Comedian Andrea Martin adopted Canada as her home. The country chose her back
The Second City alum receives the Governor General’s Performing Arts Awards for Lifetime Artistic Achievement
If it weren't for Charlie Brown's security blanket-toting pal Linus, one of Canada's most beloved funnywomen might never have ventured north of the border.
It was 1970 when a 22-year-old Andrea Martin, from Portland, Maine, earned the role of Lucy in a touring production of the musical You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown. "Half of the company was made up of Canadians," she recently told CBC's Metro Morning, and she fell in love with the actor playing Linus. He lived in Toronto, and after the production ended, she'd go visit him there. While their romance was brief, it was the start of a lifelong relationship between the American-born actress, singer and comedian and her chosen home.
"Literally, the minute the first plane landed, I knew that that's where I wanted to live," Martin says. "I felt very comfortable and safe and motivated to work, because it didn't feel overwhelming, like being in Manhattan."
Years later, Martin is now a recipient of one of Canada's top honours: the Governor General's Performing Arts Awards for Lifetime Artistic Achievement. The Tony Award-winning stage actress and onscreen talent behind such memorable characters as SCTV station manager Edith Prickley and My Big Fat Greek Wedding's Aunt Voula will be celebrated at the 2024 GGPAA gala, June 8th at the National Arts Centre in Ottawa. The award recognizes artists who have made an "indelible contribution to cultural life in Canada and around the world," according to the GGPAA Foundation.
"It means so much to me because all the pivotal things in my life have happened in Canada: My career started in Canada, I got married to a Canadian, my two children were born in Canada," Martin says. "All this has just been a gift to me, you know, to have this country embrace me. But now, to have this award feels … wow, I don't really know how to take it. It's pretty great."
Shortly after moving from New York to Toronto, Martin was cast in the city's legendary 1972 production of Godspell, featuring stars-to-be Gilda Radner, Martin Short, Eugene Levy and musical director Paul Shaffer. She then joined the cast of Toronto's fledgling Second City comedy troupe, which evolved into the landmark sketch comedy television series SCTV. The show launched the careers of a generation of comedy giants, including Levy, Short, Catherine O'Hara, John Candy, Joe Flaherty, Dave Thomas, Rick Moranis and Harold Ramis, alongside Martin. While she's best remembered for portraying characters like Prickley, Pirini Scleroso and Mrs. Falbo, Martin actually won two Emmys as a member of the show's writing team.
In a stage and screen career now more than 50 years long, Martin has won two Tonys — for My Favorite Year and Pippin — and appeared in dozens of film and television projects, including Wag the Dog, Hedwig and the Angry Inch, Sesame Street, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and SpongeBob SquarePants.
"Luckily, I'm still working, because that's really what I love doing," the actress says. "If you still love what you do, then there'll be opportunities."
Recently, Martin joined Short (who's also her brother-in-law), for Seasons 2 and 3 of his acclaimed comedy series Only Murders in the Building with Steve Martin. So how does it feel to come full circle nearly five decades later with one of her dearest SCTV chums?
"It doesn't feel like we've been apart at all," she says. "We've been in each other's lives: Eugene Levy, Catherine O'Hara, Dave Thomas, Marty, Rick Moranis, I mean everyone. It doesn't feel like a circle really. It just feels like a line — a continuous line of love and support and sharing pivotal times in our lives … I mean, how cool is that to be on set with people I love, like Steve Martin and Marty? I just feel like the gifts keep on coming."
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