Marsai Martin’s transition from child producer to 20-year-old mogul has made her wise beyond her years
“I was still so small. I didn’t even know what I was really walking into. I didn’t feel nervous at all,” Marsai Martin tells Variety, looking back at her early years in the business. “Nine-year-old me had the confidence to walk into any room.”
That self-assurance helped the gifted actor make history, becoming the youngest person to sign a first-look deal at a studio at 14 years old. The pact came about after the preteen produced a comedy, “Little,” that she pitched to Universal when she was nine. Martin co-starred with Regina Hall and Issa Rae in the 2019 film, which was a modest hit, earning $48 million at the global box office.
Now 20, Martin admits that the subsequent years in the rough-and-tumble entertainment business left some bruises. She scored with the 2022 sports comedy “Fantasy Football” on Paramount+, but she was heartbroken after “Saturdays,” a Disney Channel comedy she executive produced, was canceled after one season.
“Now I’ve seen things, and I understand what it’s been like for other Black women before me, the obstacles that they had to go through,” she says, dialing down the megawatt charm as she turns serious. “You hear it all the time, but you don’t even really know until you actually go through it.”
It was tough to watch “Saturdays” come and go. “The fact that I got the opportunity to put three Black girls in those spaces is really dope,” she adds, mentioning the show’s leads Danielle Jalade, Daria Johns and Peyton Basnight. “At the same time, it made me realize the things that I need to continue to push through and change within our industry. I’m very aware that this industry was not built and meant for [Black people], but constantly creating and evolving something that was once not meant for us feels like a challenge to me. And that’s what I like!”
Through the highs and lows, Martin learned to be resilient. “I said when I was little that I wanted to be a legend, and I’ve learned what it takes to become one,” she says. “The key is to choose yourself.”
Jacob Webster
Martin began acting at age 5, then landed her first major role on ABC’s “Black-ish” in 2014. When the show ended after eight seasons, she found herself at a crossroads.
“I wanted to say yes to any and everything, only because I didn’t know what was next,” she recalls. “Especially as actors, we don’t know what that next job is gonna be, or if it’s like I’m gonna be poppin’ for this time in my life and then it’s gonna be ‘Where are they now?’”
Recently, Martin was offered a Netflix movie that she believed could pave the way for meatier roles. There was just one problem: It featured more sexual content than she was comfortable with. When child actors transition to adult parts, Martin says, they’re often encouraged to embrace more risqué material.
“I’m like, I don’t want to have to show my goods for y’all to see that I’m grown, and I don’t think I should have to,” she says. But it was a tough call to make. “It was one of the bigger paychecks that I would have gotten,” she admits. After some soul-searching and consultation with her parents Joshua and Carol Martin, who run Genius with her, Martin turned down the role. “I had to decide if that was where I wanted to take my career, and I decided to say no.”
Instead, she chose another movie, which checked off the right boxes without requiring her to disrobe. Martin also produced the untitled independent film, which co-stars Courtney B. Vance and centers on an estranged father and daughter.
“They’re trying to gain back what they lost,” she says. “Sometimes we don’t see our parents as human until something clicks where you’re like, ‘Oh, wow, they’re just like me!”
While that film awaits distribution, Martin co-stars in the action-thriller “G20,” which launches April 10 on Amazon Prime Video. It was a chance to act alongside Viola Davis, who produced the film.
“I was like, ‘OK, she’s gonna truly take control of this project, and I would love to see what that looks like — I’ve seen so many different ways of producing,” Martin says.
Anthony Anderson, Marsai Martin, Viola Davis and Christopher Farrar in “G20.”
©Amazon/Courtesy Everett Collection
In the film, Davis plays the U.S. President, who becomes the number one target of terrorists who attack the diplomatic summit; Martin is her rebellious teenage daughter. On set, Davis didn’t demand respect. Her presence commanded it. “Her power is just being her — she didn’t even have to say much,” Marsai recalls. “The little tweaks she would make to the script or the questions she had were very minimal, but you could tell it made a huge difference.”
It’s a lesson Martin is taking to heart as she guides the upcoming slate of her company Genius Entertainment. One project in development is an adaptation of the fantasy book “Amari and the Night Brothers” — “It’s like our ‘Harry Potter,’” Martin says excitedly — as well as projects set in the sports of tennis and track and field. “They’re all like my children, in a sense,” she adds, factoring in her age. “Maybe not children. I’m like their auntie.”
And she’s reteaming with Rae for a comedy about working in a chain restaurant reminiscent of the Waffle Houses that dotted her hometown of Dallas. Martin sketched out the idea in her journal, imagining what might have happened had she not become a Hollywood player before being old enough to drive.
“As new adults, that’s one of our real first jobs,” she says. “That’s how it would be if I had a different life, if I was still in Dallas.”
For more from Martin, listen to the latest episode of “Just for Variety” here:
