The many successes of Steve Martin
Steve Martin is an Academy-Award winning actor, comedian, novelist, Grammy-Award winning banjo player and, legend has it, semi-professional magician. He recently added curator to his impressive resumé with
The Idea of North, an exhibition of paintings by Lawren Harris co-produced by the Hammer Museum and the Art Gallery of Ontario. Here, a brief look at his CV.
Steve Martin, banjo player Martin’s musical exploits are a serious pursuit, and his devotion to American roots music is deep. He is currently putting the finishing touches on Bright Star, a roots musical to open in New York in December, co-written with Edie Brickell, with whom he won a Grammy last year. Their new album, So Familiar, will be released later this month.
Steve Martin, novelist Martin’s 2000 debut novella Shopgirl also nods to another writing pursuit: screenwriter, seeing as it was made into a film. He’s written two others: The Pleasure of My Company and 2010 novel An Object of Beauty. He’s also written a children’s book and published a collection of essays on art and collecting called Kindly Lent Their Owner.
Steve Martin, curator The Idea of North may be Martin’s official maiden voyage as a curator, but he’s been embedded in art-world activity for decades. In 2003, he worked with the Hammer Museum, writing exhibition panels for the exhibition Writings on the Wall. More recently, she delivered a tribute to the artist Cindy Sherman in 2012.
Steve Martin, playwright Martin’s most celebrated work for the stage, Picasso at the Lapin Agile, was written in 1993. It debuted at Chicago’s Steppenwolf Theatre and had several Canadian productions, including via Toronto’s Canadian Stage in 2001.
Steve Martin, comedy writer Martin left college in 1967 to write for The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour. Before long, he was doing standup, joining the cast of Saturday Night Live, and then moving on to superstardom with movies such as The Jerk, Roxanne and Dirty Rotten Scoundrels. Along the way, he wrote a bestselling book of comedy essays, Cruel Shoes and more recently became a semiregular contributor to the New Yorker’s “Shouts & Murmurs” section.
Steve Martin, magician As a teenager, Martin’s first gig in show business was at Disneyland and Knott’s Berry Farm in California, where he parlayed a job selling guidebooks into a magic show for guests at the two amusement parks.