Jesse L. Martin

American stage, musical theatre, film and television actor

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Born: January 18, 1969
Age in 2026: 57
Zodiac sign: Capricorn
Birth year: 1969

About Jesse L. Martin

Jesse Lamont Martin is an American actor and singer. He is best known for his role of Tom Collins on Broadway in the musical Rent and performed on television as NYPD Detective Ed Green on Law & Order, Captain Joe West on The Flash, and professor Alec Mercer on The Irrational. Martin had tried out for the show years before and won the minor role of a car-radio thief named Earl the Hamster, but decided to wait for a bigger part. His mother eventually remarried and Martin adopted his stepfather's surname.

Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.

The world when Jesse L. Martin was born

Jesse L. Martin was born in 1969. The year snapshot below places that birthday in its cultural and historical setting: the music and films people were following, the headlines shaping public life, and the everyday prices families encountered.

Culture in 1969

#1 song"Sugar, Sugar" – The Archies
Top movieMidnight Cowboy
Top TV showRowan & Martin's Laugh-In
Best-selling bookThe Godfather – Mario Puzo

Headlines and milestones

Major sports momentNew York Mets "Miracle Mets" win the World Series
Top headlineNeil Armstrong walks on the Moon: "One small step for man"
Technology milestoneApollo 11 — first humans walk on the Moon
Defining fadWoodstock festival
Notable inventionARPANET (precursor to the internet)
World population3.63 billion

United States snapshot

U.S. leaderRichard Nixon
Sports championNew York Mets (World Series)
Also wonBoston Celtics (NBA)
U.S. population202.7M

1969 versus 2026

These figures put everyday life in Jesse L. Martin's birth year beside the site's latest United States snapshot.

Measure	1969	2026
Gas	$0.35	$3.45/gal
Average home	$16,400	$435,000
Average income	$10,900	$67,500
Minimum wage	$1.60	$7.25/hr (federal)
Movie ticket	$1.42	$11.95
Postage stamp	$0.06	$0.73
Population	202.7M	341 million

Sources and editorial standards

This profile combines a biographical source with structured birthday and historical context. Sources recorded for this profile: Wikipedia, IMDb. See our editorial policy for sourcing, corrections, and review standards.

Read the source biography on Wikipedia. Wikipedia text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.