Martin Short Net Worth: Only Murders Pay & Tour Fortune

Martin Short has been reinventing himself for more than fifty years. He started as a nervous, wide-eyed sketch character, became a movie star, won a Tony Award, and then found a new audience in his seventies as a Broadway director solving murders on television. Few entertainers keep earning across that many formats. The Martin Short net worth is estimated at $35 million in 2026, and this guide breaks down the television salary, the touring money, the stage work, and the property behind that number, while separating reported figures from details that remain private.

Martin Short Quick Facts

Detail	Information
Full Name	Martin Hayter Short
Estimated Net Worth	$35 million
Date of Birth	March 26, 1950
Age	76
Birthplace	Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
Profession	Actor, comedian, writer, producer, singer, voice actor
Spouse	Nancy Dolman (married 1980 until her death in 2010)
Only Murders Salary	Reportedly $600,000 per episode at the start of the series
Last Updated	October 2026

What Is Martin Short’s Net Worth?

Martin Short’s estimated net worth is $35 million in 2026. That figure is a public estimate, not an audited account. His savings, investments, property equity, debts, and individual contracts are not fully public, so no outside source can know the exact total.

His money has come from many places over the decades. He has acted in films and television shows, performed live with Steve Martin, produced television, recorded voices for animated films and series, appeared on Broadway, and published a memoir. Each of those pays differently, and most of the terms are confidential.

The difference between income and net worth matters here. A television salary is income before taxes, professional fees, and personal spending. A tour’s ticket sales are not the amount a performer personally receives. His estimated fortune is the long-term result of a career that has stayed visible, with television and touring now the most obvious parts.

Early Life in Hamilton, Ontario

Martin Hayter Short was born on March 26, 1950, in Hamilton, Ontario. He was the youngest of five children. His mother, Olive, was musical, and his father, Charles, worked in the steel industry. Performing came naturally to him, but entertainment was not his only early plan. He attended McMaster University and considered a career in social services before choosing acting.

A major opportunity came in 1972, when he joined the Toronto production of Godspell. That show gathered an extraordinary group of young performers, including Eugene Levy, Andrea Martin, Victor Garber, and Gilda Radner. It also introduced him to actress Nancy Dolman, who would become his wife. The experience turned his interest in performing into a real profession.

Second City and SCTV

Short joined Toronto’s Second City troupe in 1977, where he built the improvisation and character skills that shaped everything after. His work on SCTV brought those talents to television. His most memorable creation was Ed Grimley, a nervous, excitable character with a distinctive hairstyle and odd movements who was instantly recognizable. Other characters, including Jackie Rogers Jr. and Irving Cohen, showed how easily he could build a full personality from a voice, an expression, or a mannerism.

He shared an Emmy Award for writing on SCTV, which gave him industry recognition and a base from which to move into American television. Early comedy income is usually modest, and these years were about building skills and a name, not wealth.

Saturday Night Live and Early Fame

Short joined Saturday Night Live for its 1984 to 1985 season, performing alongside Billy Crystal and Christopher Guest. He stayed only one season as a regular, but the exposure widened his American audience. Ed Grimley became one of his signature characters, and his impressions and physical comedy showed his range.

He returned as a host in later years and joined the show’s Five Timers Club in 2024. Many comedians have used a short stint on that stage to launch much larger careers, and the path is still active today, as shown in our Pete Davidson net worth guide, which covers a performer who turned sketch television exposure into film, specials, and a broad entertainment income. For Short, one season was enough to make Hollywood pay attention.

Film Career and Breakout Roles

Short became a mainstream film star in 1986 with Three Amigos!, playing Ned Nederlander alongside Steve Martin and Chevy Chase as three silent era actors mistaken for real gunslingers. In 1987, he followed with Innerspace, an action comedy that suited his high-energy physical style.

His most beloved supporting performance came as the eccentric wedding coordinator Franck Eggelhoffer in Father of the Bride in 1991, a role he repeated in 1995 for Father of the Bride Part II. Over the years, he added a long list of studio comedies, including Three Fugitives, Captain Ron, Clifford, Mars Attacks!, Jungle 2 Jungle, and The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause.

These films broadened his audience and produced steady acting income for decades, but individual salaries have largely stayed confidential. He is not the only Canadian performer who built a large comedy film career and then widened it into business and production. The same pattern appears in our Ryan Reynolds net worth article, where acting income grew into a much larger portfolio.

