Martin Lawrence

Martin Lawrence
Birth name	Martin Fitzgerald Lawrence
Born	(1965-04-16) April 16, 1965 Frankfurt am Main, West Germany
Medium	Stand-up comedy, Television, Film
Years active	1987 – present
Genres	Observational comedy, Physical comedy, Improvisational comedy
Subject(s)	Human sexuality, African-American culture, racism, race relations, self-deprecation
Spouse	Patricia Southall (1995-1996) 1 daughter

Martin Fitzgerald Lawrence (born April 16, 1965) is an American actor, comedian, director, and producer. He came to fame during the 1990s, establishing a Hollywood career as a leading actor. Lawrence has acted in numerous movie roles and starred in his own television series, Martin, which ran from 1992 to 1997.

Early life

Martin Lawrence born in Frankfurt am Main, West Germany, where his father, John Lawrence, served in the U.S. Military. After his parents divorced in 1973, Lawrence rarely saw his father, who worked as a police officer at the time. His mother, Chlora, began working several jobs to support her family. During his teen years, Lawrence excelled at boxing. While living in Maryland, he attended Thomas G. Pullen School of Creative and Performing Arts (Landover, Maryland), Fairmont Heights High School (Fairmount Heights, Maryland), Eleanor Roosevelt High School and also Friendly High School in Fort Washington, Maryland, becoming a Mid-Atlantic Golden Gloves boxing contender.

Lawrence moved to Los Angeles and found his way to the legendary Kings Wood comedy club. Shortly after appearing at the Wood, he won a performance spot on Star Search, a popular show in the United States. He did well on the show and made it to the final round before ultimately losing. However, executives at Columbia TriStar Television saw Martin's performance and offered him the role of "Maurice" on the television sitcom What's Happening Now!!; this was his first acting job. Upon cancellation of that show, Lawrence found bit parts in various films and television roles. His breakthrough role was as Cee in the Spike Lee film Do the Right Thing. Other roles followed in films such as the House Party series and the Eddie Murphy vehicle Boomerang. During this period, entertainment mogul Russell Simmons selected him to host the groundbreaking series Def Comedy Jam on HBO. Def Comedy Jam gave many comedians (including Chris Tucker, Dave Chappelle, Bernie Mac and Cedric the Entertainer) mainstream exposure.

During his stint with Def Comedy Jam, Lawrence appeared in his own hit series, Martin, which aired on FOX. The show ran from 1992 to 1997 and was an enormous success. "Martin" was the flagship of FOX's Thursday-night line-up, which drew millions of viewers away from NBC's "Must See TV" line-up. He hosted Saturday Night Live on February 19, 1994, where he made crude remarks about women's genitalia and personal hygiene; the monologue was completely edited out of NBC reruns and syndicated versions, and Lawrence was banned from the show for the rest of his life. "Martin"'s ratings continued to skyrocket so much that FOX became more of a contender against NBC and came closer to being considered among the top television networks. SNL was rumored to have invited Martin back to the show months later. It was said that he declined the offer. After Martin ended its run, Lawrence found ample work in comedy films. He often starred as the second lead opposite actors including Eddie Murphy, Will Smith, and Tim Robbins. Many of his films were blockbusters at the box office, including Boomerang (1992), Bad Boys (1995), Life (1999), Big Momma's House (2000) and Bad Boys 2 (2003). He also starred in critical and box office failures including Black Knight (2001) and National Security (2002). Regardless, his salary steadily increased to over $10 million per film role. He continues to work in film, with such films as Big Momma's House 2, which opened #1 at the North American box office and grossed almost $28 million its first weekend, and Wild Hogs (2007), in which he plays a bored suburbanite seeking adventure on the open road in a biker comedy alongside John Travolta, Tim Allen and William H. Macy.

In 2006, Lawrence appeared on Inside the Actors Studio, during which Lawrence briefly brought back to life some of the characters he'd portrayed on Martin.

At the 2009 BET Awards he appeared in a spoof movie trailer with Jamie Foxx for a fictitious movie that featured, respectively, their infamous TV characters Sheneneh Jenkins and Ugly Wanda.

Lawrence has reportedly signed on to star in an upcoming comedy titled Back To Africa. According to Variety, Lawrence will play a working-class man from Queens, New York who discovers that he is the heir to the throne of an African country and travels there to claim his birthright. Lawrence will serve as a producer on the film, which will be released via his Runteldat imprint and Alcon Entertainment. A release date for the film has not been announced.

Personal life

Lawrence was engaged to Lark Voorhies in 1993.

He married Patricia Southall, a former Miss Virginia, in January 1995. They divorced in September 1996. Lawrence has a daughter with Southall named Jasmine Page, born on January 15, 1996. Lawrence also has two other daughters, Lyana and Ameria, born in 2001 and 2003.

