Yara Martinez (born August 31, 1979) is an American television actress, born in

Puerto Rico Puerto Rico (; abbreviated PR; tnq, Boriken, ''Borinquen''), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ( es, link=yes, Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, lit=Free Associated State of Puerto Rico), is a Caribbean island and unincorporated ...

, who is best known for her roles as Kelly in '' Hollywood Heights'' and as Dr. Luisa Alver on

The CW ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the ...

series '' Jane the Virgin''.

Early life

Martinez is

Cuban-American Cuban Americans ( es, cubanoestadounidenses or ''cubanoamericanos'') are Americans who trace their cultural heritage to Cuba regardless of phenotype or ethnic origin. The word may refer to someone born in the United States of Cuban descent or ...

, born in

, raised in

Miami Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a coastal metropolis and the county seat of Miami-Dade County in South Florida, United States. With a population of 442,241 at ...

. Prior to acting, Martinez practiced ballet for ten years. She is the grandniece of prima ballerina Alicia Alonso.

Career

She began her career on television with guest-starring roles. In 2007, she had supporting role in film '' The Hitcher''. She later returned to television and had number of guest and recurring roles on dramatic series. She played Mariella Moretta in the TNT crime drama, '' Southland'' from 2009 to 2011, and Theresa Lopez on the

ABC Family The American cable and satellite television network that is now known as Freeform was originally launched as the CBN Satellite Service on April 29, 1977, and has gone through several different owners (and six different name changes) during its h ...

drama, '' The Lying Game'' (2012–2013). She also had recurring roles on '' Vanished'', ''

The Unit ''The Unit'' is an American action-drama television series created by David Mamet that aired on CBS from March 7, 2006, to May 10, 2009 with the total of four seasons and 69 episodes. The series focuses on a top-secret military unit modeled ...

'', ''

Breakout Kings ''Breakout Kings'' is an American drama television series that aired on the A&E network. It is a production of Fox 21. The series was created, written, and executive-produced by Nick Santora and Matt Olmstead, who previously worked together o ...

'', and ''

Nashville Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the seat of Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the most populous city in the state, 21st most-populous city in the U.S., and th ...

''. Martinez was regular cast member on the short-lived primetime soap opera, '' Hollywood Heights'' in 2012. In 2013 she began starring in the

Amazon Amazon most often refers to: * Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek mythology * Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin * Amazon River, in South America * Amazon (company), an American multinational technolog ...

comedy series, '' Alpha House''. In 2014, Martinez also was cast as recurring in The CW comedy-drama '' Jane the Virgin'', and HBO crime drama ''

True Detective ''True Detective'' is an American anthology crime drama television series created and written by Nic Pizzolatto. The series, broadcast by the premium cable network HBO in the United States, premiered on January 12, 2014. Each season of the ...

''. Martinez portrayed Ms. Lint in the Amazon series, ''The Tick''. Martinez stars as Dr. Paula Reyes in the Fox series ''Deputy''. After playing the recurring character Isabella "Izzy" Colón for the first four seasons of the CBS legal drama ''

Bull A bull is an intact (i.e., not castrated) adult male of the species ''Bos taurus'' (cattle). More muscular and aggressive than the females of the same species (i.e., cows), bulls have long been an important symbol in many religions, includin ...

'', Martinez was upgraded to series regular for season 5 (2020–21).

Filmography

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Martinez, Yara American entertainers of Cuban descent 21st-century American actresses 1979 births American soap opera actresses American television actresses Living people American actresses of Puerto Rican descent Actresses from Miami