55 year old stand up comedian turned comedic legend and movie star Martin Lawrence is worth $250 million in 2013. He has starred in over 33 titles in his career and executive produced his most notable role as Martin Payne a radio DJ in the 90’s comedy Martin. The show lasted only 5 seasons ending in 1997 but the show has not been on the air airing in syndication on several networks including TVOne and MTVJams. In season 1 the show averaged almost 12 million viewers per episode. Martin was known for his chauvinistic opinions against women and his relationship with his friends and girlfriend Gina played by Tisha Campbell. Lawrence also played several of the shows’ recurring characters Mama Payne, Sheneneh Jenkins his next door neighbor, Jerome, Dragon Fly Jones, Otis a strict old school cop and many others. His salary on the series $100,000 per episode. He also wrote and produced the series.
In 1995 Martin Lawrence moved next door to another comedian Eddie Murphy. Martin lived with his wife Shamicka Gibbs who was a recording artist when they met at a party. The couple had 3 girls, Jasmine, Amara and Iyanna. The couple divorced in 2012. He moved out of the home which is a French style estate with a tennis court, a pool, 9.5 bathrooms, 7 bedrooms and was even used to film Bad Boys II. The house is currently up for rent for $200 thousand per month!!.
His fame on television translated to an even bigger movie career. His first role was in the Spike Lee film Do The Right Thing. He also starred in the House Party franchise early in his career. Martin’s biggest and most lucrative roles was in Big Mama’s House and Bad Boys. In the Bad Boys II sequel featuring Will Smith he was paid $20 million. He recently signed on for Bad Boys III which begins filming Fall 2013 he earned $15 million to reprise his role.
