Martin Landau was born on June 20, 1928 in Brookyn, New York.
From a young age, Martin had a great vocation for drawing and he really liked making cartoons, which helped him to get his first jobs at the Daily News newspaper in New York. But it was Charles Chaplin who suggested that he intervene in some films of the 1940s. Before beginning this new stage in his life, he received various acting classes at the Actors Studio, where he met actors like Steve McQueen. Later, he was going to be the one to teach at the center, with Jack Nicholson and Anjelica Huston as students, among others.
Already in the 1950s, he appeared in the Broadway play “Middle of the Night”.
In 1959 he made his first cinematographic work in the film With death on his heels, by Alfred Hitchcock, giving life to the character of Leonard, In this film he shared a cast with Cary Grant, Eva Marie Saint and James Mason.
Already in the 1960s, he appeared in films such as Cleopatra, along with actors such as Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton and Rex Harrison. He also had time in this decade to intervene on the small screen, with a role in the series Misión Imposible, with which he received a Golden Globe for best actor.
In the 70s, and after rejecting the role of Mr. Spock, in the series “Star Trek”, which favored Leonard Nimoy, continued in television roles, in series such as “Rollin Hand”, “Mission Impossible” or “Space 1999”, among other.
Already in the 80s, and after leaving the secondary roles of the small screen for a while, he would return to focus on the cinema, where he got various roles in feature films such as, “The Fall of the House of Usher” o Crimes and misdemeanors, by director Woody Allen, where he played Judah Rosenthal, and where he shared the limelight with Woody Allen himself, Alan Alda, Anjelica Huston and Mia Farrow. He also starred in the film Tucker: The Man and His Dream, a film directed by Francis Ford Coppola, in which he starred alongside Jeff Bridges.
In 1994 the film director Tim Burton hired him to play the role of Bela Lugosi in the film Ed Wood, with which he won the Oscar for best supporting actor.During the award ceremony, the orchestra of the ceremony, he cut the speech in half, provoking the anger of the actor, who would shout NO! in disapproval of the fact.
Landau has received several other awards, including several Golden Globes and the Saturn Award.
Martin has 2 daughters, the result of his marriage to Barbara Bain, who was married to him from 1957 to 1993.
In 2006 he returned to participate in several television series, such as “File X”, with which he was nominated for the Emmy Awards.