Martin Fitzgerald Lawrence (born April 16, 1965) is an American comedian and actor. 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), he 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 Michael Bay's buddy cop action comedy Bad Boys (1995). Wikipedia