Martin Lawrence biography:  Martin Lawrence was born in Frankfurt am Main, Germany on April 16, 1965 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 an appearance on the television sitcom What's Happening Now!!; this was his first acting job.Following What's Happening Now!!, Lawrence had bit parts in various films and television roles before entertainment mogul Russell Simmons personally 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. In 1990, before Def Comedy Jam, Martin received a career breakthrough in film when he appeared in the movie-comedy, House Party alongside Christopher "Play" Martin and Christopher "Kid" Reid (popular duo Kid n' Play.) In House Party, Martin's character is "Bilal", the neighborhood DJ, who DJs at the party "Play" throws at his house while his parents are out of town. Tisha Campbell also plays alongside Martin in House Party, House Party 2 & 3, and ultimately co-stars opposite Martin in his hit sitcom, Martin.
During his role in Def Comedy Jam, Lawrence appeared in his own hit series, Martin, which aired on Fox.The show ran from 1992 to 1997 and was considered a success. He also hosted Saturday Night Live on February 19, 1994, where he made crude remarks on women's genitalia and personal hygiene; the monologue was completely edited out of reruns and syndicated versions, and Lawrence was banned from the show for the rest of his life. After Martin ended its run, Lawrence worked on many film projects most of which were in the comedy genre. He often starred in films 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), Nothing To Lose (1997), Blue Streak (1999), 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). His salary increased dramatically to over $10 million per role. He continues to work in film, with his recent films including 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), where he played a bored suburbanite looking for 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 where he was requested by the studio audience to act out his famous characters he played on his Martin television show. To a great deal of excitement and cheering from the studio audience, Lawrence performed most of his characters again, out of wardrobe and with no lines. The audience became particularly excited when Lawrence acted out his Mama Payne, Sheneneh Jenkins, and Jerome characters. During the interview, when yet another character was named off for him to act out, Lawrence mentioned how he was surprised at how many characters he used to perform on the show. Once his Martin show ended, Lawrence never brought back any of his characters for another TV series or movie.
In 2009, at the BET Awards, he appeared in a spoof trailer for a fictitious movie which featured him as his infamous character Sheneneh, and Jamie Foxx as his infamous character Wanda.
Lawrence has reportedly signed on to star in an upcoming comedy titled Black 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 revealed
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 with Lawrence.
While filming A Thin Line Between Love and Hate in the mid-1990s, Lawrence had a violent outburst on the set and began taking psychotropic drugs. 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 went into a three-day coma after collapsing from heat exhaustion while jogging in 100-degree heat with several layers of heavy clothing.He recovered in the hospital from near death and running a body temperature of 107 °F his breathing assisted by a respirator.
Martin Lawrence quote:
I'm most proud of the blessings that God has bestowed upon me, in my life. He's given me the vision to truly see that you can fall down, but you can still get back up. Hopefully I'll learn from my mistakes and have the opportunity to strengthen and improve the next thing I do. |
