His irrational choice turned out well

Jesse L. Martin is becoming an expert on the wonderful weirdness of the human psyche.
In “The Irrational” – which starts its second season at 10 p.m. Tuesday (Oct. 8) on NBC — he’s a professor who helps catch crooks while offering details about behavior..
“It’s like all these little nuggets,” said Travina Springer, who plays his sister. “Every episode, there’s moments like that.”
That’s ironic, because Martin made one of life’s most irrational choices – becoming an actor.
Long ago, he told the Television Critics Association, James Earl Jones gave him this advice: “If you can think of something else to do, do that.”
He could think of nothing to match doing theater. “There’s something about being on that stage with a captive audience, with great material.”
Martin toured with John Houseman’s The Acting Company, did shows at prestigious theaters in Louisville and Cleveland, then moved to New York to wait tables and chase his ultimate goal. “When I got my Equity (union) card and I did my first Broadway show, I had … everything I needed.”
He had small roles in two Broadway shows and then landed the big one, originating a “Rent” role as an anarchic professor with AIDS.
Martin did that for 15 months, then played a surgeon who was Ally’s love interest in “Ally McBeal.” Then came a police-detective streak – 10 years on “Law & Order,” eight on “The Flash.”
Now he’s catching crooks again, but producer Arika Mittman says that’s not why he was hired. “We were looking for the professor, the teacher.”
As Prof. Alec Mercer, Martin offers bits of human behavior. For instance?
“The ‘Ben Franklin effect,” he said. “If you get someone to do you a favor, even a simple favor, they will like you more.”
There are many such things that he can now spout. “I probably drive everybody at the grocery store crazy,” Martin said, “because I go there saying these things and they’re like, ‘What is he talking about?’”
They might think he’s daft, but “at least at the grocery store, there’s an ad at the bus stop with my face on it.”
That’s one benefit of the irrational decision to become an actor