med, then switched to social work, which left him more time for campus theatre. He graduated in 1971, and McMaster gave him an honorary doctorate in 2001.
His friend Eugene Levy pushed him to try acting full-time. Short gave himself a one-year deadline. If nothing happened between one May and the next, he would go back and finish a master’s in social work.
Career
Godspell, Second City and SCTV
Short’s big break came on March 25, 1972, when he won a part in the Toronto production of Godspell. Eugene Levy, Gilda Radner, Victor Garber and Andrea Martin were in that company too, with Paul Shaffer on piano. “There were a thousand people at the audition and I got it,” he recalled to CTV.
In March 1977 he joined Toronto’s Second City, taking over from John Candy. He then joined SCTV for its 1982 to 1983 run, where he created Ed Grimley, the high-strung nerd with the pointed hair, and the old songwriter Irving Cohen. He shared an Emmy for Outstanding Writing for a Variety Series for SCTV in 1983.
Saturday Night Live
Short spent one season on Saturday Night Live, in 1984 to 1985, alongside Billy Crystal, Christopher Guest and Harry Shearer. He added Nathan Thurm, the sweaty, chain-smoking lawyer, to his characters. On TODAY in November 2014, he said the four of them treated their one-year deals like 22 separate specials, adding that if he had planned to stay five years, “I would have calmed down a bit.”
Hollywood films
His first studio film was Three Amigos (1986) with Steve Martin and Chevy Chase, and he followed it with Innerspace (1987), Three Fugitives (1989) and Pure Luck (1991). His best-known film role came as Franck, the over-the-top wedding planner in Father of the Bride (1991), a part he played again in Father of the Bride Part II (1995).
Other films include Captain Ron (1992), Clifford (1994), Mars Attacks! (1996), Jungle 2 Jungle (1997) and The Santa Clause 3 (2006). Not every film was a hit at first. Clifford flopped on release, and Short told CBS that people “love it” now “because tastes change.”
TV shows and Jiminy Glick
He had his own sitcom, The Martin Short Show, in 1994 and a talk show of the same name in 1999. In 2001 he created Jiminy Glick, a clueless celebrity interviewer, for Comedy Central’s Primetime Glick, which ran until 2003.
Later TV roles include Damages (2010), How I Met Your Mother (2011) and The Morning Show (2019). In July 2025 he became host and executive producer of ABC’s revived Match Game, taking over from Alec Baldwin.
Broadway
On Broadway, Short starred in The Goodbye Girl in 1993, which won him a Theatre World Award and a Tony nomination. He won the 1999 Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical for the revival of Little Me. In 2006 he opened his own show, Martin Short: Fame Becomes Me, which ran until January 2007. He published his memoir, I Must Say: My Life as a Humble Comedy Legend, on November 4, 2014.
Touring with Steve Martin
Short and Steve Martin met on Three Amigos in 1986 and have been close friends ever since. Since 2015 they have toured as a double act, mixing stand-up, roasts of each other and songs, with the bluegrass band the Steep Canyon Rangers. Their 2017 show was filmed as the Netflix special Steve Martin and Martin Short: An Evening You Will Forget for the Rest of Your Life, released in 2018 and nominated for Emmys.
Their 2025 run was called The Dukes of Funnytown!. Pollstar reported an average gross of $604,953 per show for their 2018 run. On January 8, 2025, they cancelled two Florida shows as fires hit Los Angeles. “Everyone is alive, but there is devastation,” Short wrote.
The jokes are cruel on purpose, but never real. “Steve Martin and I insult each other all the time on stage,” Short told CBS. “You don’t go to the real things, you go to the silly things.”
Only Murders in the Building
Short’s biggest hit in decades arrived on August 31, 2021. Only Murders in the Building, co-created by Steve Martin and John Hoffman for Hulu, stars Martin, Short and Selena Gomez as three neighbours in a New York apartment block who start a true-crime podcast. Short plays Oliver Putnam, a broke Broadway director, and also serves as an executive producer. Variety reported in 2021 that he and Martin were each paid $600,000 per episode.
