Biographic - Sunday April 11, 2010 Comic Strip Licensing and Permissions

Transcript

Born in Frankfurt Am Main, West Germany, on April 16 1965, where his father was serving in the U.S. military Martin Lawrence was raised in Maryland. Although he excelled at boxing as a teen, after graduating from high school he moved to Los Angeles to pursue a career in comedy. A run on the tv series "Star Search" led to a role on the sitcom "What's Happening Now!!"He made his movie debut in 1989 in Spike Lee's "Do The Right Thing" and went on to appear in "House Party 2" and the Eddie Murphy vehicle "Boomerang." 1992 was a banner year for Lawrence, music mogul, Russell Simmons chose him to host "Def Comedy Jam" the hit HBO series that helped boost the careers of such comedians as Chris Tucker, Dave Chappelle, and Bernie Mac. He also debuted his sitcom "Martin" and it quickly became one of the highest-rated shows on the pledging Fox network "Martin" ran for five seasons and 132 episodes, and ended in 1997. The 1995 movie "Bad Boys" paired Martin with rapper Will Smith, the star of "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air." turning two sitcom stars into action heroes. Just weeks before the release of his 1999 movie "Blue Streak" he narrowly avoided death after collapsing with heat exhaustion while jogging extreme temperatures. Martin was in a coma for three days, breathing with the aid of a respiratork but recovered in time to see "Blue Streak" top the box office charts. He has gone on to star in the likes of "Wild Hogs" with John Travolta and Tim Allen. And has enjoyed Blockbuster success with the sequels "Bad Boys 2" and "Big Momma's House 2"

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