Actor Steve Martin has become a father for the first time at the age of 67.

Steve Martin and his wife Anne Stringfield, 41, are believed to have welcomed a baby into their lives back in December.

Although the fiercely-private couple had managed to keep their happy news a secret until now, they were recently spotted doting on their child near their Los Angeles home.

A source told the New York Post newspaper: “They’ve had a baby, and how they kept it a secret nobody knows.

“Steve’s very private. They are thrilled. They worked hard to have the baby.”

Steve Martin – who played a father of 12 in the comedy movie Cheaper By The Dozen – and Anne Stringfield married in July 2007 after three years together.

Their wedding took place at Steve’s Los Angeles home with former Nebraska Senator Bob Kerrey presiding over the ceremony, while Saturday Night Live creator Lorne Michaels acted as best man.

Guests, who included Tom Hanks and Diane Keaton, did not know the couple were getting married and instead thought they had been invited to a party.

Steve Martin and his wife Anne Stringfield are believed to have welcomed a baby into their lives back in December

Steve Martin was previously married to actress Victoria Tennant for nearly 8 years.

It’s reported that Anne Stringfield – a writer for The New Yorker magazine – encouraged Steve Martin to pen his hugely successful autobiography, Born Standing Up, released in 2007.

The memoir chronicles Steve Martin’s early life, days working for Disneyland, working at low tier coffee shops and clubs as a comedic act and also his later days of the Bird Cage, his relationships, his eventual fame, and the reason why he quit stand-up altogether in 1981.