Family:
Martin Lawrence was born on April 16, 1965, in Frankfurt, Germany, due to the fact that his father was in the Air Force. He is one of six children. His brother, Robert Lawrence, is also an actor. He and his siblings grew up in Maryland where his mother settled after his parents split in 1973. On January 7, 1995, Martin married Patricia Southall, a former Miss Virginia; they divorced in September 1996. Martin has a daughter named Jasmine Page who was born on January 15, 1996.
Early Experience:
Martin Lawrence was born a comedian at heart. The Biography Channel writes of Lawrence’s early comedic efforts, “Martin developed a love for comedy as he would try and cheer up his mother, by making her laugh when she came home from work. He was the class clown at school, resulting in one teacher agreeing to reserve the last five minutes of class for him to do his stand-up routine, in exchange for his promise to stop disrupting the class.”
Filmography Highlights:
- Open Season (to be released in 2006)
- Big Momma's House 2 (to be released in 2006)
- Rebound (2005)
- Bad Boys II (2003)
- National Security (2003)
- Martin Lawrence Live: Runteldat (2002)
- Black Knight (2001)
- What's the Worst That Could Happen? (2001)
- Big Momma’s House (2000)
- Blue Streak (1999)
- Bad Boys (1995)
- You So Crazy (1994)
- ”Martin” (1992 - 1997)
- Boomerang (1992)
Notable 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."
Regarding Bipolar Disorder:
It has quite often been rumored in the media that Martin Lawrence has bipolar disorder. He has certainly been the epicenter of a number of dramatic scenes that aren’t so uncommon for those with this disorder. Kat Giantis in an article for MSN Entertainment entitled Top 10 Celebrity Meltdowns writes that Lawrence’s “Better known incidents include a sexual harassment suit filed by his ‘Martin’ co-star Tisha Campbell, an attempt to board a plane with a Beretta, and a life-threatening coma caused by wearing heavy layers while jogging in 100-degree heat. But Martin's nadir probably came in 1996, when he was hospitalized after police found him at a busy L.A. intersection in a pot-induced stupor screaming at passing cars with a loaded gun in his pocket.” According to Celebritywonder.com, Lawrence “acknowledges that mental illness may have played a role in the incidents he has been through, though he denies rumors that he is bipolar.”
References
Biography Channel. (n.d.). Martin Lawrence.
Celebritywonder.com. (2005). Martin Lawrence Gallery.
Giantis, K. (2005). “Top 10 Celebrity Meltdowns”.
IMDb. (2005). Martin Lawrence.
