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Manuel Martin, Jr. was born December 16, 1934, in Artemisa, Province of Pinar del Río, Cuba. He attended La Inmaculada Concepción Grammar School and the Escuela Pública No. 1 in Artemisa and later finished three years in the Escuela Profesional de Comercio. He left Cuba for the United States on October 27, 1956 and graduated from Hunter College in New York with a B.A. in theater and film.

With Magaly Alabau, Manuel Martín founded Teatro Duo in New York in 1969. This theater was dedicated to producing works in both English and Spanish, and Martín directed many plays for this theater. In addition to his theatrical direction, Martin is best known for his plays Rita and Bessie, Swallows and Union City Thanksgiving, the latter of which was published in an anthology of Cuban theater by the Department of Cultural Affairs, Madrid, Spain (1992). He received a Cintas fellowship for literature in 1985, the New York Foundation Award for playwriting in 1986, 1987, and 1991, and a Fulbright Fellowship for playwriting in 1987. His plays have been produced at the Latino Festival, New York Shakespeare Festival, INTAR and La Mama Experimental Theater. His play with music for children, The Legend of the Golden Coffee Bean, was included in ¡Aplauso!, an anthology of Hispanic children's theater (Arte Público Press, 1995).  Martin was a member of the INTAR Playwrights in Residence Laboratory, New York.

In New York and in Puerto Rico he was instructor of drama workshops and gave many conferences in New York, Miami, and Paris. In 1992, he acted as translator and adapter for the program "Dr. Goodmouth" for Colgate-Palmolive, through the UnWorld Group, Inc.

Martín directed plays and musicals in New York, Argentina, and many other places. Until his death on September 28, 2000, he resided in New York.

Series I: Plays by Manuel Martín, Jr., 1973-2000 contains the scripts, programs, clippings, and photographs of plays written by Cuban-born playwright Manuel Martín, Jr. and produced primarily in New York by Teatro Duo or INTAR Hispanic Theatre. It includes a Spanish translation by Randy Barceló or Martín's play Union City Thanksgiving.

Series II: Plays by Others Directed by Manuel Martín, Jr., 1972-1999 contains clippings and programs of several plays by other writers directed by Martín.

Series III: Other Writings and Personal Papers, n.d., 1970s-1995 includes three short stories, biographical information and photographs of Martín.

Selected published materials in the University of Miami Libraries:

Torres-Saillant, Silvio, ed. Hispanic immigrant writers and the family = Escritores inmigrantes hispanos y la familia. Jackson Heights, NJ: Ollantay Press, 1989.