In 1996, Lawrence's Martin co-star, Tisha Campbell-Martin, filed a lawsuit against Lawrence and the show's producers for sexual harassment and verbal and physical assaults. HBO Studios settled the lawsuit so the show's final season could be completed. Campbell-Martin agreed to complete the season on the condition that she not appear in any scenes in the last two episodes with Lawrence. No criminal charges were ever filed and the accusations were never brought to court.

In the mid-1990s, Lawrence began abusing psychotropic drugs, and during filming of A Thin Line Between Love and Hate lashed out in a violent outburst on the set. He became increasingly erratic and was arrested after he reportedly brandished a pistol and screamed at tourists on Ventura Boulevard in Los Angeles. He was also arrested at Burbank Airport for carrying a loaded gun in his suitcase. In March 1997, Lawrence was arrested again after assaulting a man in a Hollywood nightclub.

During August 1999, Lawrence slipped into a three-day coma after collapsing from heat exhaustion while jogging in 100-degree heat while wearing several layers of heavy clothing. He recovered in the hospital after very nearly dying and running a body temperature of 107 °F (41.7 °C), his breathing assisted by a respirator.

Filmography

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1989	Do The Right Thing	Cee
1990	House Party	Bilal
1991	Talkin' Dirty After Dark	Terry
	House Party 2	Bilal
1992	Boomerang	Tyler
1994	You So Crazy	Himself	stand-up acting executive producer and writer
1995	Bad Boys	Marcus Burnett
1996	A Thin Line Between Love and Hate	Narrator/Darnell 'Deeny/'D'/D.W.' Wright	also director, exc. producer,music supervisor and writer
1997	Nothing to Lose	Terrance Paul Davidson
1999	Life	Claude Banks
	Blue Streak	Miles Logan/Detective Malone
2000	Big Momma's House	Malcolm Turner/Big Momma	also executive producer
2001	What's the Worst That Could Happen?	Kevin Caffery
	Black Knight	Jamal Walker/Skywalker
2002	Martin Lawrence Live: Runteldat	Himself	also executive producer stand-up acting/writer
2003	National Security	Earl Montgomery	also executive producer
	Bad Boys II	Marcus Burnett
2005	Rebound	Roy McCormick/Preacher Don	also executive producer
2006	Big Momma's House 2	Malcolm Turner/Big Momma
	Open Season	Boog	voice
2007	Wild Hogs	Bobby Davis
2008	Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins	Dr. RJ Stevens/Roscoe Steven Jenkins, Jr.
	College Road Trip	Chief James Porter
2010	Death at a Funeral	Ryan Parlson	Filming
	2011	Big Momma`s House 3	Malcom Turner/Big Momma	In Pre-Production

Television

• What's Happening Now!! (cast member from 1987-1988) - Maurice
• A Little Bit Strange (1989) (unsold pilot)
• Hammer, Slammer, & Slade (1990) (unsold pilot)
• Private Times (1991) (unsold pilot)
• Martin (1992-1997) - Martin Payne
• Def Comedy Jam (host from 1992-1993)

Discography

Year	Album	Chart Positions
		US	US Hip-Hop
1993	Martin Lawrence Live Talkin' Shit	76	10
1995	Funk It	-	35

Awards and nominations

• Blockbuster Entertainment Award
  • nominated with Eddie Murphy for Favorite Comedy Team (2000) for the movie Life
  • nominated for Favorite Actor (2001) for the movie Big Momma's House
• NAACP Image Award
  • won Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series (1995) for the series Martin
  • won Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series (1996) for the series Martin
  • nominated for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series (1997) for the series Martin
• Kids' Choice Award
  • nominated for Favorite Television Actor (1995) for the series Martin
  • nominated for Favorite Television Actor (1996) for the series Martin
  • nominated for Favorite Movie Actor (2001) for the movie Big Momma's House
• MTV Movie Award
  • nominated with Will Smith for Best On-Screen Duo (1996) for the movie Bad Boys
  • nominated for the movie Big Momma's House
  • nominated with Will Smith for Best On-Screen Team (2003) for the movie Bad Boys II
• ShoWest - Male Star of Tomorrow (1995)
• Teen Choice Award - nominated for Wipeout Scene of the Summer (2000) for the movie Big Momma's House
• BET Comedy Award - won Icon Comedy Award (2005)

External links

• Martin Lawrence at IMDb
• interview, 2005, BlackNews
• interview, 7/03, BlackFilm
• interview: January 25, 2006 on the Tavis Smiley show
• Martin Lawrence HBO Stand-Up Special Videos