Martin Short

Short was born on March 26, 1950, in Hamilton, Ontario, the youngest of five children of Olive Grace (née Hayter; 1913–1968), a Canadian-born (of English and Irish descent) concertmistress at the Hamilton Symphony Orchestra, and Charles Patrick Short (1909–1970), a corporate executive at the Canadian steel company Stelco who had emigrated from Crossmaglen, south County Armagh, Ireland as a stowaway during the Irish War of Independence. Short has spoken openly about his father's struggles with alcoholism. Short and his siblings—three older brothers, David, Michael, and Brian, and one older sister, Nora—were raised as Catholics. His eldest brother, David, was killed in a car accident in Montréal in 1962 when Short was 12. Encouraged by his mother in his early creative endeavours, Short attended Westdale Secondary School and then graduated from McMaster University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Social Work in 1971. In the meantime, his mother died of cancer in 1968; his father died two years later, of complications from a stroke. His brother, Michael, would go on to become a comedy writer, also spending time at Second City Television (SCTV), and is 17 time nominee and three time winner of an Emmy Award for comedy sketch writing.