Steve Martin

Steve Martin is an American actor, comedian, writer and musician. He rose to fame in the late 1960s and early 1970s by writing for television comedy series like The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour and The Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour before launching a successful career as a stand-up comedian. Starting in the mid-1970s, Martin achieved popular and critical acclaim as a frequent host of the television series Saturday Night Live. He released several successful comedy albums, including 1977's Let's Get Small, 1978's A Wild and Crazy Guy and 1979's Comedy is Not Pretty! Martin transitioned to acting in films and is best known for the films The Jerk (1979), Three Amigos (1986), Roxanne (1987), Planes, Trains and Automobiles (1987), Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (1988), Parenthood (1989), Father of the Bride (1991), Bringing Down the House (2003), Cheaper by the Dozen (2003), The Pink Panther (2006) and It's Complicated (2009). In addition to acting, Martin is an accomplished banjo player and has released several albums, including collaborations with the bluegrass band Steep Canyon Rangers and singer-songwriter Edie Brickell. Martin has also published several fiction and non-fiction works and has written or co-written screenplays for several of his films. He has also written the musical Bright Star and the play Meteor Shower, both of which were produced on Broadway. Martin has won five Grammy Awards (two for comedy, three for music), an Emmy Award for writing The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour, and received an honorary Academy Award in 2013. In 2005 Martin was awarded the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor and in 2007 he received the Kennedy Center Honors.