Early life

Martin was born in 1947 in Portland, Maine, the eldest of three children of Sybil A. (née Manoogian) and John Papazian Martin. Her paternal grandparents were Armenian immigrants who moved to the U.S. from Turkey to escape the Armenian Genocide. Her maternal grandparents were Armenians from Yerevan and Istanbul. Her father owned Martin's Foods, a grocery store chain.

Career

Soon after graduating from Emerson College, she won a role in a touring company of You're A Good Man, Charlie Brown. After frequent visits to Toronto, she relocated from New York City to Toronto in 1970 and immediately found steady work in television, film, and theater.

In 1972, she played the character of Robin in a Toronto production of Godspell, with a company that included future stars Gilda Radner, Martin Short, Eugene Levy, Victor Garber, and musical director Paul Shaffer. Two of her early film appearances were in 1973's Cannibal Girls for which she won the Sitges Film Festival Award for Best Actress, and, in 1974, as the bookish sorority sister Phyllis in Black Christmas, a Canadian slasher film.

In 1976, she joined then-unknowns John Candy, Dave Thomas, Eugene Levy, Catherine O'Hara, Harold Ramis and Joe Flaherty on the Canadian sketch comedy television series, SCTV, which was set at fictional television station "Second City Television", or SCTV, in Melonville. Martin most notably portrayed leopard-print-wearing station manager Edith Prickley, whose dealings with the staff, including president/owner Guy Caballero, clueless newscaster Earl Camembert, and washed-up actor Johnny LaRue, helped to provide much of the show's humor. Her 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, Arlene Francis, Pauline Kael, Sally Field, Sophia Loren, Beverly Sills, Lynn Redgrave, Linda Lavin, Bernadette Peters, Liza Minnelli, Connie Francis, Mother Teresa, Joni Mitchell, Alice B. Toklas, Patti Smith, Brenda Vaccaro and Indira Gandhi. In 1981, Martin was Emmy-nominated for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Variety Show for her work in SCTV.

Her 1970s stage work eventually included the Toronto branch of the improvisational comedy troupe The Second City, a group which produced almost the entire cast of SCTV. 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), and the Broadway premiere of Young Frankenstein (2007), all of which brought her Tony Award nominations for Best Featured Actress in a Musical.

Martin starred alongside Geoffrey Rush and Susan Sarandon in the Broadway revival of Exit the King. For her performance as Juliette, she was nominated for a Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Award. She wrote and performed in the critically acclaimed one-woman show Nude, Nude, Totally Nude in Los Angeles and New York City, receiving a 1996 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding One Person Show.

Other theater credits include the leads in The Rose Tattoo and Betty's Summer Vacation, for which she won the Elliot Norton Award for Best Actress, both produced at The Huntington Theatre in Boston. During the winter of 2012-2013, she played Berthe, Pippin's grandmother, in the American Repertory Theater production of Pippin in Cambridge, Massachusetts, singing the classic song "No Time At All". The show transferred to Broadway at the Music Box Theatre and opened in April 2013. For Pippin Martin won the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical, the Outer Critics Circle Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical and the Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical. Martin's last performance as Berthe in the Broadway production of Pippin was on September 22, 2013. She appeared on Broadway in the new play written and directed by James Lapine, Act One, for which she received the Outer Critics Circle Award.

Martin has played Wanda the Word Fairy in numerous short segments on Sesame Street. She also appeared on Kate & Allie as the executive producer of a low-rated cable channel, which was spun-off into her own CBS series, "Roxie." 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.

She has 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 film and television productions such as Anastasia, The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius, The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy, Rugrats as Aunt Miriam, The Secret of NIMH 2: Timmy to the Rescue as Muriel - Floyd's Wife, The Simpsons (as Apu's mother), Recess as Lunchlady Harriet, the 1999 version of The Woody Woodpecker Show, Earthworm Jim, Kim Possible, The Buzz On Maggie, SpongeBob SquarePants, and Brother Bear 2. She also appeared in the 1993 television adaptation of Gypsy starring Bette Midler.

In 1997, Martin starred in the television series Life... and Stuff.

Her many screen credits include All Over the Guy in which she played Dan Bucatinsky's Mom, Club Paradise, Wag the Dog, All I Want for Christmas, Worth Winning, Hedwig and the Angry Inch, Stepping Out, The Producers, and My Big Fat Greek Wedding, in which she portrayed Aunt Voula, a role she reprised in the small-screen adaptation, My Big Fat Greek Life, and the 2016 sequel, My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2. In 2006, she played a major role in the remake of Black Christmas. She played Helaine in the 2009 break-out independent film Breaking Upwards. In the episode titled Pupil, she played an emergency room patient on the Showtime series, Nurse Jackie, which was aired July 27, 2009. In 2012, She provided the voice of Penny in the American Dad! episode "Stan's Best Friend" and appeared in an episode of 30 Rock titled "My Whole Life Is Thunder." Martin recently appeared in Night at the Museum 3 and Hulu's original series, Difficult People, starring Billy Eichner and Julie Klausner and produced by Amy Poehler. It premiered August 5, 2015.

