Jesse L. Martin is an American actor and singer. He is best known for originating the role of Tom Collins on Broadway in the musical Rent and his television roles as NYPD Detective Ed Green on Law amp Order and Detective Joe West on The Flash.
Martin, the third of five sons, was born in Rocky Mount, Virginia. His father, Jesse Reed Watkins , was a truck driver, and his mother, Virginia Price, a college counselor the two divorced when he was a child. His mother eventually remarried and Martin adopted his stepfathers surname.
Source: Wikipedia