Steve Martin is one of those rare performers who has succeeded in almost every corner of show business. He began as a stand-up comedian playing to packed arenas, then became a movie star, a best-selling author, a playwright, and a Grammy-winning banjo player.
He is still working in his eighties, which is worth saying plainly because the internet often gets this wrong. Steve Martin is alive and active as of October 2026, co-starring in a hit television series and still performing on stage with his closest comedy partner. This is his full story, from a childhood in California to a fortune built over more than five decades.
In this article you will find clear answers to the questions people ask most about him. How old is he now, who is his wife, does he have children, and what is his net worth really worth. Every figure here is attributed to its source, and where sources disagree, that disagreement is stated openly.
Quick Facts
| Fact | Details |
|---|---|
| Full Name | Stephen Glenn Martin |
| Born | August 14, 1945 |
| Age | 81 years old (as of October 2026) |
| Birthplace | Waco, Texas |
| Nationality | American |
| Occupation | Comedian, actor, writer, musician, author |
| Height | About 6 feet tall |
| Spouses | Victoria Tennant (1986–1994); Anne Stringfield (2007–present) |
| Children | One daughter, born in 2012 |
| Net Worth | Estimated at 140 million to 150 million dollars (estimates vary, see below) |
| Famous For | The Jerk, Roxanne, Father of the Bride, Only Murders in the Building |
| Awards | Five Grammy Awards, one Primetime Emmy Award, Honorary Academy Award |
How Old Is Steve Martin?
Steve Martin was born on August 14, 1945, in Waco, Texas. That makes him 81 years old as of October 2026, having celebrated his eighty-first birthday in August of that year. He belongs to a generation of comedians who came of age in the 1970s, yet he has outlasted almost all of them in the public eye.
His full name is Stephen Glenn Martin, though the world has known him simply as Steve Martin for more than fifty years. Audiences who first saw him in the 1970s sometimes assumed he was far older than he really was.
What Was Steve Martin’s Childhood Like?
Martin grew up in Inglewood and Garden Grove in California, after his family moved from Texas when he was young. His father, Glenn Vernon Martin, worked as a real estate salesman and also acted, while his mother, Mary Lee Martin, kept the family home. He grew up alongside his sister, Melinda, in a household that valued hard work more than show business.
As a teenager, Martin worked at Disneyland, where he sold guidebooks and performed magic tricks in the magic shop. The job gave him his first taste of entertaining strangers, and he learned how to hold the attention of a crowd.
He went on to study at Santa Ana College, where he took classes in drama and English poetry. He later transferred to California State University, Long Beach, and then to the University of California, Los Angeles, where he studied philosophy. He left university before graduating, choosing instead to chase a career in comedy writing, a gamble that would pay off within a few years.
How Did Steve Martin Become Famous?
Martin got his first big break as a writer for The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour in the late 1960s. He won a Primetime Emmy Award for his writing on the show in 1969, when he was only 23 years old.
His stand-up act in the 1970s was unlike anything audiences had seen before. He wore a white suit, played the banjo badly on purpose, balanced strange props, and performed the famous arrow-through-the-head gag. The act was deliberately absurd, mixing magic, music, and jokes that made fun of comedy itself, and it filled large theatres across the country.
Television appearances, especially on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson and as a frequent guest host on Saturday Night Live, turned him into a household name. His comedy albums also sold in huge numbers, with hits like King Tut and the album Let’s Get Small becoming part of popular culture. At the height of his stand-up fame, he was one of the biggest live draws in America, yet he walked away from stand-up in 1981, feeling that he had taken the act as far as it could go.
What Are Steve Martin’s Best Movies?
Martin moved into film at the end of the 1970s, and his first starring role became an instant classic. The Jerk, released in 1979, told the story of a simple man who discovers he was adopted, and it turned Martin into a movie star overnight. He co-wrote the film, and its success gave him the freedom to choose the varied roles that followed.
The 1980s brought a remarkable run of comedies that still hold up today. Dead Men Don’t Wear Plaid in 1982 mixed old film noir footage with new comedy, while The Man with Two Brains in 1983 and All of Me in 1984 showed his gift for high-concept farce. Three Amigos in 1986 became a beloved cult hit, and Roxanne in 1987 proved he could carry a romantic story with real feeling.
Two films from 1987 and 1988 remain among his most admired work. Planes, Trains and Automobiles, in which he played an uptight businessman stranded with John Candy, is now a holiday favourite for many families. Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, released in 1988, cast him as a small-time con man opposite Michael Caine, and the pairing of their very different comic styles is still praised by critics.
