Martha Madison (born Martha Anne Butterworth; July 27, 1977) is an American actress best known for her portrayal of

Belle Black Belle Black is a fictional character from ''Days of Our Lives'', an American soap opera on the NBC network. Created by the head writer James E. Reilly, she was born on October 21, 1993, as the only child of supercouple John Black and Marlena Eva ...

on the

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an Television in the United States, American English-language Commercial broadcasting, commercial television network, broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Enterta ...

soap opera A soap opera, or ''soap'' for short, is a typically long-running radio or television serial, frequently characterized by melodrama, ensemble casts, and sentimentality. The term "soap opera" originated from radio dramas originally being sponsored ...

Days of Our Lives ''Days of Our Lives'' (also stylized as ''Days of our Lives''; simply referred to as ''Days'' or ''DOOL'') is an American television soap opera that streams on the streaming service Peacock. The soap, which aired on the American television net ...

''.

Early life

Madison was born in

Newport News, Virginia Newport News () is an independent city in the U.S. state of Virginia. At the 2020 census, the population was 186,247. Located in the Hampton Roads region, it is the 5th most populous city in Virginia and 140th most populous city in the Uni ...

. She was raised in

Houston, Texas Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 in ...

, attended Cypress Creek High School, and graduated from

Texas A&M University Texas A&M University (Texas A&M, A&M, or TAMU) is a public, land-grant, research university in College Station, Texas. It was founded in 1876 and became the flagship institution of the Texas A&M University System in 1948. As of late 2021, T ...

in 1999 with a degree in psychology. She was also the Captain of the Texas A&M Dance Team. In 1999, she moved to New York City to attend the American Musical and Dramatic Academy. She danced with the Peyari Dance Project for two years. However, after several injuries, she was forced to retire from dance.

Television career

Madison had a small role in the film ''

Kate & Leopold ''Kate & Leopold'' is a 2001 American romantic-comedy fantasy film that tells a story of a physicist by the name of Stuart (Liev Schreiber), who accidentally pulls his great‑great‑grandfather, Leopold (Hugh Jackman), through a time portal fro ...

'' in 2001. She moved to Los Angeles in 2003 to pursue a career in film/television, and briefly appeared on the NBC soap opera ''

Passions ''Passions'' is an American television soap opera that originally aired on NBC from July 5, 1999, to September 7, 2007, and on DirecTV's The 101 Network from September 17, 2007, to August 7, 2008. Created by screenwriter James E. Reilly and pro ...

'' in 2004. Madison next played the role of

on the NBC soap opera ''

'' from 2004 to 2008. During this time in 2007, she appeared on ''

The Tyra Banks Show ''The Tyra Banks Show'', also known as and shortened to ''Tyra'' or ''The Tyra Show'', was an American talk show hosted by Tyra Banks that aired from 2005 to 2010. While Banks's show covered a variety of topics, there was a sensationalized focus ...

'' to help model/host

Tyra Banks Tyra Lynne Banks (born December 4, 1973), also known as BanX, is an American television personality, model, producer, writer, and actress. Born in Inglewood, California, she began her career as a model at the age of 15, and was the first Africa ...

through "soap opera school." In 2008, Madison appeared in the ''

Without a Trace ''Without a Trace'' is an American police procedural drama television series created by Hank Steinberg that aired on CBS from September 26, 2002 to May 19, 2009 with the total of seven seasons and 160 episodes. The series focuses the cases of ...

'' episode "Rewind", and in the ''

Criminal Minds ''Criminal Minds'' is an American police procedural crime drama television series created and produced by Jeff Davis (writer), Jeff Davis. The series premiered on CBS on September 22, 2005, and originally concluded on February 19, 2020; it was r ...

'' episode "The Big Wheel" in 2009. From 2010 to 2014, Madison appeared on the soap opera

web series A web series (also known as a web show) is a series of scripted or non-scripted online videos, generally in episodic form, released on the Internet, which first emerged in the late 1990s and became more prominent in the early 2000s. A single i ...

'' The Bay'' as Marly Nelson-Foster. In June 2011, Madison temporarily took over the role as

Elizabeth Webber Elizabeth Webber is a fictional character from ''General Hospital'', an American soap opera on the ABC network, played by Rebecca Herbst. Elizabeth is the granddaughter of the show's original lead character, Steve Hardy ( John Beradino) and dau ...

on ''

General Hospital ''General Hospital'' (often abbreviated as ''GH'') is an American daytime television soap opera. It is listed in ''Guinness World Records'' as the list of longest-running television shows by category, longest-running American soap opera in pro ...

'', appearing from June 8–20, 2011. She and ''General Hospital'' Lilly Melgar currently co-host TradioV.com's ''SoapBox with Lilly and Martha'', which airs live every Thursday at 2pm pacific on tradiov.com. In 2015, Madison began starring as Miranda Winterthorne in the soap opera web series '' Winterthorne''. Later in 2015, Madison returned to her role as Belle Black on Days of Our Lives

Other pursuits

Starting in 2005, Madison was named an ambassador for the National

Multiple Sclerosis Multiple (cerebral) sclerosis (MS), also known as encephalomyelitis disseminata or disseminated sclerosis, is the most common demyelinating disease, in which the insulating covers of nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord are damaged. This d ...

Foundation and helped re-design their website. Her mother has been living with multiple sclerosis for nearly 25 years. In July 2009, Madison and her husband A.J. Gilbert opened a gastro sports pub in Studio City called Henry's Hat (which they named after their Weimeraner, Henry). Together, Madison and Gilbert also own Luna Park in Hollywood and Luna Park in San Francisco. The couple sold Henry's Hat in August 2012, and sold Luna Park Los Angeles in March 2013. In October 2012, Madison and Gilbert launched the first, free, web-based restaurant inventory management system called ChefSheet, available on

iTunes iTunes () is a software program that acts as a media player, media library, mobile device management utility, and the client app for the iTunes Store. Developed by Apple Inc., it is used to purchase, play, download, and organize digital mul ...

Personal life

Madison announced on her official forum, that she had become engaged to her boyfriend, restaurateur A.J. Gilbert, the owner of Luna Park in San Francisco, Los Angeles and New York, on July 29, 2006, when he took her to the Hotel Del Coronado in San Diego for her birthday. Madison and Gilbert married on August 25, 2007. In April 2013, Madison announced that she was pregnant with her first child. On November 3, 2013, she gave birth to her daughter Charley Elizabeth Gilbert.

Filmography

Awards and nominations

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Madison, Martha Anne 1977 births Living people Texas A&M University alumni American soap opera actresses People from Newport News, Virginia 21st-century American women