Jesse l. Martin on acting, advice and inspiration

Actor Jesse L. Martin, 55, is enjoying the challenge of playing a behavioral scientist in the NBC crime drama _The Irrational_, which returns Jan. 29 for the final episodes of Season 1.

“I’ve played so many detectives in my career [and] it was very, very straightforward. [This character] is a lot more multifaceted.” Martin shares what he’s watching on TV these days, the

_Law & Order_ star he’d love to work with again, and the sage life advice he received from James Earl Jones. _This interview has been edited for length and clarity._ _The Irrational 

_shoots in Vancouver. Have you had time to explore the area? Well, I actually do work a lot, so when I’m not working, it’s quite a boring story of what I actually do. Part of it’s catching

up on sleep, for sure. But if I have enough time to sort of get fully rested … one of my pleasures is actually just putting the house back together — cleaning up and doing domestic chores,

if you will. I don’t know why suddenly I get a big old kick out of that, but I do. Doing things like laundry. Vancouver’s fantastic. It’s certainly not New York City, but it is its own

beast, and it’s absolutely beautiful here. Today it’s snowing, so it’s even more gorgeous. Martin stars as behavioral scientist Alec Mercer in the NBC crime series “The Irrational.” Sergei

Bachlakov/NBC Were you surprised when they brought back the original _Law & Order_? And were you interested in revising your character? Oh, I loved [_Law & Order_ character] Ed

Green. He was the man for a long time. But you certainly have to move on and diversify in all the things you get to do as an actor. And I really appreciate that somebody’s willing to still

take me in and let me do my thing. I’m super grateful for it. ... I thought it was a good idea to bring back “the mothership” — that’s what we used to call the original _Law & Order_. I

wasn’t sure if I had any real interest in going back to that space. I certainly loved working with the people, particularly S. Epatha Merkerson [who played Lt. Anita Van Buren]. I’d do

anything to work with her again, in any capacity. WHO WERE YOUR ACTING INSPIRATIONS? My mentor is [stage, TV and film actor] Stephen McKinley Henderson. … When I was around 11 years old, he

came to my school and did sort of a one-man show of Clarence Darrow, who was a famous lawyer. I was absolutely amazed, mesmerized by this man. I went up to him after the performance and I

told him that I wanted to do what he does. He asked me my name, and he said, “I’m going to look out for you, young blood.” And he has for years. He’s still my guy. He’s been doing the thing

for a really, really long time. He was my first real inspiration.