Voice Acting Work

Voice acting suited Short because it let him use his full range of characters without costumes or makeup. He lent his voice to The Prince of Egypt, Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius, Treasure Planet, Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted, and Frankenweenie. He also voiced the title character in the animated educational series The Cat in the Hat Knows a Lot About That!.

His ability to switch between accents, heighten character voices, and sharp tonal shifts made him a natural fit for animation. The work provided a steady supplementary income alongside his live-action roles, though payment terms for individual projects are not public.

Jiminy Glick

Jiminy Glick remains one of Short’s most lasting creations. The character is a blend of unearned arrogance, absurd tangents, and constant interruptions of real celebrity guests, and the interviews are heavily improvised. Glick anchored the Comedy Central series Primetime Glick from 2001 to 2003 and the 2004 film Jiminy Glick in Lalawood, and he has returned for surprise talk show appearances since.

The character shows how an original creation can keep its value across decades. How much Short earned from Glick is not public, but a persona that audiences still want to see is a durable business asset.

Broadway Career

Short’s stage work has brought paid performances and major recognition.

Year	Production	Result
1993	The Goodbye Girl	Broadway debut and a Tony Award nomination for Best Actor in a Musical
1999	Little Me	Won the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical, playing multiple characters
2006	Martin Short: Fame Becomes Me	Conceived and starred in a musical comedy about celebrity culture and his own career
2015	It’s Only a Play	Returned to Broadway in a star studded comedy

His theater background feeds directly into his live shows today. The musical timing, quick character changes, and direct connection with an audience are all stage skills, and they are a big reason his touring work sells tickets.

The Steve Martin Partnership: A Decades-Long Income Stream

Martin Short and Steve Martin first worked together on Three Amigos! in 1986. Their friendship later turned into a professional partnership across films, live performances, a comedy special, and television. What makes this partnership financially interesting is that it keeps repeating. A film is a single production period, but touring lets them book new dates and return to the same audiences again and again. That makes the live partnership an ongoing part of Short’s earning activity.

Their Live Comedy Tours

Short and Martin began touring together in 2015. Their shows mix affectionate insults, career stories, musical numbers, and character comedy. The act works because the two are opposites on stage: Steve Martin is the dry, restrained straight man, and Short is the exuberant, theatrical one. Decades of real friendship give their exchanges the feel of an easy conversation between old collaborators.

The tour also grew into a 2018 Netflix special, Steve Martin and Martin Short: An Evening You Will Forget for the Rest of Your Life. Taped specials extend a tour’s life and reach people who never bought a ticket, although the licensing fees and backend terms are private.

Only Murders in the Building Reunites Them

In 2021, the pair reunited on Only Murders in the Building, starring alongside Selena Gomez. Short plays Oliver Putnam, a Broadway director whose theatrical instincts often complicate the trio’s amateur investigations. The role combines broad comedy with more emotional material about family, friendship, and professional disappointment. Short is also an executive producer.

The series introduces the pair’s chemistry to new viewers, and that visibility can support interest in their live shows. No public calculation shows how much of their ticket revenue comes from viewers of the series, so the connection is a reasonable guess, not a measured fact.

Only Murders in the Building Salary

Martin Short reportedly earned $600,000 per episode when Only Murders in the Building began. His current rate has not been publicly confirmed.

Item	Reported or Calculated Figure
Reported starting rate	$600,000 per episode
Ten-episode season at that rate	$6 million before taxes and fees
Current rate	Not publicly confirmed
Executive producer pay	Not public

The ten-episode figure is a simple calculation, not a confirmed payment for every season. Contracts change, and public reporting does not show whether the same rate continued. His executive producer role adds another unknown, because that pay could be part of a larger agreement or handled separately.

The reported rate helps explain why the show matters to his income. It does not give enough information to work out his total earnings from the series or how much of that became personal wealth.

How Much Does Martin Short Earn From Touring?

Short’s personal touring income has not been disclosed. What is available are box office numbers for the joint shows with Steve Martin. In 2018, their live dates reportedly averaged more than $600,000 in gross revenue per night, with Washington, D.C., bringing in about $891,000 and Los Angeles about $945,000 across two dates.

