Duane Martin

The ten-day contract that never happened

Duane Martin never made it to the NBA. In 1989, he signed as a free agent with the New York Knicks, but the dream ended before he could step onto the court at Madison Square Garden in an official game.

That athletic rejection pushed the New Yorker toward casting calls in Los Angeles. He wasn't chasing applause from classical theater. He wanted to make use of his athletic build and his ability to move through urban settings in front of the camera.

His role in White Men Can't Jump in 1992 showed the industry that he could handle a basketball and act at the same time. It was a blunt, direct start.

And the gamble paid off.

Two years later came Above the Rim. In this film, he played Kyle Watson and shared scenes with Tupac Shakur. This was the moment Martin realized his future wouldn't depend on three-pointers, but on production deals and the right connections.

The shadow of executive producing

Martin soon realized that the real money in Hollywood was behind the cameras. But he didn't want to direct. In 2003, he launched the series All of Us with Will Smith for the UPN network.

The series ran for four seasons on air. It was loosely based on the Smith family's home life, and Martin used the opportunity to learn how the broadcast rights business worked in American television.

During that decade, he balanced appearances in light comedies with aggressive real estate investments. Some critics said his acting range was limited. But he didn't care much, because his bank accounts said otherwise.

In 2017, the press began focusing more on his financial problems and his divorce from Tisha Campbell than on his scripts. It was a period of aggressive headlines and legal proceedings over alleged concealment of assets during the bankruptcy.

This is a profile he knows well.

Back to the beat

Television came knocking again in 2019 with L.A.'s Finest. In this spin-off of the Bad Boys franchise, he played Detective Ben Baines for two full seasons.

It was an expensive production. Sony Pictures Television invested millions in a series that was canceled in 2020 after failing to reach its global audience targets. But Martin's work pace didn't slow down.

In 2022, he joined the cast of Bel-Air, the drama that reimagines the comedy that made him famous, for his closest circle, in the nineties. Martin plays Steven Reid, a scheming political adviser who pulls the strings of power behind the scenes.

The series was renewed for a third season in 2023 after building solid numbers on the Peacock platform. Martin keeps collecting checks as a respected supporting actor while running talent management companies in California.

Filming of the final episodes wrapped up on a tight budget due to that same year's writers' strike.