Steve Martin

He married actress Victoria Tennant on November 20, 1986. The marriage ended in a divorce in 1994.

He married Anne Stringfield, a writer and former staffer for ‘The New Yorker’ magazine in 2007. His wife gave birth to a daughter in 2012, making Steve Martin a first-time dad at the age of 67.

Stephen Glenn "Steve" Martin was born on August 14, 1945, in Waco, Texas, to Mary Lee and Glenn Vernon Martin. His father was a real estate executive.

As a teenager, he took up the job of selling guidebooks at Disneyland on weekends and summer breaks. He also performed magic tricks at the Main Street Magic shop and over a period of time mastered several tricks and illusions.

Upon completing his high school he enrolled at the Santa Ana Junior College, where he took classes in drama and English poetry. Then he attended State College in Long Beach, California where he studied philosophy.

He moved to The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) in 1967 and changed his major to theatre. During this time he also started performing comedy routines in local night clubs. Soon he dropped out of college to focus on his career.

Steve Martin found a job as a writer in the show ‘The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour’ in 1967 and soon started appearing on television too. Some of his initial television appearances were in ‘The Steve Allen Show’ in 1969 and ‘The Virginia Graham’ Show, in 1970.

He became a very popular comedian by the mid-1970s with frequent appearances on ‘The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson’, ‘The Gong Show’, and NBC's ‘Saturday Night Live’ (SNL). His guest performances in the SNL increased the show’s viewership greatly.

Motivated by the success of his stand-up career he released two albums in the 1970s: ‘Let's Get Small’, and ‘A Wild and Crazy Guy’. Both were big hits and the latter peaked at No. 2 spot on the U.S. sales chart and sold over a million copies. He also achieved considerable fame touring and performing as a stand-up comedian, and garnered a huge fan following.

He eventually ventured into films and after appearing in a number of small film roles, he got his first substantial role in the jukebox musical film, ‘Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band’ in 1978. The film was critically panned though Martin’s performance was appreciated.

Along with Carl Gottlieb, and Michael Elias, he co-wrote the comedy film, ‘The Jerk’ (1979). He also starred in the film as Navin R. Johnson. The film proved to be a huge success, grossing over $100 million at the box office.

His role as Navin R. Johnson the Cat Juggler in the comedy film ‘The Jerk’ (1979) is undoubtedly one of his most memorable performances. The movie has been praised as one of Martin's best comedic efforts and ‘Premiere’ magazine voted his performance no. 99 on their list, "The 100 Greatest Performances of All Time".

Steve Martin was also much-loved as the reluctant father of the bride, George Banks, in the film ‘Father of the Bride’ (1991). He played the role of a businessman whose daughter is planning to get married. The movie was a major box office success.