TV's Sexy Babe on the Beat.(Jesse L. Martin)(Brief Article)(Interview)

Law and Order's hot cop Jesse L. Martin spends his time busting bad guys. But don't be fooled by his rough-and-tumble day job. Deep down, he's a softie who still showers one lucky lady with loads of loot.

* He was Ally McBeal's beau Dr. Greg Butters, but like most romances on the Fox dramedy, the sparks fizzled, And as far as the 32-year-old Jesse L. Martin is concerned, that was fine. "I'm not an L.A. person," he says of his work on the left-coast Ally set. "I wanted to come back to New York." Come back he did.. .and with a vengeance: When Benjamin Bratt left Law and Order, Martin snagged the coveted role. Now he can't walk down the street without people stopping to tell him how much they love his character (detective Eddie Green)...or that he's so terrific on ER. Martin laughs: "And then I say 'Thank you, but I'm not Eriq La Salle."'

Martin can afford to laugh. He's come a long way from where he was born: a tiny town in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia. When he was very young, his mother decided to relocate her family to Buffalo, where Jesse was exposed to theater and dance in a program for gifted children. All these years later, we thank his morn for opening the door that made our Wednesday-night fantasies possible.

(1) You studied acting at NYU but left before graduation. Why?

We were dirt-poor. When I was accepted, my mother cried because she knew we couldn't afford it. But I worked four or five jobs at a time to stay there. Then I had to leave because school was interfering with work--and I couldn't afford not to work.

(2) What was your craziest job?

Spritzing women with perfume at Macy's. Man, some of them would get so nasty!