<Tr> <Th> Occupation </Th> <Td> Actor, singer </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Th> Years active </Th> <Td> 1993--present </Td> </Tr> <P> Jesse L. Martin (born Jesse Lamont Watkins; January 18, 1969) 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 & Order and Detective Joe West on The Flash . </P> <P> Martin, the third of four sons, was born in Rocky Mount, Virginia . His father, Jesse Reed Watkins (1943 - 2003), 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 stepfather's surname . </P>

Who played detective green on law & order