Martin Lawrence

Martin Lawrence
Lawrence in 2013
Birth name	Martin Fitzgerald Lawrence
Born	(1965-04-16) April 16, 1965 (age 60) Frankfurt, Hesse, West Germany
Nationality	American
Years active	1987–present
Genres	Observational comedy physical comedy satire blue comedy
Subject(s)	African-American culture human sexuality racism race relations self-deprecation
Spouse	Patricia Southall ​ ​ (m. 1995; div. 1997)​ Shamicka Gibbs ​ ​ (m. 2010; div. 2012)​
Children	3

Martin Fitzgerald Lawrence^[1] (born April 16, 1965) is an American actor and comedian. Lawrence began his career doing comedy shows, including in The Improv. After his first acting role in the sitcom What's Happening Now!! (1987–1988), he played the titular character in the Fox television sitcom Martin (1992-1997), which helped catapult him into larger film roles. His first major lead role on the big screen was with Will Smith in the buddy cop action comedy Bad Boys (1995), a role he reprised in three sequels.^[2]

He went on to star in the commercially successful films A Thin Line Between Love and Hate (1996), which marked his directorial debut, Nothing to Lose (1997), Blue Streak (1999), Big Momma's House (2000), Big Momma's House 2 (2006), Wild Hogs (2007), College Road Trip (2008), Death at a Funeral (2010), and Big Mommas: Like Father, Like Son (2013), among others. His voice acting work includes the animated films Open Season (2006) and Sneaks (2025), and the animated television series Kid 'n Play (1990).