Jesse L. Martin on Board for HALLELUJAH Pilot

According to EW.com, Broadway veteran Jesse L. Martin is set to star in the pilot of Marc Cherry's latest development, Hallelujah. The show will feature a goaspel choir 'greek chorus' and will take place in Hallelujah, Tennessee. Further details on the pilot have not yet been released.

Martin made his Broadway debut in Timon of Athens, and then performed in The Government Inspector with Lainie Kazan. While employed at the Moondance Diner, he met the playwright Jonathan Larson, who also worked on the restaurant's staff. In 1996, Larson's musical Rent took the theatre world by storm, with Martin in the role of gay computer geek/philosophy professor Tom Collins. The 1990s update of Puccini's La Bohème earned six Drama Desk Awards, five Obie Awards, four Tony Awards, and the Pulitzer Prize. Most recently, Martin appeared in The Merchant of Venice on Broadway.

From 1999 to 2008, he played Det. Ed Green on Law & Order. He had a brief hiatus at the end of the 2004-2005 season while he was filming the movie adaptation of Rent in which he reprised the role of Tom Collins. Martin's final episode of Law & Order aired April 23, 2008, as he was replaced by Anthony Anderson. Martin returned to NBC a year later, as the co-star of The Philanthropist.