She appears in the NBC sitcom Working the Engels.

Martin recently performed as Dotty Otley in the limited run Roundabout Theatre Company revival of Noises Off, directed by Jeremy Herrin. Martin was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play for her performance.

Martin tours throughout Canada and the United States in her one-woman show, "Andrea Martin: Final Days, Everything Must Go!" with her musical director Seth Rudetsky.

Personal life

She has two sons, Jack (born ca. 1981) and Joe (born 1983), with former husband Bob Dolman, a screenwriter. Through this marriage, she was the sister-in-law of actress Nancy Dolman and her husband Martin Short.

Though her success in Canadian television and theatre and familial ties to Canada might lead the public to assume she is Canadian, Martin is an American citizen. Her two sons have dual Canadian-American status due to their father's Canadian cititzenship.

Charity

Since 2000, Martin has been a prominent spokesperson for the Children of Armenia Fund (COAF) and host of their annual gala.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1971	Foxy Lady	Girl Next Door
1973	Cannibal Girls	Gloria Wellaby
1974	Black Christmas	Phyl
1976	The Rimshots		TV movie
1980	Wholly Moses!	Zipporah
1982	Soup for One	Concord Seductress
1986	Club Paradise	Linda White
1987	Innerspace	Waiting Room Patient
1988	Martha, Ruth & Edie	Ruth
1989	Rude Awakening	April Stool
	Worth Winning	Claire Broudy
1990	Too Much Sun	Bitsy
1991	Stepping Out	Dorothy
	All I Want for Christmas	Olivia
	Ted & Venus	Bag Lady
1992	Boris and Natasha: The Movie	Toots	TV movie
	Itsy Bitsy Spider	Music Teacher (voice)	Short
1996	Bogus	Penny
1997	Anastasia	Phlegmenkoff, Old Woman (voice)
	Wag the Dog	Liz Butsky
1998	The Rugrats Movie	Aunt Miriam (voice)
	The Secret of NIMH 2: Timmy to the Rescue	Muriel (voice)	Direct-to-video
1999	Bartok the Magnificent	Baba Yaga (voice)	Direct-to-video
2000	Believe	Muriel Twyman
	Loser	Professor
2001	Hedwig and the Angry Inch	Phyllis Stein
	Recess: School's Out	Lunchlady Harriet (voice)
	All Over the Guy	Dr. Ellen Wyckoff
	Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius	Ms. Fowl (voice)
2002	My Big Fat Greek Wedding	Aunt Voula
2004	New York Minute	Senator Anne Lipton
2005	The Producers	Kiss Me-Feel Me
2006	The TV Set	Becky
	Brother Bear 2	Anda (voice)	Direct-to-video
	How to Eat Fried Worms	Mrs. Bommley
	Young Triffie	Mrs. Grace Melrose
	Black Christmas	Barbara 'Ms. Mac' MacHenry
2007	Barbie as the Island Princess	Queen Ariana (voice)	Direct-to-video
2008	The Toe Tactic	Honey (voice)
2009	Breaking Upwards	Helaine
2012	BuzzKill	Lil Albright (voice)
	Girl Most Likely	Stage Zelda
	Delivering the Goods	Anna
2014	Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb	Rose (Archivist)
2016	My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2	Aunt Voula

