Alma Martinez

Alma Martinez, a Mexican-American actress, stage director and theater professor, was born in Monclova and has worked in film, television and theater. Her early stage work included Luis Valdez's Zoot Suit at the Center Theatre Group in 1979, and she made her film debut in his 1981 adaptation of the same title, Zoot Suit (1981), beginning a collaboration with Valdez that spanned more than 30 years. Fred Schepisi cast her in Barbarosa (1982), and she went on to appear in Under Fire (1983) and Born in East L.A. (1987). Her Broadway debut came in In the Summer House. She is known for the Peabody Award winning series The Bridge and Corridos, and has appeared in more than 20 features, including Strike One (2014). She earned a PhD from Stanford and taught theater at several universities, and her voice work includes the documentaries The Panama Deception and Food Chains.