--- name: "Martin Lawrence" canonical: "https://film.one/person/martin-lawrence" fi1m_id: "martin-lawrence" imdb_id: "nm0001454" tmdb_id: 78029 wikidata_id: "Q183542" roles: ["Actor"] born: "16 April 1965" reviewed_on_fi1m: 6 average_fi1m_score: 61 average_as: "actor" average_over: 6 updated: "2026-10-05T15:22:24.076429+00:00" licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # Martin Lawrence ## Identity Martin Lawrence - **Canonical:** https://film.one/person/martin-lawrence - **Type:** Person - **Fi1m ID:** martin-lawrence - **IMDb ID:** nm0001454 - **TMDB ID:** 78029 - **Wikidata ID:** Q183542 - **Same entity:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Lawrence, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q183542, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001454/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/78029 Actor. Born 16 April 1965 in Frankfurt am Main, Hesse, West Germany [now Germany]. ## Details - **Work:** Actor - **Born:** 16 April 1965, Frankfurt am Main, Hesse, West Germany [now Germany] - **Active:** 1989–present - **Also known as:** Martin Fitzgerald Lawrence - **Frequently works with:** [Will Smith](https://film.one/person/will-smith-2888.md), [Adil El Arbi](https://film.one/person/adil-el-arbi.md), [Alexander Ludwig](https://film.one/person/alexander-ludwig.md), [Bilall Fallah](https://film.one/person/bilall-fallah.md), [Chris Bremner](https://film.one/person/chris-bremner.md), [Doug Belgrad](https://film.one/person/doug-belgrad.md), [Jerry Bruckheimer](https://film.one/person/jerry-bruckheimer.md), [Vanessa Hudgens](https://film.one/person/vanessa-hudgens.md) - **Average Fi1m score:** 61, as actor, over 6 titles - **Fi1m score by decade:** 1980s 93 (1), 1990s 60 (1), 2000s 42 (2), 2020s 64 (2) - **Fi1m against the critics:** 61 to 59 across 6 titles - **Score spread:** 1 at 80+, 3 at 60–79, 2 under 60 - **Lead roles:** 4 of 5 acting credits billed first or second - **Genres:** Comedy 4, Action 3, Crime 3, Adventure 1, Animation 1, Drama 1 - **Screen time:** 12 hours of reviewed films - **Box office:** $1,474m across 6 films with figures - **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Lawrence, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q183542, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001454/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/78029 ## Streaming the US now - **Hulu:** [*Bad Boys for Life*](https://film.one/film/bad-boys-for-life.md) (68) - **Disney+:** [*Bad Boys: Ride or Die*](https://film.one/film/bad-boys-ride-or-die.md) (60) - **Apple TV:** [*Boomerang*](https://film.one/film/boomerang.md) (60) - **Amazon Prime Video:** [*Open Season*](https://film.one/film/open-season.md) (49) - **Tubi:** [*Bad Boys II*](https://film.one/film/bad-boys-ii.md) (36) For United States; add `?region=XX` for another country. ## Fi1m on Martin Lawrence > Martin Lawrence plays the man losing his nerve and talking about it, and he leaves a half-second before every line so the rest of the scene has to wait for him. He is often the best thing in films that do not deserve him. In *Bad Boys: Ride or Die* (2024) Marcus Burnett has a heart attack in the first reel, has a vision while he is under, and comes round certain he cannot die. Martin Lawrence plays the rest of the film on that one idea. He strolls towards gunfire, lectures Mike on the universe and eats everything he has been told not to, and before each line he leaves a half-second of nothing so that everyone else in the scene has to wait for him. It is a comic's trick, learned on stage, and it is the thing he does that nobody else in these films can. He came up in stand-up in the Washington D.C. clubs, hosted *Def Comedy Jam* (1992–1993) and built the Fox sitcom *Martin* (1992–1997) around himself and the several other characters he played on it. Film was slower. In *Boomerang* (1992) he has a few minutes as Tyler, the friend who finds a conspiracy in every room, and uses all of them, which is what a supporting comic is for and few manage. Then *Bad Boys* (1995) gave him his first lead, opposite Will Smith and under Michael Bay in his first film, and set the pattern: Lawrence as