Fox’s latest series is Deputy, a cop show that follows fifth-generation lawman Bill Hollister (Stephen Dorff), as he’s suddenly thrown into the role of sheriff after his predecessor drops dead. Playing opposite Dorff as Hollister’s wife Paula is Yara Martinez, a 40-year old actress best known as Kelly in Hollywood Heights and as Dr. Luisa Alver on The CW series Jane the Virgin. To find out more about the actress, read on.
1. Her first TV appearance was on Sex and the City
Martinez’s first-ever TV appearance came in 2001 with a fleeting appearance as an unnamed “Woman in Restaurant” on Sex and the City. It would be another 5 years before we saw her again, this time playing Mari Reynosa in the 2006 Television film, Faceless. In 2006, she won her first recurring role on Vanished as Ava Herrera and has since enjoyed recurring roles on the likes of The Unit, Breakout Kings, The Lying Game, Jane the Virgin, and Nashville. She’s also appeared as a regular cast member on Hollywood Heights, Alpha House, and The Tick.
2. She was born in Porto Rico
Martinez was born in Porto Rico but moved to Miami with her family when she was a child. Although she’s been living in the States for most of her life, she still feels a strong connection with her Latin roots, as she explained to Galo Magazine. “My father is from Puerto Rico and it’s where I was born. It is a part of who I am,” she shared. “When I meet someone, and I hear that accent, it immediately takes me back home. You transcend 10 years with that person because it feels you’ve known them forever. It’s something I definitely enjoy”
3. Her great aunt founded Cuba’s National Ballet
If you’re the grandniece of prima ballerina Alica Alonso, founder of Cuba’s National Ballet, it’s fair to say dancing is in your blood. In Martinez’s case, it couldn’t be more true. The actress trained in ballet for over 10 years, studying at a ballet school in Miami that’s she described as “very strict” with “very intense training”. Both of her parents supported the arts and ballet in particular, and by the age of 11, Martinez had decided on becoming a prima ballerina. Her plans changed when she attended a summer dance program with acting classes on the side. “What I liked was playing the classical parts in ballet because of the characters. When I took that acting class, I realized I wanted to be an actress. So, it was through dance that I found that,” she explained to Galo Magazine.
4. She’s a fan of French movies
If Martinez has any downtime between shows, she likes nothing more than taking in a French flick. “What is cool is that by my house, there are a lot of little movie theaters,” she’s said. “We like to go to a silent movie theatre. This month they are showing some French films from the ’60s and ’70s. We will go with some friends to dinner…take a bottle of wine…and to watch French films”.
5. She’s big on social media
Some stars like to keep a firm distance between themselves and their fans. Others like to blend the personal with the professional, with the end result they’re as likely to spend as much time on Instagram and Facebook like the rest of us. Martinez definitely falls into the latter camp- although in fairness, most of us are unlikely to be able to boast quite the same number of followers as she can. At the time of writing, the actress has around 24.3K followers on Twitter and a massive 72.8K followers on Instagram.
6. Her Net Worth
40-year-old Martinez has been active in the industry for 15 years, and while she may have spent the first couple of years of her career making one-off guest appearances, her graduation to recurring and lead roles on shows such as Southland, Jane the Virgin, Hollywood Heights and True Detective have bought the money rolling in. According to Married Biography, the star is currently worth an estimated $1 million.
7. She was a cocktail waitress
After studying for 4 years at Miami’s New World School of Arts, Martinez moved to New York, where she worked for three years waiting tables as a cocktail waitress. After discovering getting an agent wasn’t quite as easy as she’d have liked, and hating the experience of waitressing, she decided to make the move to LA, where she began to pursue her dreams of getting into TV and film in earnest.
8. She prefers web series to network shows
Don’t tell Fox, but Martinez prefers the experience of working for online shows over network ones. It probably wasn’t something she broadcast during her audition for Deputy, but she’s previously been happy to admit it during an interview with Latina. “The main difference between network TV and here is the nucleus of people involved is a lot smaller,” she explained. “It allows for more creative freedom for the writer and me because there aren’t a lot of people to report to.”
9. She’s a married woman
Martinez and Joe Lewis, the Head of Comedy at Amazon Studios, had been dating for several years before they confirmed their engagement on 16 December 2016. Martinez made the happy announcement by flaunting a picture of her engagement ring on Instagram with the caption “Gonna marry this man.” The two eventually tied the knot on 6 March 2018.
10. She’s excited to be working with Stephen Dorff
After several years of playing “out there” characters, Martinez is looking forward to playing someone a little “tamer’ on her new show. Not that the character is the only thing that attracted her to Deputy… as she explained to Hollywood Life, her co-stars were also a major draw. “It had been a long time since I had done something that was really gritty and raw and I kind of was curious if I could have just played a normal human being,” she shared. “For me, that was something that I was just curious to do. And I definitely wanted to work with David Ayer and Stephen Dorff for sure, especially after seeing his role on True Detective.”
Follow Us
