Marty Pollio

Who is Marty Pollio?

Marty Pollio is an American stand-up comedian and actor. He appeared twice on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson and once in a skit on the show with Jay Leno. He also guest starred on several network sitcoms, including Night Court, Empty Nest and Blossom, in addition to co-starring in a CBS pilot produced by Dan Aykroyd, Mars Base One.

Born Martin Polio, he legally changed his last name to its original ethnic Italian spelling of Pollio. Raised in Louisville, Kentucky, Pollio is the son of the former Julia Tino, a homemaker and religious zealot, and Joseph Polio, a bookmaker and local racketeer who ran an after-hours gambling operation. As a teenager, his weekend job was delivering the "gifts" to cops and judges for his father.

After graduating from St. Xavier High School in Louisville, Pollio was in his third year of a four-year apprenticeship as an electrician when he quit on a whim to become an actor. While attending theatre classes at the University of Louisville, he studied movement theatre and mime with Avner Eisenberg and later in Los Angeles with Israeli mime, Yaakov Noy.