Jamie was the product of an ill-fated relationship between Tad Martin and Brooke English. His childhood was relatively uneventful, as he was shipped between Brooke and Tad's homes and spent most of his time playing with young Amanda Dillon and JR Chandler (who was raised as his brother since Tad was married to JR's mother, Dixie).

As he hit his teen years, Jamie was so traumatized after being accosted by town psychotic Vanessa Bennett that he briefly lost the power of the speech. This led to Brooke's wedding to Edmund Grey being postponed. By the time they married, his presumed-dead wife returned to town, and Edmund dropped Brooke. Brooke drifted into an affair with her ex-husband, Adam Chandler, who had made Tad's life hell on several occasions. Jamie was disgusted with his mother for such tacky behavior, and even moved in with Tad at one point. He got drunk at a Chandler mansion costume party and spilled their secret to the crowd. This upset his religious girlfriend, Joni Stafford, and especially her ultra-conservative parents. Ultimately, Jamie couldn't deal with her moral lectures or rampant self-righteousness, and broke up with her. His interest swung to Laurie Lewis, his brother's girlfriend. JR and Laurie's relationship was over, but when Joni told him that she'd seen Jamie and Laurie kissing, he was crushed and fled town. Jamie stepped in to try to fill JR's shoes. He falsely confessed that he had hit Laurie's alcoholic father (she'd knocked Doug out because she thought he was going to hit her), and although Laurie was grateful, she felt guilty about JR and didn't want to rush into a new relationship. Jamie turned to a young hooker he met in BJ's restaurant, but Brooke walked in on their making out on the living room couch. A few months later, Jamie ran into Laurie again. She was more receptive than she'd been the last time around, but their plans were cut off because she suddenly moved to Minnesota to enter her father in a rehab program. Dejected, Jamie decided to take after the "Tad the Cad" aspect of his father and began shamelessly flirting with older women.

On the night of Fusion Cosmetic's announcement of the winner of their Face of Fusion contest, Jamie Martin ended up on the beach where he encounter a young, blonde beauty who'd had a few too many to drink. One thing led to another -- including stealing a plastic cow from a local eatery -- and Jamie and the still-nameless woman had sex. For Jamie, this was his first sexual encounter. The following night, JR Chandler assembled his extended family at Chandler Mansion for a welcome home celebration. During the festivities, JR announced that he'd married a young woman he'd met just three weeks before. That woman, a self-proclaimed fan of the soap opera Dynasty, known only as "Babe," was the same woman who'd had sex with Jamie the night before.

Jamie was unable to forget Babe, even though she was married to his brother. This pitted the two brothers against each other, as Jamie soon became convinced that JR had it in for Babe. Babe went on to have a baby with JR, and Jamie eventually realized that Bess was really Bianca's daughter and that Babe and JR's real son was alive and well in Llanview. Together, Babe and Jamie kidnapped the baby and went on the run, but it wasn't long before they were tracked down by JR Jamie ended up being forced out of school thanks to JR and he got a job as a mechanic while Babe got a job tending bar so that the two could support themselves. Jamie was devastated when his beloved great-aunt Phoebe died, and her will not only revealed that Jamie wanted to be a doctor, but offered to pay for everything -- if he would dump Babe. Jamie refused to do it, though, but Babe took matters into her own hands and climbed into bed with Josh, determined to get Jamie to dump her so he could build a career.

Jamie did dump Babe, and began a relationship with Amanda Dillon. It was a no-strings attached kind of deal, but Amanda really wanted strings -- and a piece of Phoebe's fortune. Babe helped Jamie to see through Amanda and clued him in to Amanda's plan to drug him and marry him and he walked away from Amanda, focusing on his plans to become a doctor. He soon found himself intrigued by Julia Santos, and tried to encourage her not to let their age difference come between them.

Eventually Jamie's pursuit of Julia Santos paid off and they became lovers. They professed their love for one another and Jamie stood by Julia good friends of hers were killed in a car accident and named Julia as their child's guardian. Julia gladly accepted the new role as mother to the young girl and was hopeful when she thought she might be pregnant with Jamie's child. Jamie offered to marry Julia and was relieved when her pregnancy test was negative. Jamie and Julia parted ways soon after when they realized that Julia was ready for family life but Jamie was not.

Jamie reconnected as friends with Babe and started to repair his relationship with JR. Babe convinced Jamie to revisit his interest in medicine and he received an offer for a position working at an AIDS clinic in Africa. He took the position and left Pine Valley.

In the fall of 2011, Jamie surprised his family when he returned home for a brief visit. His father had recently been reunited with Dixie and he was present to celebrate their engagement. He also paid a visit to JR and was angry JR had made his life about alcohol and revenge and had lost custody of his son. Jamie reminding his brother that Babe would be disappointed with the way he was living his life and they argued.

Jamie remained concerned about JR and he wanted to speak to him again. He attended a party hosted by Adam Chandler and his mother Brooke in hopes of running in to JR. Although he did not see JR, Jamie was present to witness Adam's proposal to his mother and her acceptance. He celebrated with family and friends as a shot rang out at the party.