Law and Order
Register
Advertisement
Jesse L. Martin
Green Tango
...as Ed Green
Character
Ed Green
Date of birth
January 18, 1969
Place of birth
Rocky Mount, Virginia
IMDb profile

Jesse Lamont Martin ( Watkins) is an actor who played Detective Ed Green for almost ten years on Law & Order. His first appearance was the tenth season episode "Gunshow", and he made his last appearance in the eighteenth season episode "Burn Card". At the end of the fifteenth season, Martin took a break from Law & Order so that he could film the movie adaptation of Rent and reprise his role as Tom Collins from the Broadway musical (with Taye Diggs and Anthony Rapp). He was the fifth longest-lasting main cast member of the series, behind S. Epatha Merkerson, Sam Waterston, Jerry Orbach, and Steven Hill.

While still shooting Ally McBeal, Martin heard rumours that Benjamin Bratt planned to leave the cast of Law & Order. Martin had tried out for the show years before and won the minor role of a car-radio thief named Earl the Hamster, but decided to wait for a bigger part. With the opportunity presenting itself, Martin approached Law & Order producer Dick Wolf regarding the opening. Wolf hoped to cast him, and upon hearing that CBS and Fox both offered Martin development deals, he gave the actor the part without an audition.

Martin's character Green is one of only five characters who have appeared in the first four series of the Law & Order franchise. The other four are Lennie Briscoe (Jerry Orbach), Elizabeth Rodgers (Leslie Hendrix), Arthur Branch (Fred Dalton Thompson), and Elizabeth Olivet (Carolyn McCormick).

Martin appeared in the Law & Order: Special Victims Unit episodes "...Or Just Look Like One" and "Entitled", the Law & Order: Criminal Intent episode "Poison", and the Law & Order: Trial by Jury episode "Skeleton".

Martin also gave voice to his character in the game Justice is Served.

Martin currently stars as Detective Joseph "Joe" West in The CW's superhero series The Flash with Danielle Panabaker and Sarah Carter, since 2014.

In 2018, Martin suffered a back injury during the summer, which resulted in him being unable to commit to the fifth season of The Flash. He took a medical leave of absence from the show after filming scenes for a few episodes.


Advertisement