Jesse Lamont Martin (born Jesse Lamont Watkins, January 18, 1969) is an American theatre, film, and television actor, best known for originating the role of Tom Collins in Rent and as Det. Ed Green in the NBC series Law & Order.
Martin was born in Rocky Mount, Virginia, located in the Blue Ridge Mountains. He is the third of five sons. Martin's parents, truck driver Jesse Reed Watkins and college counselor Virginia Price, divorced when he was a c...
more
Jesse Lamont Martin (born Jesse Lamont Watkins, January 18, 1969) is an American theatre, film, and television actor, best known for originating the role of Tom Collins in Rent and as Det. Ed Green in the NBC series Law & Order.
Martin was born in Rocky Mount, Virginia, located in the Blue Ridge Mountains. He is the third of five sons. Martin's parents, truck driver Jesse Reed Watkins and college counselor Virginia Price, divorced when he was a child. Ms. Price eventually remarried and the boys adopted their stepfather's surname. When Martin was in grade school, the family relocated to Buffalo, New York, and the move was not an immediate success: Martin hated speaking because of his thick Southern accent and was often overcome with shyness. A concerned teacher influenced him to join an after-school drama program and cast him as the pastor in The Golden Goose. Being from Virginia, the young Martin played the character the only way he knew how: as an inspired Southern Baptist preacher....
less
