Cover Story: Andrea Martin
Uptown Magazine, April 1 2007
You likely know Andrea Martin best for characters like Edith Prickley and Edna Boil on SCTV. Others might know her better as Aunt Voula in the film My Big Fat Greek Wedding. Theatre buffs might know her more for her many critically-acclaimed roles on Broadway.
But those attending Thursday night’s Winnipeg Comedy Festival show at the Pantages Playhouse will get to see Andrea Martin for Andrea Martin.
She’ll be hosting the show as herself, defying the cliché that actors have difficulty performing without a character to hide behind. But it wasn’t until 1992, when she staged her one-woman show Nude, Nude, Totally Nude, that she became at ease as herself on stage.
“I didn’t know if I was capable to be onstage without being a character, and feel comfortable in my own skin. Having lived through that experience, I feel like I can do anything as myself, because there’s nothing more intimidating than being solitary on stage for an hour and a half,” she says. “I think that’s a wonderful thing with getting older, actually. I feel confident now, standing on stage and just being who I am.”
Dedicated SCTV fans are sure to be well-represented in the audience, and Martin, 60, says people are still keen to talk about the show even 25 years after it left the air. She’s come to appreciate their love of the show.
“For many years I would be upset that that’s all they would talk about. I’ve done so much more. And now I’m just grateful anyone remembers me at all,” she jokes.
She was especially grateful for one fan she found in accomplished NewYork choreographer Mark Morris.
“I just am in awe of him,” she says. “I went up to introduce myself, never thinking at all that he would know me. And then he rattled off every scene I’d ever done on SCTV. I tell ya, it doesn’t get any better than that, when you idolize somebody and they’re just as familiar with your work.”
These days, Martin’s work schedule is as full as ever. She divides her time between her homes in New York and Toronto, and consistently bounces between stage, film, television, and voiceover work. She recently shot a series pilot for Showtime, and is now busy doing press for her role in the film Young Triffie. Next up, pending negotiations, will be rehearsals for her next Broadway role.
Looking at her credits, it seems Martin has the versatility to do practically anything. So how does she choose? She says that for an actor, there are three typical reasons to go after a role.
“You either take a job because it’s enormously well-paying, you take a job because you think it’s going to be challenging and you can grow as an actress, or you take a job because you think it will be fun,” she says.
Finding that balance between art and commerce seems to have been successful. One film she starred in, All Over The Guy, only earned her $250, but she considers it one of her favourite projects.
“There’s other things that aren’t particularly great, but I made a lot of money on. And then there’s that rare thing where you get paid and it’s challenging, and those are wonderful things. Like the pilot I just did, or what I’m about to do on Broadway. Those are rare. They’re a combination of all three, but they don’t come along very often,” she says. “I’ve been lucky that they’ve come along a lot in my life.”