the anxious one with a family at home, Smith as Mike Lowrey. There followed *Blue Streak* (1999), *Big Momma's House* (2000) in drag and prosthetics, *Wild Hogs* (2007), one film as director in *A Thin Line Between Love and Hate* (1996), and then a long gap before *Bad Boys for Life* (2020) brought the partnership back. The partnership is the point. Lawrence has said that it is fun to be the funny man, "but when it's time to be the straight man, be the straight man", and the Smith films are at their best when he does both in one scene, panicking and then landing the line. Away from a partner the method is riskier. The *Big Momma* films run on prosthetics and a single joke, and critics have found him broad to the point of mugging whenever a script asks him to be sincere or in love. We would not argue hard. He is a comedian who needs something to react against, and a sitcom learns to give him that where a film often does not. In *Ride or Die* we laughed more than we expected to and more than the writing had earned, and nearly all of it was his, including a fight in which Mike and Marcus simply stand back and let a younger man handle it. The film around him is a corruption plot, a prison break and a family reunion that nobody on screen appears to care about, and he carries it anyway, which has been his job since 1995. He has not been given a great film. He has been the reason to sit through several middling ones, which is a stranger and more useful talent than it sounds. ## Biography Martin Fitzgerald Lawrence is an American actor and comedian. He was born on 16 April 1965 in Frankfurt am Main, West Germany, where his father was serving in the US Air Force. The family later settled in Maryland in the United States. Lawrence began his career in stand-up comedy and appeared in the television series What's Happening Now!! (1987–1988). He hosted Def Comedy Jam and starred in the sitcom Martin (1992–1997). His film roles include Cee in Do the Right Thing (1989) and Marcus Burnett in the Bad Boys series, beginning with Bad Boys (1995) and continuing through Bad Boys: Ride or Die (2024). He has also appeared in Big Momma's House (2000) and its sequel, Blue Streak (1999) and Wild Hogs (2007). *Sources: en.wikipedia.org, imdb.com.* ## On Fi1m (6) - *Bad Boys: Ride or Die* (2024), Fi1m 60, as Marcus Burnett — [page](https://film.one/film/bad-boys-ride-or-die.md) - *Bad Boys for Life* (2020), Fi1m 68, as Marcus — [page](https://film.one/film/bad-boys-for-life.md) - *Open Season* (2006), Fi1m 49, as Boog (voice) — [page](https://film.one/film/open-season.md) - *Bad Boys II* (2003), Fi1m 36, as Detective Marcus Burnett — [page](https://film.one/film/bad-boys-ii.md) - *Boomerang* (1992), Fi1m 60, as Tyler — [page](https://film.one/film/boomerang.md) - *Do the Right Thing* (1989), Fi1m 93, as Cee — [page](https://film.one/film/do-the-right-thing.md) ## Complete filmography (58) Every credit, newest first. Titles without a page can be requested for review on the HTML page. - *The Varnell Hill Show* (2026), series, Executive Producer - *7 Dogs* (2026), Actor - *Demascus* (2025), series, as Forty - *Sneaks* (2025), as J.B. (voice) - *Bad Boys: Ride or Die* (2024), as Marcus Burnett · Executive Producer — Fi1m 60, [page](https://film.one/film/bad-boys-ride-or-die.md) - *Mindcage* (2022), as Jake Doyle · Executive Producer - *Martin: The Reunion* (2022), Executive Producer - *Def comedy Jam - All stars 3* (2021), Actor - *Bad Boys for Life* (2020), as Marcus — Fi1m 68, [page](https://film.one/film/bad-boys-for-life.md) - *The Beach Bum* (2019), as Captain Wack - *Before They Were Kings: Vol. 2* (2019), Actor - *Martin Lawrence Doin’ Time* (2016), Writer, Executive Producer - *Partners* (2014), series, as Marcus Jackson · Executive Producer - *Oddity Archive* (2012), series, as Maurice Winfield (archive footage) - *The Soul Man* (2012), series, as Rudy - *Big Mommas: Like Father, Like Son* (2011), as Malcolm / Big Momma · Executive Producer - *Death at a Funeral* (2010), as Ryan - *Love That Girl!