Martin Lawrence

Born: 16th April 1965
Where: Frankfurt, Germany

Yet another product of the roster of black American stand-ups, Lawrence has never quite hit the dizzy heights of the Will Smiths and Eddie Murphys.

The son of an USAF father, he was brought up in Maryland after his father left his mother and his five siblings.

Gaining notoriety as the class clown, he was noticed on the stand-up circuit by the producers of the newly-commissioned Def Comedy Jam TV show.

Small film roles followed in Do the Right Thing and Boomerang, after which Lawrence co-wrote and directed the romantic comedy A Thin Line Between Love and Hate.

Whilst on the set of the 1996 movie, he had a violent outburst, and was reported to be suffering from bouts of paranoia.

The same year he was arrested at Burbank Airport for carrying a loaded gun in his suitcase and was later held following allegations of assault outside a Hollywood nightclub.

Back on screen, he scored a massive box office hit with Big Momma's House (which he co-produced) and also appeared in Bad Boys opposite Will Smith and Life alongside his idol, Eddie Murphy.

Additional film credits include Black Knight, What's The Worst That Could Happen? with Danny DeVito, and Nothing to Lose with Tim Robbins.

In 2003, he starred in the lame action comedy National Security with Steve Zahn and re-teamed with Smith and Michael Bay for Bad Boys II.

Recent work has included the sequel to the 2000 hit comedy Big Momma's House 2.