The 1990s kept him at the top of the box office with family comedies and romantic roles. Parenthood in 1989 showed his warmer side as a father trying to hold his family together, while Father of the Bride in 1991 cast him as a father struggling to let his daughter go. Later hits included Bowfinger in 1999, Cheaper by the Dozen in 2003, The Pink Panther in 2006, and It’s Complicated in 2009, in which he starred opposite Meryl Streep and Alec Baldwin.
Who Is Steve Martin’s First Wife?
Martin was married twice, and his first marriage was to the actress Victoria Tennant. The couple married in 1986, after meeting through their work in film, and they appeared together in the comedies All of Me and L.A. Story. Tennant, who was born in London and raised partly in England, had built her own respected acting career before the marriage.
The marriage lasted eight years, ending in divorce in 1994. Both kept the details of the split largely private, and Martin rarely discusses his first marriage in interviews.
Who Is Steve Martin’s Wife Now?
Martin’s current wife is Anne Stringfield, a former fact-checker for The New Yorker magazine. The two met through their shared connection to the magazine, where Martin had written comedy pieces and Stringfield worked on checking facts. They spoke on the telephone for a long time before meeting in person, a slow courtship that Martin has described fondly in interviews.
They married on July 28, 2007, in a surprise ceremony at their home in Los Angeles. Guests had been invited to what they believed was an ordinary party, only to discover they were attending a wedding. The ceremony was attended by about 75 guests, including Tom Hanks, Diane Keaton, and Eugene Levy, with Saturday Night Live creator Lorne Michaels serving as best man.
Stringfield was born in 1972 in Pensacola, Florida, making her about 27 years younger than Martin. She graduated from Davidson College in North Carolina before building her career in journalism.
Does Steve Martin Have Children?
Yes, Steve Martin has one child, a daughter born in December 2012. He was 67 years old when she was born, and he became a father for the first time at an age when most men are already grandfathers. The news drew wide comment at the time, but Martin has said that fatherhood arrived at exactly the right moment in his life.
He has spoken warmly about the change that becoming a father brought him. In interviews, he has said that if he had become a father earlier, when his career consumed all his attention, he would have been a poor father. Now, he has said, he has all the time in the world, and he spends much of it at home with his family.
Martin and Stringfield have kept their daughter firmly out of public view, and they do not share photographs of her or discuss her in detail. This article therefore does not give her full name, in line with the couple’s clear wish for privacy.
What Is Steve Martin’s Net Worth?
Estimates of Steve Martin’s net worth vary between sources, so no single figure should be treated as exact. Celebrity Net Worth, the specialist site most often cited on this subject, currently lists his net worth at 150 million dollars. The same site notes that his art collection alone is worth at least 50 million dollars, with California real estate worth more than 30 million dollars on top of that.
Other reports have given a lower figure, and readers should know about the difference. Parade, reporting in 2026, put his net worth at 140 million dollars, citing Celebrity Net Worth from an earlier update. The gap between 140 million and 150 million dollars shows how these estimates move over time, as property values, art prices, and royalty income are revalued and as different outlets update at different times.
What is not in doubt is the breadth of the income behind the fortune. Martin earned large film salaries across five decades, including a reported 25 million dollars plus a rewriting fee for The Pink Panther in 2006. He has also earned from best-selling books, from Grammy-winning albums, from touring with his bluegrass band, and from his work as a co-creator and executive producer on Only Murders in the Building. Reports have put his pay for that series at about 600,000 dollars per episode, which would mean about 6 million dollars per season.
His art collection deserves special mention, because it is one of the most serious collections owned by any living entertainer. Martin has collected modern and contemporary art for decades, buying works with a knowledgeable eye rather than simply as investments.
What Is Steve Martin Doing Now?
Martin found a whole new audience in 2021 with Only Murders in the Building, the comedy mystery series he co-created for Hulu. He stars as Charles-Haden Savage, a washed-up television actor who teams up with his neighbours to solve murders in their New York apartment building. The show, made with Martin Short and Selena Gomez, has become one of the most popular comedies on streaming television.
The series has also brought him fresh awards attention and introduced him to younger viewers who had never seen his classic films. The pair also tour together with a live stage show, mixing comedy, music, and stories from their long careers.
In 2024, a two-part documentary about his life, titled STEVE! (Martin) A Documentary in 2 Pieces, was released on Apple TV Plus. The film looked back at his stand-up years and his film career, while also showing his quieter life at home with his family.
Music remains a large part of his daily life as well. Martin is a serious banjo player who has released bluegrass albums, toured with the Steep Canyon Rangers, and won Grammy Awards for his music. He continues to perform when his schedule allows.
