Nolan Pentz, often searched online as Nolan Pentz Martinez, is the son of singer and actor Nona Gaye and Justin Martinez, and the grandson of Motown legend Marvin Gaye. A contemporaneous Billboard birth notice records Nolan Pentz as born on June 10, 1997, in Los Angeles, making him 29 years old as of September 14, 2026.
The three-part name “Nolan Pentz Martinez” is widely used by biography websites and family-tree pages, but the strongest contemporary and family-origin sources reviewed do not establish it as his legal full name. Billboard, a 2022 Gaye family statement, the Los Angeles Times, and People all use Nolan Pentz. Getty Images used the caption “Nolan Gaye” for one childhood appearance. For that reason, Nolan Pentz is the safest name to use as a verified fact.
Unlike his famous mother and grandfather, Nolan does not have a substantial documented public career. What is reliably known comes mostly from his birth announcement, childhood appearances with his family, and a rare 2022 statement in which he spoke about his grandmother and the Gaye family legacy.
Need to know
- Nolan Pentz was born June 10, 1997, in Los Angeles to Nona Gaye and Justin Martinez.
- He is the maternal grandson of Marvin Gaye and Janis Gaye.
- He is 29 years old as of September 14, 2026.
- “Nolan Pentz Martinez” is a common online name for him, but reliable sources more consistently identify him as Nolan Pentz.
- No authoritative current employer, profession, education history, relationship status, or official social-media account has been publicly confirmed.
Nolan Pentz profile summary
| Detail | Verified information |
|---|---|
| Name used by strongest sources | Nolan Pentz |
| Common search variant | Nolan Pentz Martinez |
| Date of birth | June 10, 1997 |
| Age | 29 as of September 14, 2026 |
| Birthplace | Los Angeles, California |
| Mother | Nona Gaye |
| Father | Justin Martinez |
| Maternal grandfather | Marvin Gaye |
Early life and family
The clearest record of Nolan’s birth comes from a July 1997 issue of Billboard. Its birth notice names “Nolan Pentz” as the son of Nona Gaye and Justin Martinez and gives his birth date as June 10 in Los Angeles.
That contemporary notice is important because newer biography pages sometimes state only that Nolan was born in June 1997 or claim that his exact birthday is unknown. The 1997 record supplies a specific day and city.
Nolan’s mother, Nona Gaye, is the daughter of Marvin Gaye and Janis Gaye. She built her own public career as a singer and actor, while Nolan appears in the historical record largely through family-related coverage rather than through independent entertainment work.
A biographical reference entry on Nona Gaye describes Justin Martinez as a high-school boyfriend with whom she later reconnected before Nolan was born in 1997. That detail is useful context, but there is far less authoritative public information about Justin Martinez than about the Gaye side of Nolan’s family.
The Washington Post’s 2001 coverage of Nona Gaye described her as a single mother with a four-year-old son named Nolan, independently matching the 1997 birth year.
Is his name Nolan Pentz Martinez?
This is the most important point of confusion around Nolan’s identity.
The original Billboard birth notice calls him Nolan Pentz. The Gaye family’s 2022 statement following Janis Gaye’s death also uses Nolan Pentz. The Los Angeles Times used that name when reporting the family’s statement, and People’s 2026 profile of Marvin Gaye’s children identifies Nona’s son as Nolan Pentz.
At the same time, many websites and family-tree pages use Nolan Pentz Martinez, apparently combining Nolan’s documented name with his father’s surname. That is plausible as a naming convention, but the evidence reviewed does not establish it as Nolan’s legal full name.
There is another variation in the historical record. In Getty Images metadata for a 2001 family appearance, he is captioned as Nolan Gaye. The Getty/WireImage record shows Nona Gaye, Marvin Gaye III and the young Nolan at a “What’s Going On” video shoot in California.
The safest approach is therefore straightforward: identify him as Nolan Pentz, while noting that “Nolan Pentz Martinez” is a widespread online search form.
Childhood appearances with the Gaye family
Nolan appeared occasionally in public alongside members of his family while he was a child.
On October 4, 2001, Getty/WireImage photographed Nona Gaye, Marvin Gaye III and Nolan during a “What’s Going On” video shoot in California. The appearance places him in a documented family setting but does not indicate that he was beginning a professional entertainment career.
