Steve Martin

He is an accomplished banjo player and appears playing the instrument in Earl Scruggs and Friends video for "Foggy Mountain Breakdown," for which he won a Grammy for Best Country Instrumental Performance. This makes him rare in that he has won Grammies for both comedy and music.

Stanley Kubrick liked his work in The Jerk and once considered having him play Bill Harford in Eyes Wide Shut ; the role that later went to Tom Cruise.

He is a trustee of the Los Angeles Museum of Art, and collects the art of Georgia OKeeffe , Richard Diebenkorn, Willem de Kooning , Franz Kline , Cy Twombly, Helen Frankenthaler , Edward Hopper , David Hockney , Roy Lichtenstein , and Pablo Picasso.

He is in the horn section of B.B. King s "In The Midnight Hour" music video.

He studied philosophy at California State University at Long Beach, and for a while, considered becoming a philosophy professor instead of an actor-comedian. He periodically spoofed his philosophy studies in his 1970s stand-up act, such as comparing Philosophy with studying Geology: "If youre studying Geology, which is all facts, as soon as you get out of school you forget it all, but Philosophy you remember just enough to screw you up for the rest of your life.".

He once had a job at Disneyland in the Magic Shop on Main Street, USA. He also worked for neighboring amusement park Knotts Berry Farm as a comedian in their "Birdcage Theatre". It was during these jobs that he honed his skills in live performance, such as improv comedy, banjo playing, juggling, and lassoing. It was at Knotts Berry Farm where he met his friend, Stormie Omartian.

He graduated from Garden Grove High School in 1963. He attended Rancho Alamitos High School in the beginning of his high school career, but then high school attendance areas were changed, and he had to start going to Garden Grove. He was also a cheerleader at Rancho and often did his King Tut dance.

Contrary to popular belief, Martin was never a cast member on NBCs "Saturday Night Live" . However, he holds the records for guest appearances (25) on the show (followed closely by Buck Henry ), hosting (at 15 times, he sets the standard for the SNL "Five Timers Club"), and hosting in a single season. He is also the only person to have hosted a season premiere, a season finale, and a Christmas show. He was also scheduled to host for the ill-fated 1980-1981 season, but a writers strike prevented this.

He is a fan of "Monty Pythons Flying Circus" . This led to him becoming the host and narrator of the documentary Parrot Sketch Not Included: Twenty Years of Monty Python .

His study of philosophy was a source of much of his material for his 1970s standup act.

In 2003: Was listed as #50 in People Magazines "50 Most Beautiful People" List.

He played the banjo in his guest appearance on the "The Muppet Show" .

He was voted Most Talented by his classmates at Garden Grove high school.

He was chosen as #6 in Comedy Centrals 100 Greatest Stand-Ups of All Time.

He is skilled with a rope or lasso and did his own rope work in Three Amigos! . He also plays the harmonica.

At his insistence, the 1987-1988 season premiere of "Saturday Night Live" (hosted by Martin) went on, despite the fact that there hadnt been a dress rehearsal. There was a fire in a nearby studio and the cast and crew were evacuated from Rockefeller Center just before dress rehearsal was scheduled to begin.

He was listed as a potential nominee on both the 2004 and 2007 Razzie Award nominating ballots. He was listed as a suggestion in the Worst Actor category for the films Bringing Down the House and Cheaper by the Dozen , and in the Worst Supporting Actor category for his role in Looney Tunes: Back in Action on the 2004 ballot. He was suggested again three years later in the Worst Actor category on the 2007 ballot for his performance in The Pink Panther , but he failed to receive any one of these nominations. He later ended up receiving his first Razzie nomination for The Pink Panther 2 .

He attended Lampson Intermediate School (now Ralston Intermediate) in Garden Grove, California.

In 2005: Recipient of the 8th annual Mark Twain Prize for American Humor, awarded by the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.

He has worked with actor Eugene Levy on four different films, Father of the Bride , Father of the Bride Part II , Bringing Down the House and Cheaper by the Dozen 2 .

