Interview: Andrea Martin Talks The CSA's, Lady Parts, My Big Fat Greek Wedding Sequel, and More!

For Andrea Martin, 2014 was a busy year: she returned to her Tony Award winning role in Pippin on Broadway, filmed a TV series (Working the Engles), voiced a character on American Dad, appeared on screen in the sequel to Night At The Museum, had a book published (Lady Parts) and created a role in the original Broadway play Act One.

Her 2015 is also off to a great start. Martin will be hosting the televised broadcast of The Canadian Screen Awards Sunday, March 1st on the CBC at 8 PM EST. "Well it was just a phone call!" says Martin when asked how her hosting gig came to be.

"I wish it was more glamorous than that, but I was just asked to host them and I said yes! Now I've got to write (the show) which is the actual challenge. I'm writing them with Robin Duke, Kathy Greenwood (my old SCTV buddy) - and some help from some other writers. I think it's going to be a really unique show."

"I think there will be some surprises." Martin says when asked what audiences can expect at the CSA's this year. "We're going to be doing some taped pieces which I don't think has ever been done before at the CSA's - and that's about all I'm going to say right now."

Hosting an awards show is no easy task, especially when you're traveling back and forth and working on other projects in the interim while preparing. Throughout the writing period, Martin was filming a television series produced by Amy Poehler, donating her time to an Actors' Fund benefit in Los Angeles, promoting her recently published book, and a variety of other commitments.

Being nominated for a Canadian Screen Award was the last thing on Martin's mind when she showed up to the nominations announcement earlier this year.

"It was crazy wasn't it? I had just come out on stage and thought we were going to talk about the CSA's - and boy was I surprised! I had no idea where Helga (Stephenson - Academy CEO) was going with that bit. I was so happy to be nominated and to represent Working the Engles because I loved doing that show. It was so lovely that Kacey Rohl and Azura Skye were nominated as well."

"I feel bad that the show wasn't nominated. It's always weird to be nominated and stand out when the show doesn't. I was thrilled to represent it - it was a really great experience."

Martin has a long history of working in the Canadian entertainment industry, despite actually being American - a fact many Canadian are unaware of. "It was just circumstance that brought me here, dating someone Canadian - and falling in love with city. One think just led to another. What's interesting to me is that I keep choosing to come back because I love it here - and of course I can work in the USA all the time but I choose to come back to Toronto. I have a house here, my sister lives here, and I just choose to be here and while I might not carry a passport - all the important things in my life started here."

Martin confesses that she wasn't born in Canada in the opening of her recently published memoir, Lady Parts - in which she writes about her life from childhood to present. The book also includes a chapter on the SCTV years, which fans of the show will enjoy. "I wanted to have an authentic voice, and I wanted it to be a real and honest representation of who I am. What connects people is authenticity, so I was very careful to re-write things that seemed fake. I talk about disappointments (in the book), humor, and while it was particular to me - everybody in the world shares the highs and lows I talked about from having children to losing loved ones."

"My job was to use my voice, and I hope that I succeeded and that it touched people."

Martin also notes that she had some difficulty sitting down to write, and that it took her about three years to complete from start to finish. "I used many distractions..." she says while breaking into laughter. "I never set a specific deadline to finish writing - but when I'd realized that it had been three years and I couldn't get to the ending, I got some help from Seth Rudetsky. Once I started writing about SCTV, I finished it very quickly. But I wrote very leisurely because I didn't really see the big picture that one day these essays would be put together and published. I did it as a distraction... like meditating or going to the gym. I never thought you'd be able to buy it in some Chapters Bookstore!"

Later this year, Martin will begin work on the sequel to My Big Fat Greek Wedding - which is set to begin filming in Toronto this coming May. "I haven't even read the My Big Fat Greek Wedding sequel script yet!" Martin tells me when I ask her about the much-anticipated sequel.

"Nia Vardalos has been holding the script very close to her and I trust her impeccably. I completely understand why she's guarding that script with Social Media being the way it is. If someone gets wind of it and then it's out there on the internet, people tend to start criticizing and having opinions on the movie before it's even made. (Leaks like that) ruin the whole surprise and people have been waiting a long time to see what happens to those characters and where they are now."

"I love the fact that she's keeping it very close to her and I respect it. I'm really excited to being there the first day and reading it. Nia came up with the whole thing and created my character, Aunt Voula, so why am I going to doubt for a second that it's not going to be fabulous? I'm just as excited as the rest of the world about where these characters are now."

When asked if Martin can tease anything at all about the movie she says "Aunt Voula's going to be very fit, I'll tell you that!"

A few weeks before this interview, an announcement had been made that a movie version of Pippin was in development - and I had tweeted that Andrea Martin should be in it. One of the producers, Craig Zadan (also a producer of the 2015 Oscars) responded it was a great idea. I asked Martin if there had been any developments regarding the film project.

"No one's been in touch, and I actually hadn't heard about a Pippin movie until your tweet! But listen, I'm available. I'd be really interested to see what they do with it - I don't know if they'd use any of the Diane Paulus staging. It might be re-imagined in a totally different way. I think it would be hard to see someone else singing my songs and saying my lines if it's the same way I did it. My sense is it's going to be re-worked."

Before this interview, I had tweeted asking for any questions that my followers might have for Andrea Martin. The most common question was: When is Andrea Martin coming back to the Toronto stage?

"I'm going to be on stage at The Four Seasons Centre at the CSA's! (she laughs) I don't know if in the near future I'll be doing any theatrical ventures in Toronto - I hope to one day, of course. I love it here. There had been some talk about the Pippin tour coming here and myself possibly stepping in. I would have loved to come do it for a time."

Catch Andrea Martin hosting The Canadian Screen Awards Sunday, March 1st on the CBC at 8 PM EST. For more information on the broadcast, visit www.academy.ca.

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