Martin Lawrence Biography

news-details Being successful in �Bad Boys� (1995) instantly lured other fruitful contracts for Martin Lawrence including �Blue Streak� (1999), �Big Momma's House� (2000), and the follow up of the previous successful movie, �Bad Boys 2� (2003). Martin Lawrence is undeniably an actor who is capable to present crime in a comedy. In 1990s, this genre had definitely been Lawrence's area of domination.

Not only on screen, but most of this actor, producer and director's life has been loaded with humor. Little Lawrence who was born on April 16, 1965 in Frankfurt, Germany moved to Maryland at the age of six. His father left the family soon afterwards leaving behind six children for his mother to feed. Lawrence might not help financially but his side job was to entertain his mother with jokes. Even at school, Lawrence was the 'clown' of the class. He made an agreement with his teacher that he would stop acting funny during class hour if he was given some time in the end of the class to perform in front of his friends.

Soon after he graduated from Eleanor Roosevelt High School in Landover, Maryland, he was granted the chance to show his talent in 'Star Search'. He did win the competition and the Columbia Pictures' producers bestowed him an opportunity to be a guest star in the last season of the TV series �What's Happening Now!� (1985). His next TV appearances include �A Little Bit Strange� (1989) with the 'old hand' Michael Warren and Spike Lee's �Do the Right Thing� (1989).

Although in the subsequent movie, �House Party� (1990) and another TV movie �Hammer, Slammer, & Slade� (1990) he obtained minor characters, his role was rocketed right up to the position of main actor in �Talkin' Dirty After Dark� (1991). The actor's rapid acting progress knotted him to Eddie Murphy, Halle Berry and Chris Rock in a comedy written by Eddie Murphy himself, �Boomerang� (1992). Lawrence's turning point of career was visible as he claimed his fame through the sassy sitcom in which he became the creator, executive producer and concurrently the main actor, �Martin� (1992). Lawrence played a sum of wild characters in the same time, including as his own mother Mama Payne, Bob the white guy and many more. This production was highly rated, and received both compliment and critics. Compliment for its simple and entertaining humor, and critics for its false image of black people whom Lawrence represented as highly vulgar and obsessive to sex. One of these critics came from Bill Cosby. Lawrence responded by saying "I'm not ashamed to show the street side of the Martin character because bourgeoisie isn't how most black people live."

Taking a break from wide screen, he gave full concentration to his new task of hosting "Def Comedy Jam" (1992) from its very first show up to 1993. Then he was ready for his huge appearance on silver screen �Bad Boys� (1995) teaming up with Will Smith. The duo played a detective partner who exchanged identities, chased criminals and dodged bullets. Lawrence who played the character Marcus Brunette and Will Smith who played Mike Lowrey, were simply well-matched. They fetched this movie the sweet smell of success and a nomination for MTV Movie Best on Screen Duo.

After �Bad Boys�, Lawrence attempted to write �A Thin Line Between Love an Hate� (1996) which sadly didn't bring favorable result as many people claimed this movie as a desperate effort to blend �Martin� and �Fatal Attraction� (1987). Furthermore, consequences had to be made as his marriage to Patricia Southall on January 7, 1995 started to fall apart. Patricia feared her own safety as well as their daughter, Jasmine due to her husband's frequent sudden eruption. Patricia requested a divorce and the problem did not stop there. Lawrence began taking psychotic drugs, caught possessing guns, and accused of harassing her co-star Tisha Campbell sexually.

Despite being in the middle of troubles, the workaholic continued to strive higher achievements. He starred in �Nothing to Loose� (1997) with Tim Robins, �Life� (1999) with Eddie Murphy again, and in the unconventionally hilarious comedy �Blue Streak� (1999), before �Big Momma's House� (2001) stroked the U.S Box Office with $117,559,438 in ticket sales. After the success of the latter movie, he earned another amusing role in �Black Knight� (2001) as an ordinary employee of a restaurant who was magically transported back to medieval times. He also was a sophisticated thief in �What's The Worst That Could Happen?� (2001), but together with Steve Zahn, they became the hero in �National Security� (2003) as L.A.P.D. rejects who caught smugglers. Interestingly, �Rebound� (2005) presented him in a character which was unlike the rest of his movies. This time, he was neither a thief nor a police. Instead, his character was a temperamental high school basketball coach.

While making his way to rejoin Michael Bay and Smith in 2003's �Bad Boys 2� that exceeded �Bad Boys� in hitting the U.S. Box Office at $138,396,624, Lawrence again was involved in a sequel by 2006, this time in the follow-up to �Big Momma's House�, �Big Momma's House 2.� Turning into a different direction temporarily, the actor then gave a shot in animation picture �Open Season� (2006), filling in the voice of Boog, a grizzly bear who makes friends with Elliot, a mule deer voiced by Ashton Kutcher. The list afterwards got longer as he next was tapped to star in �Wild Hogs� (2007), �The Better Man� (2008), and �College Road Trip� (2008), the former already racking up more than $156 million tally in domestic market only as of late April 2007.