The show has drawn big names. Meryl Streep joined in season 3 in 2023, and Zach Galifianakis came aboard for season 4 in 2024. Season 5 premiered on September 9, 2025. Season 6, retitled Only Murders in London, moves the trio to England, with Tina Fey back as podcaster Cinda Canning. It premieres on Hulu on December 8, 2026.
The role has brought Short the best reviews of his career, including a lead actor Emmy nomination every year from 2022 to 2026.
Marty, Life Is Short (2026)
Netflix released Marty, Life Is Short on May 12, 2026. It was directed by Lawrence Kasdan, the writer of Raiders of the Lost Ark and The Big Chill, and produced by Imagine Documentaries. The film mixes Short’s home movies with interviews with Steve Martin, Tom Hanks, Eugene Levy and the late Catherine O’Hara, his SCTV castmate.
Short at first said no. “I’ve written a book and I’m Canadian. We’re a little more conservative about revealing everything in our lives,” he told CBS Sunday Morning. A long voicemail from Kasdan changed his mind.
The documentary is dedicated to Catherine O’Hara and to Short’s daughter, Katherine. In the same CBS interview, he named the friends he had lost in a few months, including Diane Keaton, Rob and Michele Reiner, and O’Hara. “There was no one more brilliant. There was no one sweeter. And there was no one funnier,” he said of O’Hara.
Controversies and Disputes
The best-known public moment of awkwardness came in 2012. On the TODAY show, Kathie Lee Gifford asked about Nancy Dolman in the present tense, not knowing she had died two years earlier. Gifford later apologised.
On September 8, 2023, Slate ran a piece by Dan Kois titled “Why We Keep Putting Up With Martin Short.” It called his act “exhausting, sweaty, and desperately unfunny.” The essay set off a wave of support for Short. Ben Stiller called him “a comedic genius,” Mark Hamill wrote that he is “HILARIOUS,” and Short trended at number one on X the next day.
In January 2024, Short and Meryl Streep sat together at the Golden Globes, and dating rumours quickly followed. His representative told People they were “just very good friends, nothing more.” On Bill Maher’s Club Random podcast, Short said, “We’re not a couple, we are just very close friends.”
Awards and Nominations
Short won the Primetime Emmy for Outstanding Writing for a Variety Series for SCTV in 1983. He won a second Emmy in 2014 for the AFI Life Achievement Award special honouring Mel Brooks, which he hosted. On Broadway, he won the 1993 Theatre World Award for The Goodbye Girl and the 1999 Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical for Little Me.
For Only Murders in the Building, he won the 2025 SAG Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Comedy Series, though he missed the ceremony with COVID-19. He has been nominated five times for the Emmy for lead actor in a comedy (2022 to 2026) and five times for the Golden Globe for best actor in a TV musical or comedy (2022 to 2026). He was also nominated for an Emmy as a guest actor on The Morning Show in 2020.
Canada has honoured him many times. He received the Earl Grey Lifetime Achievement Award in 1995, a star on Canada’s Walk of Fame in 2000, and the Queen Elizabeth II Golden Jubilee (2002) and Diamond Jubilee (2012) medals. He received the Canadian Screen Awards Lifetime Achievement Award in 2016 and was named an Officer of the Order of Canada in 2019.
Personal Life
Short dated Gilda Radner on and off during the Godspell years. He met actress Nancy Dolman when she joined the show in October 1972. After a breakup with Radner, he ran into Dolman at a Toronto bar and they set up a tennis match for the next day. “And that was that,” he told CBS. They married in 1980, and Dolman gave up acting in the mid-1980s to raise their family.
Nancy was the funny one at home, Short says. He told TODAY in 2014 that during arguments she would ask to speak to Ed Grimley instead, because Ed always took her side. She was diagnosed with ovarian cancer and died on August 21, 2010, at age 58. Her last words to him were “Mart, let me go,” Short said in 2026.
