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Alma Martinez (PhD, MFA) is a celebrated American actor with a distinguished career in theatre, film, television, and voice work spanning nearly fifty years. Born in Mexico, she moved to the United States with her family at seven months old. Inspired by her high school teacher, Squire Fridell, she discovered her passion for acting early on and pursued it relentlessly.
In 1978, she became a member of Luis Valdez’s pioneering ensemble, El Teatro Campesino, an experience that profoundly shaped her artistic direction and identity as a Chicana actor. Valdez soon cast her as the romantic lead in the seminal play Zoot Suit, followed by its acclaimed film adaptation, now preserved in the Library of Congress. She remained Valdez’s principal actress across projects spanning two decades.
Her film career quickly blossomed with roles in Barbarosa, directed by Fred Schepisi and written by Bill Wittliff, starring Willie Nelson and Gilbert Roland; Under Fire, directed by Roger Spottiswoode, written by Ron Shelton and Clayton Frohman, featuring Gene Hackman and Jean-Louis Trintignant; and Born in East L.A., written, directed, and starring Cheech Marin.
Martinez’s extensive television credits include the Peabody Award-winning series The Bridge (Season 1) and Corridos: Tales of Passion and Revolution, featuring Linda Ronstadt. She was honored for her industry contributions with induction into the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences in 1996 and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in 2018.
A consummate stage performer, she earned the 2023 Connecticut Critics Circle Award for Best Featured Actress in a Drama for her role in Yale Repertory Theatre’s Mojada: A Medea in Los Angeles. Her stage work encompasses over 200 international, regional, and community productions, workshops, and developmental projects for stage and film. She has appeared on Broadway, Off-Broadway, and at major institutions such as Center Theatre Group (premiere of Electricidad), Berkeley Repertory Theatre (Fuente Ovejuna), and the Oregon Shakespeare Festival (Macbeth, The Skin of Our Teeth). Noteworthy among her stage performances is In the Summer House at the Vivian Beaumont Theater, directed by JoAnne Akalaitis with music by Philip Glass, alongside Dianne Wiest and Liev Schreiber. She also participated in a screenplay development workshop at Zoetrope Studios with Francis Ford Coppola and Carrie Fisher.
She holds a PhD in Drama from Stanford University and an MFA in Acting from USC. Her training further includes studies at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London, Théâtre du Soleil in Paris, Jerzy Grotowski’s Para Theatre Lab in Berkeley, and the Centro Universitario de Teatro (UNAM) in Mexico under Héctor Mendoza and Luis de Tavira.
Throughout her career, Alma Martinez has devoted her artistry to exploring and elevating the dynamic U.S.-Mexico, Chicanx, and Latiné experience through performances imbued with humanity, humor, and depth.