His performance as "Navin Johnson" in The Jerk was ranked #99 among Premiere Magazines list of the 100 Greatest Film Performances of All Time.

He was considered for the role of "Willy Wonka" in the movie Charlie and the Chocolate Factory .

Some sources state he is a fan of the BBC science fiction series "Doctor Who" . However, in a 2013 interview in the UKs "Uncut" magazine, he revealed this was not true, he knows nothing about it and he believed it had started as a false claim by someone on the internet.

His performance as "Navin Johnson" in The Jerk is ranked #66 on Premiere Magazines 100 Greatest Movie Characters of All Time.

He says his favorite movie of his own is Planes, Trains & Automobiles .

In November 2005: A production of his play "The Underpants" was directed by Brian Barney for Bruka Theatre, Reno, NV.

He is a member of Mensa, as are James Woods , Ben Rollins.

Like Weird Al Yankovic , he did a satire sketch of Michael Jackson s "Billie Jean" music video on "The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson" .

He was on an episode of "The Dating Game" before he was famous in 1966. He won a date with an old friend named Marscha Walker, whom he had not seen in three years. He appeared on the show again the next year and won again. He wore the same shirt and jacket.

He lists British television (especially the comedies) as his biggest influence.

He fell into depression for a couple of months when his good friend John Candy died.

He is a fan of the animated series "Dave the Barbarian" .

He went to the same college--Cal State Long Beach--as Frank Miranda.

After inviting friends including Tom Hanks , Diane Keaton and Eugene Levy to a dinner party, he married his longtime girlfriend Anne Stringfield in a surprise ceremony at their Los Angeles home.

His wife is a writer for The New Yorker.

2007: Best man during his wedding to Anne Stringfield was Lorne Michaels , creator of "Saturday Night Live" .

He wore his Inspector Clouseau mustache during his 2007 wedding because he is reprising his role for the upcoming sequel to The Pink Panther .

He is a huge fan of British comedian David Walliams.

He has a sister named Melinda.

Even though during his stand up days he said he was a "wild and crazy guy", in real life he is actually quite shy and quiet.

2007: Recipient of the Kennedy Center Honors. Other recipients that year were Leon Fleisher , Diana Ross , Martin Scorsese , and Brian Wilson.

He told Terry Gross on her National Public Radio program "Fresh Air" that he smoked a fair amount of marijuana in the late 1960s until one night when he had a panic attack at a showing of the Mel Brooks movie The Producers . After that, he never smoked pot again, and he believes that the negative experience saved him from the harder drug abuse and addiction that plagued so many of his colleagues during the next few decades.

He was Warner Bros. second choice for the role of The Riddler in Batman Forever (after Robin Williams ). However he turned it down as with the death of his good friend John Candy and his divorce from Victoria Tennant he was too sad to make any movies.

He appeared on the college circuit in the 1970s with fellow musical comedian Martin Mull as "The Steve Martin Mull Show".

He co-wrote two songs with Martin Mull : "Men" appearing on the album "Im Everyone That I Have Ever Loved" and "Westward Ho!" appearing on the album "Sex & Violins".

Although many critics were disdainful of his overtly silly act early in his career, its postmodern nature was admired by avant garde filmmakers David Lynch and Stanley Kubrick , both of whom approached Martin to appear in ultimately unproduced comedy films.

He attended Rancho Alamitos his freshman and sophomore years. He was the freshman class president, and a member of the cheer leading squad at Rancho where some of his zany comical routines were first tested out. When the school boundaries were shifted, they put him in Garden Grove high school attendance area. He graduated from Garden Grove High School in 1963. GGHS opened in 1921 and RAHS opened in 1957.

He has a dog named Wally.

He is a fan of Carl Ballantine. Presented him the Lifetime Achievement Fellowship from the Magic Castle in Hollywood in 2007.

When Martin lived in his Manhattan apartment, his next door neighbor was Mary Steenburgen.