A more distinctive moment came in 2004. In a Los Angeles Times interview published February 3, 2004, Nona Gaye discussed an NBA All-Star weekend tribute involving her late father’s music. She said her six-year-old son Nolan would stand beside her during the performance, describing the moment as bringing three generations of the family together.
That episode offers one of the clearest examples of Nolan’s place in the Gaye family’s public legacy: he was present not as a performer with an established career of his own, but as part of the next generation of a famous musical family.
His connection to Marvin Gaye’s legacy
Nolan was born more than a decade after Marvin Gaye’s death in 1984, so he never knew his grandfather personally. His connection to the singer is nevertheless repeatedly acknowledged in family and media records.
In 2021, a CNN special about Marvin Gaye included a message from his children that referred to their own children, naming Nolan among the next generation of the family.
The most substantial public statement attributed directly to Nolan came after his grandmother Janis Gaye died in December 2022. In the family statement published by Keefe Funeral Home, Nolan reflected on his memories of his grandmother and said he wanted to “help continue the Gaye legacy.”
The Los Angeles Times also reported Nolan’s statement, providing independent newsroom corroboration.
That comment is the strongest evidence of how Nolan himself has publicly framed his connection to the family history. It should not, however, be taken to mean that he holds an official position in the Marvin Gaye estate, a foundation, a music-rights organization, or another formal legacy operation. No such role has been reliably documented.
The same family statement also quoted Nona Gaye describing Nolan as someone who had “stepped up as a young man” to support the family in difficult periods. That is a direct observation from his mother, rather than evidence for broader personality labels sometimes attached to him online.
What does Nolan Pentz do now?
As of September 14, 2026, there is no authoritative public source establishing Nolan Pentz’s current occupation or employer.
Some biography sites describe him as an entrepreneur, technology professional or businessman, but those claims have not been traced to an original interview, company biography, reliable employment record, or first-party statement. Repetition across multiple sites does not make the claim independently verified.
There is also no confirmed public evidence establishing his education, marriage or relationship status, children, current residence, or net worth. Those details should not be inferred simply because Nolan belongs to a famous family.
The most recent reputable Nolan-specific reference identified in the available record is People’s April 2, 2026 article about Marvin Gaye’s children, which refers to Nona as the mother of “at least one child, a son named Nolan Pentz.” That wording is also significant because some lower-quality profiles call Nolan Nona’s “only child” or “only son,” a stronger claim that the best current source does not make.
Social-media namesakes and mistaken identities
Searching for “Nolan Martinez” produces people who are not Nona Gaye’s son.
One Instagram-related search result using the handle `nolan1z` corresponds to a Colombian esports competitor named Nolan Martinez. Another Nolan Martinez has been publicly identified with Weatherby as a manufacturing executive. Neither identity has been reliably connected to Nolan Pentz.
For that reason, no Instagram, X, Facebook, LinkedIn or other social account should be attributed to Nolan without direct authentication from Nolan, his family, or another first-party source.
The distinction matters because Nolan’s limited public record makes namesake errors especially easy to introduce. An occupation, photograph or social profile belonging to another Nolan Martinez could quickly become recycled as biography if it is not checked against his established family identity.
Why reliable information about him is limited
Nolan’s documented public history is concentrated in family-related moments: his birth announcement, childhood appearances, references in interviews with his mother, and the Gaye family’s later statements.
That does not prove that he deliberately “avoids fame,” dislikes publicity, or made a conscious decision to live privately. Those descriptions appear frequently in modern biography articles, but no direct interview has been found in which Nolan explains his level of public exposure in those terms.
The more accurate conclusion is narrower: there is relatively little authoritative public information about his adult life. His connection to one of American soul music’s most famous families generates continuing curiosity, but that family connection does not turn undocumented claims about his career or personal life into facts.
Conclusion
Nolan Pentz is best understood through the small number of records that can be firmly tied to him. He was born in Los Angeles on June 10, 1997, to Nona Gaye and Justin Martinez, making him Marvin Gaye’s grandson. He appeared at several family-related events as a child and later spoke publicly about his grandmother and his hope of helping continue the Gaye family’s legacy.
Beyond that, the evidence becomes much thinner. “Nolan Pentz Martinez” remains a common online name rather than a conclusively established legal form, and claims about his profession, finances, relationships and present-day activities are not reliably documented. His public significance comes chiefly from his place in the Gaye family and from the few moments in which that connection has been recorded in his own words.
