About Martin Lawrence
Martin Fitzgerald Lawrence (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), Lawrence co-created and played the titular character of 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 playing Detective Sergeant Marcus Burnett in the buddy cop action comedy Bad Boys (1995), a role he reprised in three sequels. Lawrence 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 (2011), 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). Lawrence's first and middle names were after civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. and U.S. However, executives at Columbia Pictures Television saw Martin's performance and offered him the role of Maurice Warfield in What's Happening Now!!; this was his first acting job.
Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.