* (2010), series, Producer - *College Road Trip* (2008), as Chief James Porter - *Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins* (2008), as Roscoe Jenkins - *Martin Lawrence Presents 1st Amendment Stand-Up* (2007), series, as Producer · Creator - *Wild Hogs* (2007), as Bobby Davis - *Boog and Elliot's Midnight Bun Run* (2006), as Boog (voice) - *Open Season* (2006), as Boog (voice) — Fi1m 49, [page](https://film.one/film/open-season.md) - *Big Momma's House 2* (2006), as Malcolm Turner / Big Momma · Executive Producer - *Rebound* (2005), as Roy McCormick · Executive Producer - *Bad Boys II* (2003), as Detective Marcus Burnett — Fi1m 36, [page](https://film.one/film/bad-boys-ii.md) - *National Security* (2003), as Earl Montgomery · Executive Producer - *Martin Lawrence Live: Runteldat* (2002), Executive Producer, Writer, Director - *Black Knight* (2001), as Jamal Walker / Skywalker · Executive Producer - *Def Comedy Jam, Vol. 6* (2001), Actor - *What's the Worst That Could Happen?* (2001), as Kevin Caffery · Executive Producer - *Def Comedy Jam: All Stars 12* (2001), Actor - *Def Comedy Jam: All Stars 2* (2001), as Martin Lawrence - *Def Comedy Jam, Vol. 7* (2000), Actor - *Big Momma's House* (2000), as Malcolm Turner · Executive Producer - *Blue Streak* (1999), as Miles Logan - *Life* (1999), as Claude Banks - *Def Comedy Jam: All Stars 1* (1999), Actor - *Jackie Chan: My Story* (1998), Thanks - *Nothing to Lose* (1997), as Terrence Paul "T-Paul" Davidson - *The Chris Rock Show* (1997), series, Actor - *E! True Hollywood Story* (1996), series, Actor - *A Thin Line Between Love and Hate* (1996), as Darnell · Director, Screenplay, Story, Executive Producer - *Bad Boys* (1995), as Marcus Burnett - *Martin Lawrence: You So Crazy* (1994), Writer, Executive Producer - *Martin* (1992), series, as Martin Payne · Writer, Producer, Story, Creator - *Boomerang* (1992), as Tyler — Fi1m 60, [page](https://film.one/film/boomerang.md) - *House Party 2* (1991), as Bilal - *Talkin' Dirty After Dark* (1991), as Terry - *Hammer, Slammer, & Slade* (1990), as Willie - *House Party* (1990), as Bilal - *Do the Right Thing* (1989), as Cee — Fi1m 93, [page](https://film.one/film/do-the-right-thing.md) - *One Night Stand* (1989), series, Actor - *What's Happening Now!!* (1985), series, as Maurice Warfield - *It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World reboot*, Producer - *Untitled Blue Streak Sequel*, as Miles · Producer - *One and Done*, Producer ## Gallery - ![Martin Lawrence at a ceremony for Jerry Bruckheimer to receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.](https://film.one/media/person/11425/gallery-bfcbc2d0f5bf.jpg) Martin Lawrence at a ceremony for Jerry Bruckheimer to receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. — Angela George, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0b/MartinLawrenceHWOFJune2013.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled) - ![Photograph of Martin Lawrence holding the microphone to an audience of US Air Force troops at Centennial Banquet and Conference Center East Fort Bliss Texas as (2011)](https://film.one/media/person/11425/gallery-caefa5726ff3.jpg) Photograph of Martin Lawrence holding the microphone to an audience of US Air Force troops at Centennial Banquet and Conference Center East Fort Bliss Texas as (2011) — Jade Fulce/Fort Bliss Public Affairs Office, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/40/Martin_Lawrence_2011.jpg/1280px-Martin_Lawrence_2011.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail) - ![Martin Lawrence](https://film.one/media/person/11425/gallery-01ded31ea387.jpg) Martin Lawrence — Image via TMDB - ![Martin Lawrence](https://film.one/media/person/11425/gallery-874b127b0001.jpg) Martin Lawrence — Image via TMDB - ![Martin Lawrence](https://film.one/media/person/11425/gallery-39fbb3e55e7d.jpg) Martin Lawrence — Image via TMDB - ![Martin Lawrence](https://film.one/media/person/11425/gallery-c73c2fed5d8b.jpg) Martin Lawrence — Image via TMDB - ![Martin Lawrence](https://film.one/media/person/11425/gallery-7202e8f85594.jpg) Martin Lawrence — Image via TMDB - ![Martin Lawrence](https://film.one/media/person/11425/gallery-3f950dd1ace0.jpg) Martin Lawrence — Image via TMDB --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/person/martin-lawrence