He learned to play the banjo by playing LPs at 16rpm speed. This approach enabled him to more accurately pick the individual notes due to the halved playback LP speed.

He played C.D. Bales in Roxanne , which was based on the play Cyrano de Bergerac by Edmond Rostand. His Grand Canyon and The Pink Panther cast mate, Kevin Kline , played Cyrano on stage.

He was one of the victims of a gang of German art forgers, who made an estimated 16 million Euros. In 2004, Steve bought a counterfeit painting of the artist "Campendonk". Luckily, he sold the painting in 2006 before the forgeries were discovered.

He is the father, with Anne Springfield, of a daughter born in December 2012.

Like friend Lorne Michaels and fellow showbiz heavyweights Paul Simon and Mike Nichols , Martin has had his portrait painted by Eric Fischl.

Release of his book, "Picasso at the Lapin Agile and Other Plays".

(February 1982) Release of book: Cruel Shoes

Release of his book, "Shopgirl".

Release of his book, "Born Standing Up: A Comics Life".

Release of his book, "Pure Drivel".

Release of his childrens book, "The Alphabet From A to Y: With Bonus Letter Z".

(October 2003) Second novella, "The Pleasure of My Company," was published.

Release of his book, "The Underpants: A Play by Carl Sternheim".

His business card reads "This certifies that you have had a personal encounter with me, and that you found me warm, polite, intelligent, and funny.".

He was one of the first celebrities to pay tribute to Robin Williams (on his Twitter feed) and as such his tribute was featured in many news reports on Williams death.

He has English, and small amounts of Scottish, Scots-Irish (Northern Irish), and German, ancestry.

He was romantically involved with, and at one point engaged to, Bernadette Peters , with whom he worked in several films in the 1970s and 80s.

He became a father for the first time at age 67.

He has stated the main factor when deciding which roles to play is if the script appeals to him, if it doesnt, he wont play the role.

His favorite horror movie is Black Christmas. When he first met lead actress of the film, Olivia Hussey, he claimed he had seen it 27 times.

He was considered for the role of Harry Sultenfuss in My Girl , but was busy with the remake of Father of the Bride at the same time and was unable to take the part. The role was given instead to Dan Aykroyd.

He is the subject of the tribute song "The Steve Martin" by EPMD.

At one point he was due to play the title role in The Walker and studied television interviews with Gore Vidal in his preparation.

He has hosted Saturday Night Live (1975 - ) fifteen times, a record second only to his friend Alec Baldwin who has hosted seventeen times.

He holds the record for hosting Saturday Night Live (1975 - ) five times in the shortest amount of time, doing so in five-hundred and forty-six days.

Friends with Diane Keaton , John Candy , Tom Hanks , David Letterman , and Eugene Levy.

Was program director for KTTV TV channel 11 in Los Angeles during the 1960s.

Born in Ojai, California to John & Carol Martin. His father was the Recreation Director for the city of Ojai; his mother a Real Estate Agent.

Elijahs Ashes - Funeral attendee.

I believe that sex is the most beautiful, natural, and wholesome thing,that money can buy.

The greatest thing you can do is surprise yourself.

What is comedy? Comedy is the art of making people laugh without making,them puke.

I believe entertainment can aspire to be art, and can become art, but if,you set out to make art you are an idiot.

And then I realized; we are all here tonight, because of a common love:,me.

All you have to do is that, and then you can drink all you want.

you really have to work a bit to be exposed. You,have to be standing in a shop, you have to join a club, or join a,community service thing, or go to a nightclub in order to meet people.

What is a movie star? A movie star is many things. They can be tall,short, thin, or skinny. They can be Democrats . . . or skinny.

A day without sunshine is like, you know, night.

[on playing banjo with the Steep Canyon Rangers] This is an accident.

And, by the way, when I say comedy was a means of getting myself into,film, that was an accident too.

I thought Borat,(Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan (2006) ),was a breakthrough comedy, something I really, really had not seen,before.

