Born to Charles E. Martin in Manhattan on December 21, 1940, a cover artist for The New Yorker, and Florence Martin, Jared Martin began acting at the age of ten, when his parents gave him the choice of either learning to play the piano, or acting in the local children's theater group. He was sent to a private school in Vermont, where he discovered sports. After graduating, he attended Columbia University, initially expecting to take part in the athletic programs, but later opting to stay with acting, as doing both took up too much of his time. Two years later he joined an acting group in Cape May, New Jersey, and later performed with the Shakespeare company in Boston and New York.
Jared Martin became visible in various notable roles during the mid to late 1970s following the cult classic Westworld, and the short lived science fiction series, The Fantastic Journey, which aired in 1977, in which he starred alongside Hollywood legend Roddy McDowall. He later starred in the TV version of War of the Worlds as Dr. Harrison Blackwood, but is better known for his role as "Dusty" Farlow in the television series Dallas.
