Lee Martin

Lee Martin was born in Detroit, Michigan, the only child of parents George, an architect and Lynne, a gifted portrait artist. His parents divorced and he moved with his mother to a small but comfortable home in the city of Warren, Michigan, where he attended Washington Elementary and St. Clements schools. As a child, he displayed a strong interest in motion pictures and began appearing regularly in neighborhood theater. At age 13 his grandmother, Helen, responded to his aspirations by giving him a Bolex H16 Rex camera for Christmas which he used to create dozens of short films. Obtaining a bachelor's degree in business administration, Martin next curtailed his theatrical endeavors to pursue a successful career as a marketing and event manager--gaining skills which were to prove extremely valuable in his subsequent work as a producer. Finding the instability of the work in Michigan's fluctuating economy unsatisfying, he abandoned it in 2007 and returned to his first love--film--with the production of the thriller anthology, Lee Martin's The Midnight Hour (2008). Originally planned as a vehicle for his mother, he took over as series host when she became gravely ill. Martin's work on the series later distinguished him as one of the most prolific independent producers in the U.S.