Meryl Streep and Martin Short showed up to support Tom Hanks on the opening night of his new play, This World of Tomorrow.
The Only Murders in the Building costars were photographed talking to Hanks, 69, backstage at The Griffin Theater in New York City on Tuesday, November 18. Streep, 76, and Short, 75, wore matching black outfits as they mingled with Hanks’ family — including wife Rita Wilson and their son Chet Hanks — as well as Steve Martin and Martin’s wife, Anne Stringfield.
The pair first sparked dating rumors a year ago. A rep for Short, however, denied that they were a couple, sharing in a 2024 statement, “They are just very good friends, nothing more.”
In the ensuing months, Short gushed about playing Streep’s love interest on Hulu’s Only Murders in the Building, calling it “one of the great thrills of my life.”
The prospect of sharing the screen with the three-time Oscar winner made him anxious.
“I remember the first day working with Meryl and driving to the studio and thinking, ‘I’m nervous today,’” Short confessed during his June appearance on Conan O’Brien’s podcast. “I [hadn’t] been nervous going to the set for a long time.”
Tom Hanks, Martin Short, Steve Martin and Meryl Streep Bruce Glikas/WireImage
Streep joined the series in its third season, which premiered in 2023. She plays Loretta Durkin, the wife of Short’s Oliver Putnam.
“The first scene we shot in Only Murders was a scene where we’re at the piano and we’re, kind of, flirting a little bit,” Short recalled at the time. “The first shot set-up is over her to me, so pressure’s on me and then we break down so that they can reverse the cameras and do her side. We go into [the] holding area and she just says, ‘OK, nerves to half.’ I go, ‘Wait a second, I was nervous. You can’t be nervous.’”
Getty Images (2) Oscar-winning actress Meryl Streep and Tony Award-winning actor and comedian Martin Short have been close friends for nearly a decade. The two first called public attention to their friendship backstage of the Broadway production of It’s Only a Play in 2015. Short had joined the cast to play James Wicker, and Streep […]
As their characters fell in love, speculation swirled that a romance was blooming offscreen as well.
Amy Schumer sat next to Streep and Short during Saturday Night Live’s 50th-anniversary festivities in February, later revealing, “I think that the tea is, I think Marty might be off the market. That’s what I’m seeing. I don’t know. … Maybe by just, like, the greatest actor of our time, I don’t know.”
In September, Short was seated at the 2025 Emmy Awards alongside Martin, 80, as well as Selena Gomez and Gomez’s now-husband, Benny Blanco. A video circulated that showed Gomez, 33, looking at Short, who appeared to be smiling at his phone screen. Gomez then leaned over to Blanco, 37, seemingly telling him, “Marty’s texting Meryl.”
Streep was married to Don Gummer for nearly 40 years until they quietly separated in 2017. Us confirmed their split six years later. The exes share four children: son Henry, 46, and daughters Mamie, 42, Grace, 39, and Louisa, 34.
Steve Martin seemingly hinted at the Meryl Streep and Martin Short romance rumors. On Friday, October 18, Martin, 79, posted a screenshotted photo via Instagram of himself, Streep, 75, and Short, 74. In the picture, taken in February 2023 at an afterparty for Broadway’s Pictures From Home, Martin crossed out his face with an emoji, […]
Short, meanwhile, was married to Nancy Dolman from 1980 until her death from ovarian cancer in 2010. The couple adopted daughter Katherine, 41, and sons Oliver, 39, and Henry, 35, during their relationship.
