Martin Fitzgerald Lawrence is an American actor and comedian. 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 in 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 as Detective Sergeant Marcus Miles Burnett in the buddy cop action comedy Bad Boys (1995), a role he reprised in three sequels.