Stephen Glenn Steve Martin born August 14 1945 is an American actor comedian writer playwright producer musician and composer Martin was born in Waco Texas and raised in Southern California where his early influences were working at Disneyland and Knotts Berry Farm and working magic and comedy acts at these and other smaller venues in the area His ascent to fame picked up when he became a writer for the Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour and later became a frequent guest on The Tonight Show In the 1970s Martin performed his offbeat absurdist comedy routines before packed houses on national tours Since the 1980s having branched away from standup comedy he has become a successful actor playwright pianist banjo player and juggler eventually earning Emmy Grammy and American Comedy awards Description above from the Wikipedia article Steve Martin licensed under CCBYSA full list of contributors on Wikipedia