Martin Compston is kicking off the new year with a thrilling new role. The actor, 41, has joined the highly-anticipated second season of Red Eye as head of embassy security, Clay Brody, following Richard Armitage's exit.
The Scottish actor is of course no stranger to the world of TV and the attention that comes with being in the spotlight - even before acting, he was a professional football player for his local club and had the eyes of spectators in the stands on him.
Over his two decades in the industry, he's enamoured viewers as a detective in Line of Duty, which has a seventh season on the way, and starred in the ITV thriller Our House, just to name a couple of his credits. But his personal life is a different story. Behind the scenes, Martin is a husband and father to a son who he's kept largely out of the limelight.
Read on for a look at Martin's ultra-private life away from the TV screen.
He's married to an actress
© Dave Benett/Getty ImagesMartin is coming up to celebrate ten years of marriage to his wife Tianna Chanel Flynn. Tianna also happens to work in the entertainment industry as an actress and is best known for the series Secret Diary of an American Cheerleader and for appearing on Shonda Rhimes' How to Get Away with Murder. She's even made a cameo in Martin's show, Line of Duty.
The couple tied the knot in June 2016 after two years of dating. Martin first met the American actress in a bar in 2013, where she worked as a hostess at the time. Martin once recalled that Tianna had been serving him and his friends drinks for several hours during happy hour.
"It's just amazing that we walked into that bar on that day and I think about it and go, 'If I didn't, then...' You know, she's my wife and we have a kid together now," he said.
In an interview with The Telegraph, he revealed his wife did not know who he was when they met. "With actors, we’re all self-conscious and paranoid. I liked the fact that she had no scooby who I was, we just had a laugh, exchanged numbers and went on dates," the actor said, adding "It really helped that she just liked me for me."
The pair got married at Martin's family chapel in Greenock, with the Our House star wearing a traditional kilt for the ceremony. Martin said his wife is "the biggest support in [his] life" and who he will "talk to most for advice", explaining "she’s the person to tell me to shut up and stop overthinking things".
Martin and Tianna have a son
In 2020, Martin and Tianna's family grew by one. Martin confirmed in May 2020 that the pair had quietly welcomed their first child, a son whose name they have not disclosed, after first revealing they were expecting in 2019.
The couple have kept their young son largely out of the spotlight, but over the years, Martin has spoken about being a father on rare occasions. Ahead of playing in the Soccer Aid for Unicef charity match in 2022, Martin admitted that fatherhood had grown his passion to be involved.
"There’s little moments that bring you back to Earth," he told Metro, recalling a statistic of over a million children dying each year from preventable diseases.
© Mike Marsland/WireImage"That stuff really makes you angry, and It shouldn’t be on Unicef to take charge of those things, but they do, and I think since I became a dad, this changed for me," he added.
The actor has also shared some lighthearted moments from his family life, including the time on his podcast Restless Natives in 2022, when he told his co-host Gordon Smart about his son's first swear word.
"I had to get the extension cable to charge the laptop and while Tianna the tech guru was sorting it, I ran out and I tripped over the extension cord," Martin recalled how it went down. Martin had dropped the F-bomb, and much to his horror, heard his son say it back. "I went, ‘Oh no, wee man'."
Becoming a father even contributed to why Martin enjoys living in Vegas these days.
He splits his time in Vegas
Martin and his family split their time between Greenock in Scotland and Las Vegas, which is where his wife Tianna is from. Martin spoke on the Table Manners podcast in 2022 about the appeal of living in Vegas for more anonymity after seeing people taking photos of his son.
"Genuinely, I've been out with my wee one and somebody will come up and go, 'Can I get a picture?' and I'll go, 'I'm really sorry, but I'm with my son,' and they'll go, 'Oh, thingy will hold him', and I'm like, 'What? !'" he recalled.
He continued: "People genuinely think they're just being nice. That's why Vegas is really good. We can just sort of disappear over there."
In the lead-up to the holidays, Martin revealed he would be spending Christmas in 2025 with his wife and son at home in Sin City. "Vegas will be going off, and I’ll be in my bed by 10pm," he told The Sunday Post.
