Biography
This page uses content from the Andrea Martin biography page on the English version of Wikipedia and is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. This list of authors can be seen in the page history. Rotten Tomatoes disclaims any and all warranties as to the accuracy or reliability of the content.
Andrea Martin (born January 15 1947) is a Tony Award-winning American actress and comedienne.
Martin was born in Portland, Maine of Armenian descent, but her early success was found in Canada. One of her first prominent roles was as the bookish sorority sister Phyllis in the 1974 Canadian slasher Black Christmas. Two years later, she joined then-unknowns John Candy, Rick Moranis, Eugene Levy, Catherine O'Hara, and Harold Ramis, among others, on the Canadian sketch comedy television series, SCTV, which was set at fictional television station SCTV in Melonville. Martin most notably portrayed leopard-skin-print-wearing station owner Edith Prickley, whose dealings with the staff, including president Guy Caballero, clueless newscaster Earl Camembert, and washed-up actor Johnny LaRue, provided much of the laughter. Other memorable characterizations included repressed sexologist Dr. Cheryl Kinsey, insecure self-affirmation guru Libby Wolfson, pidgin-tongued janitress Pirini Scleroso, tone-deaf children's entertainer Mrs. Falbo, Texan curio pitchwoman Edna Boil, and impossibly tight-jeaned Melba, the Disco Queen. Her talent for impersonation was key in her humorous portrayals of such luminaries as Barbra Streisand, Ethel Merman, Sally Field, Sophia Loren, Beverly Sills, Lynn Redgrave, Linda Lavin, Bernadette Peters, and Liza Minnelli.
Martin's early stage work was with the improvisational comedy troupe Second City. In 1992, she made her Broadway debut in the musical My Favorite Year, for which she won the Tony Award, Theatre World Award, and Drama Desk Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical. Additional Broadway credits include Candide (1997) and Oklahoma! (2002) - both of which brought her Tony nominations - and Fiddler on the Roof (2005).
Martin wrote and performed in the critically acclaimed one-woman show Nude, Nude, Totally Nude in Los Angeles and New York City, where she garnered a 1996 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding One Person Show.
Martin has played Wanda the Word Fairy in numerous short segments on Sesame Street. Star Trek fans may recognize her as one of two actresses to play Ishka, Quark's iconoclastic mother on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. For her role, she was made up to appear as an older woman although in reality Martin is less than three years older than Armin Shimerman, who played Quark.
Martin won two Emmy Awards for Outstanding Writing in a Variety or Music Program in 1982 and 1983. She has done considerable voice work in such animated productions as Jimmy Neutron, The Simpsons (as Apu's mother), Earthworm Jim, and the Disney Channel's Kim Possible and Brother Bear 2.
Martin's many screen credits include Wag the Dog, Hedwig and the Angry Inch, The Producers, and the independent smash hit, My Big Fat Greek Wedding, in which she portrayed Aunt Voula, a role she repeated in the shgort-lived small screen adaptation.
Martin has two sons, Jack (born 1981) and Joe (born 1983), with ex-husband Bob Dolman, a screenwriter. She is Martin Short's sister-in-law. Martin was named as a former lover by rock singer Carole Pope in Pope's autobiography Anti-Diva.
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