I understood that as much as I had resisted the outside, as much as I had constricted my life, as much as I had closed and narrowed the channels into me, there were still many takers for the quiet heart.

A day without sunshine is like, you know, night.

Some people have a way with words, and other people. . . oh, uh, not have way.

I like a woman with a head on her shoulders. I hate necks.

I believe that sex is one of the most beautiful, natural, wholesome things that money can buy.

Boy, those French! They have a different word for everything.

Thankfully, persistence is a great substitute for talent.

I believe in equality. Equality for everybody. No matter how stupid they are or how superior I am to them.

You know that look that women get when they want to have sex? Me neither.

Comedy is the art of making people laugh without making them puke.

I think I did pretty well, considering I started out with nothing but a bunch of blank paper.

I love money. I love everything about it. I bought some pretty good stuff. Got me a $300 pair of socks. Got a fur sink. An electric dog polisher. A gasoline powered turtleneck sweater. And, of course, I bought some dumb stuff, too.

she is nearing forty and not so easily forgiven as when her skin bloomed like roses.

both you and paintings are layered… first, ephemera and notations on the back of the canvas. Labels indicate gallery shows, museum shows, footprints in the snow, so to speak. Then pencil scribbles on the stretcher, usually by the artist, usually a title or date. Next the stretcher itself. Pine or something. Wooden triangles in the corners so the picture can be tapped tighter when the canvas becomes loose. Nails in the wood securing the picture to the stretcher. Next, a canvas: linen, muslin, sometimes a panel; then the gesso - a primary coat, always white. A layer of underpaint, usually a pastel color, then, the miracle, where the secrets are: the paint itself, swished around, roughly, gently, layer on layer, thick or thin, not more than a quarter of an inch ever -- God can happen in that quarter of an inch -- the occasional brush hair left embedded, colors mixed over each other, tones showing through, sometimes the weave of the linen revealing itself. The signature on top of the entire goulash. Then varnish is swabbed over the whole. Finally, the frame, translucent gilt or carved wood. The whole thing is done.

People in coats and ties were milling around the Talley gallery, and on the wall were the minimally rendered still lifes by Giorgio Morandi, most of them no bigger than a tea tray. Their thin browns, ashy grays, and muted blues made people speak softly to one another, as if a shouted word might curdle one of the paintings and ruin it. Bottles, carafes, and ceramic whatnots sat in his paintings like small animals huddling for warmth, and these shy pictures could easily hang next to a Picasso or Matisse without feeling inferior.

Despite a lack of natural ability, I did have the one element necessary to all early creativity: naïveté, that fabulous quality that keeps you from knowing just how unsuited you are for what you are about to do.

Thankfully, perseverance is a great substitute for talent.

I thought yesterday was the first day of the rest of my life but it turns out today is.

If you saw her in these moments, you might think she was collecting her thoughts in order to go forward. But I see it another way: Her mind is being overwhelmed by two processes that must simultaneously proceed at full steam. One is to deal with and live in the present world. The other is to re-experience and mourn something that happened long ago. It is as though her lightness pulls her toward heaven, but the extra gravity around her keeps her earthbound.

Be so good they can’t ignore you.

I was seeking comic originality, and fame fell on me as a by-product. The course was more plodding than heroic: I did not strive valiantly against doubters but took incremental steps studded with a few intuitive leaps.

. . . teaching is, after all, a form of show business.

Free love, man, Free Love! Which, by the way, was the single greatest concept a young man has ever heard. About three years late, women got wise an my frustration returned to normal levels.

Comedy is a distortion of what is happening, and there will always be something happening.

Through the years, I have learned there is no harm in charging oneself up with delusions between moments of valid inspiration.

. . . just remember, darling, it is pain that changes our lives.

Talking about music is like dancing about architecture.

I did stand-up comedy for 18 years. Ten of those years were spent learning, four years were spent refining, and four years were spent in wild success. I was seeking comic originality, and fame fell on me as a byproduct. The course was more plodding than heroic.

What is comedy? Comedy is the art of making people laugh without making them puke.