Sonia Martínez (September 23, 1963 – September 4, 1994) was a Spanish actress and television presenter, known for her role in the Spanish version of the American science educational TV show ''

3-2-1 Contact ''3-2-1 Contact'' is an American science educational television show produced by the Children's Television Workshop (CTW, now known as Sesame Workshop). It aired on PBS from 1980 to 1988 and later ran on Noggin (a joint venture between the CTW ...

'', which aimed to teach science to 12-to 14-year-old kids. After this child-oriented TV career, Martínez also played some characters in films of the mid-1980s, but is mainly known for being one of the earlier famous Spanish people to die as a victim of

AIDS Human immunodeficiency virus infection and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) is a spectrum of conditions caused by infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), a retrovirus. Following initial infection an individual m ...

First years in TV

Martínez became a TV presenter after successful years as a teenage swimmer, winning a second prize in the championship of Castile. Her sister, Irene Martínez, was a gymnast, participating in the

1980 Events January * January 4 – U.S. President Jimmy Carter proclaims a grain embargo against the USSR with the support of the European Commission. * January 6 – Global Positioning System time epoch begins at 00:00 UTC. * January 9 – ...

and

1984 Events January * January 1 – The Bornean Sultanate of Brunei gains full independence from the United Kingdom, having become a British protectorate in 1888. * January 7 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeast A ...

Summer Olympic Games The Summer Olympic Games (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques d'été), also known as the Games of the Olympiad, and often referred to as the Summer Olympics, is a major international multi-sport event normally held once every four years. The inau ...

. Martínez appeared in ''3-2-1 Contact'' on

Televisión Española Televisión Española (acronym TVE, branded tve, "Spanish Television") is Spain's national state-owned public television broadcaster and the oldest regular television service in the country. It was also the first regular television service in ...

(TVE) from 1982 to 1983, when the Spanish series ceased. From 1983 to 1984, she worked on a second TVE show, called ''Dabadabadá'', another children-oriented broadcast.

As a cinema actress

After these shows, Martínez became a cinema actress. She appeared in films such as Gonzalo Suárez´s ''Epílogo'', but her career was put an end in 1986, when she was in

Ibiza Ibiza (natively and officially in ca, Eivissa, ) is a Spanish island in the Mediterranean Sea off the eastern coast of the Iberian Peninsula. It is from the city of Valencia. It is the third largest of the Balearic Islands, in Spain. Its l ...

filming the role of a policewoman in an episode of the German TV series ''

Großstadtrevier ''Großstadtrevier'' (roughly ''(Big) City Police Station'') is a German television series, broadcast on Germany's Das Erste of the ARD. First aired on 16 December 1986, the show is one of the most popular television series in the country. It fo ...

''. During a break in filming, a photographer took - without her permission - some semi-nude images of her that were published in the

gossip Gossip is idle talk or rumour, especially about the personal or private affairs of others; the act is also known as dishing or tattling. Gossip is a topic of research in evolutionary psychology, which has found gossip to be an important means ...

magazine '' Interviu''. As a result, she was dismissed from TVE, where she was presenting ''En la naturaleza'', an environmental-themed show. Despite a successful attempt in the courts to recover her place on the TVE staff, Martínez's projected re-entry in ''

La Bola de Cristal ''La Bola de Cristal'' ( en, The Crystal Ball) was a Spanish television show that was broadcast on La Primera Cadena of Televisión Española from 1984 to 1988. The show was the brainchild of Spanish writer Dolores Rico Oliver (better known for ...

'', (a pop-music and semi-underground broadcast linked to

La Movida Madrileña ''La Movida Madrileña'' ( en, The Madrilenian Scene) was a countercultural movement that took place mainly in Madrid during the Spanish transition to democracy after the death of dictator Francisco Franco in 1975. The movement coincided with econ ...

) was truncated when it was dropped from the TVE schedules in 1988.

Decline and death

As a consequence of these problems and some personal crises, Martínez became a

heroin Heroin, also known as diacetylmorphine and diamorphine among other names, is a potent opioid mainly used as a recreational drug for its euphoric effects. Medical grade diamorphine is used as a pure hydrochloride salt. Various white and brow ...

addict, and was diagnosed as being

HIV-positive The human immunodeficiency viruses (HIV) are two species of ''Lentivirus'' (a subgroup of retrovirus) that infect humans. Over time, they cause AIDS, acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), a condition in which progressive failure of the ...

in 1990; she contracted

HIV The human immunodeficiency viruses (HIV) are two species of ''Lentivirus'' (a subgroup of retrovirus) that infect humans. Over time, they cause acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), a condition in which progressive failure of the immune ...

through

intravenous drug use Drug injection is a method of introducing a drug into the bloodstream via a hollow hypodermic needle, which is pierced through the skin into the body (usually intravenously, but also at an intramuscular or subcutaneous location). Intravenou ...

. Some people, including the pop composer

José María Cano José Cano Andrés (born 21 February 1959) is a Spanish visual artist, musician, composer, and record producer. From 1982 to 1998, he was a member and principal composer of the Spanish pop-rock band Mecano. Since 1998, he works primarily in the ...

, tried to help her with

detoxification Detoxification or detoxication (detox for short) is the physiological or medicinal removal of toxic substances from a living organism, including the human body, which is mainly carried out by the liver. Additionally, it can refer to the period of ...

treatments, and Martínez played her last cinema role in 1994. Her health was too damaged by HIV, and she died of

-related complications on September 4, 1994, after becoming a target for gossip and sensationalist media, including the new TV networks that broke the TVE's monopoly in 1989–1990. Cano, after his music career, started a new life as a London-based painter and painted ''Take a walk on the wild side'', a painting inspired by Martínez. The artwork was introduced in 2007 during an anti-drug campaign.''El Pais'', July 26, 2007.

References

External links

* *
Facebook group about Martínez

Martínez biography
{{DEFAULTSORT:Martinez, Sonia 1963 births 1994 deaths Actresses from Madrid Spanish television actresses Spanish film actresses Spanish women television presenters Spanish television presenters 20th-century Spanish actresses AIDS-related deaths in Spain