Martin LaPlatney

Martin was born in Coos Bay Oregon September 12,1950 after graduating from college in 1972 he moved to Seattle and immediately began working in Theater. He was a founding member of The Empty Space Theater which became one of the most recognized theaters in the Northwest. In 1977 he moved to New York and soon began working on and off Broadway and playing leading roles in regional theater all over the country. His first job on Broadway was The Crucifer of Blood and after that he was in the original cast of Amadeus as well as Hedda Gabler, Major Barbara, and Road To Mecca. All of his work in Theater was supplemented with work in television commercials as well as the Soaps and episodic TV. Since 1968 Martin has also practiced Martial Arts. He started at Central Washington State University as part of the Judo team. In Seattle while doing theater he also studied Karate and later some Wushu. When he moved to New York he began to study Filipino Arnis, Pikiti Tirsia system, he studied for thirteen years and in that time also fought in the first full contact espada y daga contest on the east coast. During his time in New York he also studied Kajukenbo and was awarded his forth degree Black Belt by the founder of the art Adriano Emperado. He has studied Xingyi Quan for the last 32 years and is a disciple of the late master Li Guichang of Taiyuan China. During that same period of time he also studied Bagua Zhang and Taijie. He has a daughter, Allison LaPlatney and is married to actor Susan Greenhill.