Martin Hayter Short was born in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada on March 25, 1950. The youngest of five children, he lost a brother and both of his parents by the time he was 20 years old. He developed his singing voice and landed some spots performing on shows on the Canadian Broadcasting Company (CBC). After graduating from McMaster University with a degree in social work, Short pursued his singing career. He was soon cast in a Toronto production of the musical "Godspell." Like Short, his castmates were then unknowns, but most would go on to have successful careers. They included Gilda Radner ("Saturday Night Live"), Eugene Levy ("SCTV" and many films), Andrea Martin ("SCTV" and Broadway productions) and Paul Shaffer ("Late Show with David Letterman").
In 1977, Short joined friends Eugene Levy and Dave Thomas in the company of Toronto's Second City improvisational theater. The troupe was signed to create a sketch comedy television show called "Second City Television" ("SCTV"), which aired in Canada and the United States. The show was a success with both critics and audiences. It was during this time that Short created some of his most memorable characters, including Jackie Rogers Jr. (an albino Vegas showman) and Irving Cohen (an aging songwriter who started all of his songs with "A bouncy C!"). Short continued to perform these characters and others during his 1984-1985 stint on "Saturday Night Live." His most famous character was the manic Ed Grimley. With his hair stuck up like a unicorn horn, his inability to sit still and his odd voice, which dipped low and then shot up to a high squeal from one moment to the next, Ed Grimley developed a cult following. He was also a favorite character among children, and in 1988, Hanna-Barbera enlisted Short to voice an animated show called "The Completely Mental Misadventures of Ed Grimley."
Following his success on "SCTV," Short began his film career, mostly playing outrageous comedic roles that took advantage of his physical mannerisms and energy. In 1986, he costarred with Steve Martin and Chevy Chase in "Three Amigos," a film that was poorly received upon release, but has since become a cult favorite. In "The Big Picture" (1989), Short played Neil, an eccentric Hollywood talent agent. His most memorable film role came in "Father of the Bride" (1991), in which he played Franck Eggelhoffer, a flamboyant wedding coordinator with a thick accent that could not be traced to any specific country. Short reprised this role in "Father of the Bride, Part II" (1995).
Short never lost his love for the theater and the excitement of performing in front of live audiences. Musical theater gave him an opportunity to sing once more, and in 1993, he made his Broadway debut in the musical version of Neil Simon's "The Goodbye Girl." In 1999, he appeared in the Broadway revival of "Little Me," for which he won a Tony Award. In 2002, he joined the national tour of "The Producers." In 2006, he returned to Broadway in a one-man show (with a cast of six actors) called "Martin Short: Fame Becomes Me."
In 1994, Short launched a prime time television series called "The Martin Short Show." It was a challenging project about a TV star that included a show within the show. The project did not capture an audience and it was pulled for what the network called a "retooling." Short parodied this turn of events a year later in a TV special called "The Show Formerly Known as the Martin Short Show." In 1999, a completely different "Martin Short Show" was syndicated in the form of an afternoon talk fest that featured celebrity guests, sketches and musical acts. The show only ran for one season.
Finding it difficult to be successful on television as "Martin Short," Short developed a new character, the rotund, rude and obnoxious celebrity interviewer Jiminy Glick. In 2001, he created a show just for this character called "Primetime Glick," which was broadcast on Comedy Central. To portray Glick, the slight and diminutive Short had to don a fat suit and layers of prosthetic makeup. Real celebrity guests came on the show to be interviewed by Glick, who would interrupt them as they spoke, make annoying comments and frantically fidget in his chair. Most of Short's lines were improvised, so his guests, who were in on the joke, rarely knew what he was going to do next. "Primetime Glick" developed a following, and Short eventually took the character to movie theaters with the film "Jiminy Glick in Lalawood" (2004).