Law & Order’s Location Played A Big Role In Jesse L. Martin’s Decision To Audition – Looper

For Jesse L. Martin, New York City is where he wants to be, and, as the established location choice of “Law & Order,” it made it much easier to choose the role. “I want to live here,” he told Film Monthly. “I think it is way more vibrant; there is way more opportunity, there [are] cultural opportunities here that you are just not going to get anywhere else, and anything that is amazing in this world is eventually going to come through New York City.”

The real reason Martin left the “Law & Order” franchise was because, after a decade working in television, he wanted to get back to the theater, which is exactly what he did. From 2010 to 2011, he co-starred with Al Pacino and Lily Rabe in the Broadway production of “The Merchant of Venice,” playing Gratiano. Ironically, despite his emphatic declaration of staying in New York, three years later, he took the role of Joe West in the series “The Flash.” Filmed in Vancouver, British Columbia, the show managed the feat of getting Martin out of New York. “The city itself? It’s all right,” Martin told the Globe and Mail. “It’s not New York City. That’s home for me. It’s not tough to live here. It’s beautiful. It’s really nice. Once you get used to the rain, it’s all good.”