Those figures show the strong demand for the act, but they are not take-home pay. Ticket revenue has to cover venue fees, travel, crew, backing musicians, and agency commissions before anything reaches the performers, and their profit-sharing terms are private. Even without a confirmed personal figure, sustained touring at that scale is a strong and repeatable source of income.

Live comedy is the foundation of many entertainers’ finances, from the headliners covered in our Ron White net worth guide to older stars who still fill theaters. Short and Martin belong to that group, with the added advantage of a television hit that keeps their names in front of audiences.

Books and Other Ventures

In 2014, Short published his memoir, I Must Say: My Life as a Humble Comedy Legend. It gives a candid look at his Canadian upbringing, his marriage, the highlights of his career, and the grief behind his bright stage personas. The book added publishing income to his performance earnings, though his advance, royalty rates, and total author earnings have not been disclosed.

He has also built income through executive producing roles on television and comedy specials, which give him a share in the projects he helps create. These ventures all contribute to his net worth, but the exact value of each one is private and unverified.

Real Estate

Real estate is part of his reported financial picture. Short reportedly bought a Pacific Palisades family home in 1987 for $1.325 million, and it served as his main family residence for decades. In 2024, he reportedly bought a home in Upper Mandeville Canyon in Los Angeles for about $2.27 million. He has also long kept a waterfront cottage on Lake Rosseau in Ontario’s Muskoka region, which anchors his ties to Canada.

Purchase prices do not show present-day market value, personal equity, or any mortgage. Adding old purchase prices straight into a net worth estimate risks counting assets twice, since broad estimates usually already include them. They show the kind of property he owns, but they should not be added up as cash.

Personal Life

Marriage to Nancy Dolman

Martin Short met actress Nancy Dolman through the Toronto production of Godspell. They married in 1980 and stayed together until her death from ovarian cancer in August 2010. Dolman stepped away from acting to focus on their family. Short has often said how important their marriage was and how much she still means to him. Their relationship is also central to his memoir, where he writes about family and grief alongside career stories.

His Children

Short and Dolman adopted three children: Katherine, Oliver, and Henry. Reports say Katherine, who worked as a licensed clinical social worker, died in February 2026 at age 42. His sons have generally kept more private lives. Short’s public reflections on family make it clear that being a husband and a father has been central to his life throughout his career.

Awards and Honors

Short’s honors span television, theater, and Canadian cultural recognition.

Honor	Details
Primetime Emmy Award	Shared award for writing on SCTV
Primetime Emmy Award	As a producer of the television special honoring Mel Brooks with the AFI Life Achievement Award
Tony Award	1999, Best Actor in a Musical for Little Me
Tony Award nomination	The Goodbye Girl
Emmy nominations	Multiple, for Only Murders in the Building
Order of Canada	Member in 1994, promoted to Officer in 2019

These honors reflect his range across several forms of entertainment and help explain his long career. They do not, on their own, establish his salary or net worth.

FAQs

What is Martin Short’s net worth in 2026?

Martin Short’s net worth is estimated at $35 million in 2026. The figure reflects a career across television, film, live comedy, Broadway, voice acting, and publishing. His complete finances are private, so it is an estimate and not an audited total.

How much does Martin Short make per episode of Only Murders in the Building?

He reportedly earned $600,000 per episode when the series began. His current salary and his executive producer pay have not been publicly confirmed.

How much money do Martin Short and Steve Martin make touring together?

Their joint shows have generated hundreds of thousands of dollars in ticket sales per performance in reported periods. Their personal earnings are undisclosed, and gross ticket revenue must cover expenses and contractual payments before it can be compared with either performer’s income.

Does Martin Short have children?

Yes. Martin Short and his late wife, Nancy Dolman, adopted Katherine, Oliver, and Henry. Reports say Katherine died in February 2026 at age 42.

Is Martin Short still acting?

Yes. As of September 2026, he remains active in entertainment and continues his work on Only Murders in the Building as both a star and an executive producer.

Final Thoughts on the Martin Short Net Worth

Martin Short has stayed relevant by changing with the times, from sketch comedy to film, from Broadway to a streaming hit, and from solo tours to a lasting double act with Steve Martin. The Martin Short net worth is estimated at $35 million, built across a very long career with several overlapping income sources. The exact total is private, but the pattern is clear: keep working, keep adapting, and let each new project bring in a new audience.