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1971	The Hart and Lorne Terrific Hour	Baffin Islander, Anthem Singer #2	Episode dated September 18
1975	King of Kensington	Wilma Willoughby	Episode: "The Joy of Kensington"
1976	The Sunshine Hour	Regular
1976-1977	The David Steinberg Show	Julie Liverfoot	3 episodes
1976-1984	Second City Television	Various	74 episodes
1981	Titans	George Sand	Episode: "George Sand"
1986	Kate & Allie	Eddie Gordon	2 episodes
1987	Roxie	Roxie Brinkerhoff	6 episodes
1987-2009	Sesame Street	Wanda Falbo, Various	8 episodes
1988	The Elephant Show	Herself	Episode: "Unicef"
	Poison	Melissa
	The Completely Mental Misadventures of Ed Grimley	Mrs. Freebus (voice)	13 episodes
1989	The Tracey Ullman Show	Therapy Patient	Episode #3.20
1991	The Carol Burnett Show	Skit characters
1992	Camp Candy	Additional voices	Episode: "When It Rains... It Snows"
	Maniac Mansion	Dr. Fontana Blue (voice)	Episode: "Idella's Breakdown"
	Darkwing Duck	Splatter Phoenix (voice)	Episode: "Paint Misbehavin'"
	Goof Troop	Mrs. Willoughby (voice)	Episode: "Goofin' Up the Social Ladder"
	Frosty Returns	Miss Carbuncle (voice)	TV special
1992-2002	Rugrats	Aunt Miriam (voice)	7 episodes
1994	Aaahh!!! Real Monsters	Gromble's Mom (voice)	2 episodes
	The Martin Short Show	Alice Manoogan	3 episodes
	Batman: The Animated Series	Mighty Mom, Lisa Lorraine (voice)	Episode: "Make 'Em Laugh"
	Duckman	Madame Rosebud (voice)	Episode: "A Civil War"
1995	Star Trek: Deep Space Nine	Ishka	Episode: "Family Business"
1995-1996	Earthworm Jim	Queen Slug-For-A-Butt (voice)	11 episodes
1996	Duckman	Mayor Gallagher (voice)	Episode: "The Longest Weekend"
1997	Life... and Stuff	Christine	Episode: "Life... and Fisticuffs"
	Recess	Lunchlady Harriet (voice)
	Meego	Connie	Episode: "The Truth About Cars and Dogs"
	The Simpsons	Apu's Mom (voice)	Episode: "The Two Mrs. Nahasapeemapetilons"
1998	Damon	Carol Czynencko	7 episodes
	The Lionhearts	Additional voices	Episode: "But Some of My Best Friends Are Clowns"
	CatDog	Talluhla, Indian (voice)	Episode: "All About Cat/Trespassing"
	The Wild Thornberrys	Mother Condor (voice)	Episode: "Flight of the Donnie"
	Pinky, Elmyra & the Brain	Ms. Entebee (voice)	3 episodes
1998-1999	Hercules	Additional voices	5 episodes
1998-2000	Superman: The Animated Series	Mad Harriet (voice)	4 episodes
1999	Timon and Pumbaa	Additional voices	Episode: "Whiff/To Be Bee or Not to Be Bee"
	The Outer Limits	Lil Vaughn	Episode: "Joyride"
	The Norm Show	Millie	Episode: "Norm vs. Death"
1999-2000	George and Martha	Martha (voice)	26 episodes
1999-2001	The New Woody Woodpecker Show	Ms. Meany (voice)	7 episodes
2001	Committed	Frances Wilder (voice)
	DAG	Betty Winn	Episode: "Basketball Jones"
	Primetime Glick	Anne Heche	2 episodes
2002	Just for Laughs	Edith Prickley
	Ed	Kaye Pazzuti	Episode: "Two Days of Freedom"
	Crossing Jordan	Nora Kaminski	Episode: "Miracles & Wonders"
2002-2006	The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius	Ms. Fowl (voice)	46 episodes
2003	My Big Fat Greek Life	Voula	7 episodes
	Ozzy & Drix	Aunti Histamine (voice)	Episode: "Aunti Histamine"
2003-2007	Kim Possible	Mrs. Stoppable (voice)	11 episodes
2005	Chilly Beach	Lucretia Marinara (voice)	Episode: "You've Got Meat"
	Hope & Faith	Madame Elizabeth	Episode: "Season Finale"
2006	Kitchen Confidential	Margie	Episode: "The Robbery"
	Cracking Up	Carol Baxter	Episode: "The Fixer"
	The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy	Monster Wife (voice)	Episode: "Be A-Fred, Be Very A-Fred"
2007	St. Urbain's Horseman	Sarah Hersh	Episode: "Part 1 & 2"
	Insatiable
	SpongeBob SquarePants	Miss Priss (voice)	Episode: "Banned in Bikini Bottom"
2009	Nurse Jackie	Mrs. Greenfield	Episode: "Pupil"
2010	Little Mosque on the Prairie	Dr. Lois Kettlebaum	Episode: "The Letter"
	Dino Dan	Mrs. Hahn	3 episodes
2010-2011	The Cat in the Hat Knows a Lot About That!	Various	3 episodes
2012	30 Rock	Bonnie	Episode: "My Whole Life Is Thunder"
2012-2013	Fugget About It	The Virgin Mary (voice)	3 episodes
2013	Crash & Bernstein	Mother Green	Episode: "Crash on the Run"
2014	Working the Engels	Ceil Engel	12 episodes
	American Dad!	Sri Lankan Worker (voice)	Episode: "Now and Gwen"
2015	The Jack and Triumph Show	Elena Ekalakavarakova	Episode: "The Commercial"
	Difficult People	Marilyn Kessler	8 episodes
	Modern Family	Fig Wilson	Episode: "White Christmas"

Published works

• Martin, Andrea (2014). Andrea Martin's Lady Parts. Harper. ISBN 978-0062387288.

[ Source: Wikipedia ]