Children
Short and Dolman adopted three children: Katherine in 1983, Oliver in 1986 and Henry in 1989. None of them went into show business. Oliver works in sports television production, and Henry left a job in finance to become a veterinary assistant. Read more about all three in our guide to Martin Short’s children.
Katherine, a licensed clinical social worker in Los Angeles, died in February 2026 at age 42. “It is with profound grief that we confirm the passing of Katherine Hartley Short,” the family said through Short’s representative. “The Short family is devastated by this loss, and asks for privacy at this time. Katherine was beloved by all and will be remembered for the light and joy she brought into the world.” Short later said she had fought mental illness for a long time and “did the best she could until she couldn’t.”
Homes
He has lived in Pacific Palisades, Los Angeles, since the 1980s, and his home survived the January 2025 fires, though one of his sons lost a house nearby. In 2024 he also bought a $2.27 million home in Upper Mandeville Canyon, Brentwood. He keeps a summer home in Ontario, where he spends up to three months a year. “Canada is always home,” he told CTV.
Timeline
1950: Born Martin Hayter Short on March 26 in Hamilton, Ontario.
1962: His eldest brother, David, dies in a car accident; his mother dies in 1968 and his father in 1970.
1971: Graduates from McMaster University with a degree in social work.
1972: Joins Godspell in Toronto and meets Nancy Dolman.
1980: Marries Nancy Dolman.
1982: Joins SCTV and creates Ed Grimley.
1984: Joins Saturday Night Live for one season.
1986: Stars in Three Amigos with Steve Martin and Chevy Chase.
1991: Plays Franck in Father of the Bride.
1999: Wins the Tony Award for Little Me.
2010: Nancy Dolman dies of ovarian cancer on August 21.
2015: Starts touring with Steve Martin.
2021: Only Murders in the Building premieres on Hulu on August 31.
2025: Wins his first SAG Award in February; becomes host of Match Game in July.
2026: Daughter Katherine dies in February; Marty, Life Is Short premieres on Netflix on May 12.
2026: Only Murders in London is set to premiere on December 8.
Net Worth
Martin Short’s net worth is estimated at $36–48 million, built from five decades of steady work rather than one big payday. His income comes from film and TV acting fees, producing credits, Broadway runs, live touring with Steve Martin and, lately, hosting Match Game. Only Murders in the Building is the biggest earner of his later career, with Variety reporting a fee of $600,000 per episode back in 2021, plus his executive producer role on the show.
The live shows add a solid second income. Pollstar put the average gross for his 2018 tour with Steve Martin at $604,953 per show, shared between the two stars and their production. On property, he has owned his Pacific Palisades home since the 1980s and paid $2.27 million for a Brentwood home in 2024. That puts him in the middle of his oldest comedy friends. His touring partner Steve Martin is far richer, at $150 million according to Celebrity Net Worth, while the same site puts Three Amigos co-star Chevy Chase at $50 million and his Godspell friend Eugene Levy at $30 million. With a sixth Only Murders season on the way and tour dates still booked, his earnings are still growing.
Frequently Asked Questions
How old is Martin Short?
Martin Short was born on March 26, 1950, so he is 76 years old.
Is Martin Short Canadian or American?
Both. He was born in Hamilton, Ontario, and later became a naturalised US citizen. He also holds Irish and British citizenship.
Who was Martin Short’s wife?
Short was married to actress Nancy Dolman from 1980 until she died of ovarian cancer in 2010. They met in the 1972 Toronto production of Godspell.
Are Martin Short and Meryl Streep dating?
No. After rumours in January 2024, Short said they are “just very close friends,” and his representative said the same.
How did Martin Short and Steve Martin meet?
They met while making Three Amigos in 1986. They have toured together since 2015 and co-star in Only Murders in the Building.
What is Martin Short’s net worth?
Martin Short’s net worth is estimated at $36–48 million, earned from film and TV roles, Only Murders in the Building, Broadway and his tours with Steve Martin.
What is the Martin Short documentary called?
It is Marty, Life Is Short, directed by Lawrence Kasdan. It began streaming on Netflix on May 12, 2026.
