Marco Martinez
Whether performing vital surgeries as Dr. Mel Cooper on the daytime television soap opera The Bold & the Beautiful, or being “suspected” of a crime by Detective Kate Beckett and Rick Castle on the hit TV show Castle, Marco Martinez is on the rise as a versatile and accomplished actor. Born in the Bronx, N.Y., to Lidia Pereira Martinez, a chef, and Miguel Martinez, an accountant, who immigrated to the U.S. from Cuba, Marco was introduced to the world of acting at a young age.
While singing at a traditional Cuban party called a "Rumba" in NYC, Marco was spotted by television producer Rene Cardenas, and offered a role on the bilingual PBS children’s show, Villa Alegre. Soon after, he went on to perform in various plays and musicals in Los Angeles and New York City.
In high school, he became close friends with O'Shea Jackson (aka Ice Cube) and they began
performing lunchtime Hip Hop/rap shows together. Against the advice of Ice Cube, who suggested
that he become a solo artist, Marco signed a recording deal as a rap artist with the group the Kartune
Krew and performed at various venues and radio stations, including the famous Los Angeles Hip Hop
station, 1580 KDAY. After getting out of his recording deal, Marco added street dancing to his
repertoire by forming an L.A. based dance group called the Godfathers. The Godfathers performed
on Sesame Street and Soul Train, won several major L.A. Dance competitions and soon after became
mentored by music and dancing legend, Toni Basil.
While serving in the U.S. Army in Germany, Marco joined the Roadside Theater in Heidelberg and performed as the lead in various plays and musicals. Upon his honorable discharge, he enrolled in an intensive acting course at the Rose Bruford College of Performing Arts, just outside of London's West End. Upon returning stateside, Marco went back to his music roots and formed the singing group Cornerstone, who signed a development deal with Capitol Records and contributed vocals on music for rapper Talib Kweli. He continued studying with various acting coaches while auditioning for and eventually landing lead roles in various plays, including August Wilson's Jitney and A Raisin in the Sun. Ultimately, Marco pursued his college education and in 2000 he received his Masters in Public Administration at USC.
In 2005, Marco went back to television, playing opposite Patricia Arquette in the hit television show Medium. Later in the same year he was cast as “Agent Frank,” and responsible for the safety of the"First Man," husband to Geena Davis' character, President Mackenzie Allen on ABC's Commander In Chief. In 2006, Marco recurred as the charismatic Dr. Mel Cooper on The Bold & the Beautiful, and eventually landed his first pilot role as Bill Hendrickson on The Nine.
Today, he remains steadfast in his career by playing multi-dimensional characters on Spanish language films and has added producing credits to his repertoire, having served as consulting producer on the feature film, The Take (2007), starring John Leguizamo, Tyrese Gibson and Rosie Perez and serving as Forest Whitaker’s personal dialect coach for Catch .44 (2011). Marco also performs stand-up comedy and is starring opposite Billy Dee Williams in the web series hit, The Most Interesting Black Man in the World (2011).