What Awards Has Steve Martin Won?
Martin has won five Grammy Awards across comedy and music, a record that reflects both halves of his career. His early comedy albums won Grammy Awards in the late 1970s, while his later bluegrass work won further Grammys, including one for his banjo album The Crow. He has also won a Primetime Emmy Award for comedy writing, earned in 1969 at the very start of his career.
His film honours include some of the highest prizes in American entertainment. He received the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor in 2005, the Kennedy Center Honors in 2007, and an Honorary Academy Award in 2013. In 2015, he received the American Film Institute Life Achievement Award, placing him among the most honoured figures in film history.
He has also been nominated for Academy Awards for his screenwriting, though he has never won a competitive Oscar. The honorary Oscar in 2013 recognised his whole career rather than a single film, and it was presented with tributes from friends and collaborators.
What Is Steve Martin’s Legacy?
Martin’s legacy rests on reinvention, because he has changed direction several times without ever losing his audience. He left stand-up at its peak, rebuilt himself as a film actor, then became an author and a musician, and finally returned to television as a star in his seventies. Each move looked risky at the time, and each one worked because the work itself was strong.
His influence on comedy is also hard to overstate. The absurd, self-aware style of his 1970s stand-up paved the way for a generation of comedians who treated the joke itself as the subject. His films, from The Jerk to Father of the Bride, are still quoted and rewatched, and parents still recommend them to their children.
Writers who study screen comedy still point to Roxanne and L.A. Story as examples of how to mix laughter with genuine feeling.
Readers who enjoy stories about performers with long and varied screen careers may also enjoy reading about Christopher Lee, Sean Connery, and Michael Caine, whose careers each spanned many decades in film.
Lesser-Known Facts About Steve Martin
- Martin worked at Disneyland as a teenager, performing magic tricks and selling guidebooks before he ever appeared on television.
- He learned to play the banjo as a young man and went on to win Grammy Awards for bluegrass music decades later.
- His white hair turned grey early in life, and audiences in the 1970s often assumed he was much older than he was.
- He collects modern art seriously and has owned works by major twentieth-century painters, with his collection valued in the tens of millions of dollars.
- Martin wrote the play Picasso at the Lapin Agile, imagining a meeting between Pablo Picasso and Albert Einstein in a Paris bar.
- He has written best-selling books, including the novella Shopgirl, the memoir Born Standing Up, and the novel An Object of Beauty.
- Martin once turned down the chance to keep touring as a stand-up star at the height of his fame, because he felt the act had run its course.
- He is a close friend and stage partner of Martin Short, and the two have toured together with a comedy and music show.
- Martin appeared as a frequent guest host on Saturday Night Live in its early years, helping to define the show’s first decade.
- He hosted the Academy Awards on his own in 2001 and again in 2003, and co-hosted the ceremony with Alec Baldwin in 2010.
Frequently Asked Questions
How old is Steve Martin in 2026?
Steve Martin is 81 years old in 2026. He was born on August 14, 1945, in Waco, Texas, and he celebrated his eighty-first birthday in August 2026.
Is Steve Martin still alive?
Yes, Steve Martin is alive as of October 2026. He continues to star in Only Murders in the Building and to perform on stage, and no credible source has reported otherwise.
Who is Steve Martin’s wife?
Steve Martin’s wife is Anne Stringfield, a former fact-checker for The New Yorker. They married on July 28, 2007, and they have one daughter together. His first wife was the actress Victoria Tennant, to whom he was married from 1986 to 1994.
How many children does Steve Martin have?
Steve Martin has one child, a daughter born in December 2012. He was 67 when she was born, and he and his wife have kept her out of the public eye.
What is Steve Martin’s net worth?
Estimates vary, with Celebrity Net Worth currently listing his net worth at 150 million dollars and other reports giving 140 million dollars. The figure should be read as an attributed estimate, not an official valuation, since it includes art and property whose value changes over time.
What are Steve Martin’s most famous movies?
His most famous films include The Jerk, Roxanne, Planes, Trains and Automobiles, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, Parenthood, Father of the Bride, and Bowfinger. More recent viewers know him best from Only Murders in the Building, his hit streaming series with Martin Short and Selena Gomez.
Final Thoughts
Steve Martin’s career is a reminder that a performer does not have to stay in one lane to last. He made people laugh in nightclubs, then in cinemas, then in books, then on the banjo, and now on streaming television.
At 81, he seems content in a way that his younger self, chasing fame night after night, never was. He has a wife he adores, a daughter he protects, friends he performs with, and work that still excites him. That is a rare ending for a life in show business, and it is one he has earned many times over.
