Joaquín Martínez(1930-2012)
- Actor
Joaquin Martinez considers himself the luckiest man alive. A painfully
shy medical student at Mexico City's University, he was forced by a
teacher to join the school's drama group to get rid of his
"inadequacy". There he not only discovered a new world but was rewarded
with a scholarship to legendary Seki Sano's Drama Studio. Seki trained
him and encouraged him to become a professional actor. After finishing
his medical studies he broke into movies and PECIME distinguished him
as best newcomer for his performance in Pedro Paramo (1967), the Mexican entry at
the Cannes Film Festival. Then legendary Hollywood agent Paul Kohner
called. Torn between a medical practice and an acting career, Joaquin
decided to try Hollywood for two years before making up his mind. He is
still there, and has appeared in such classic films as Jeremiah Johnson (1972),
Joe Kidd (1972), Who'll Stop the Rain (1978), Revenge (1990), The Cowboy Way (1994), The Odd Couple II (1998), Die Another Day (2002) and Ulzana's Raid (1972) -
where he plays the title role. He has shared the screen with the likes
of Paul Newman, Clint Eastwood, Anthony Quinn, Jack Lemmon, Robert Redford, Kevin Costner, Burt Lancaster,
Walter Matthau, Jeremy Irons, Kiefer Sutherland, Woody Harrelson and Pierce Brosnan, among others, while
behind the camera directors of the stature of Edward Dmytryk, John Sturges,
Robert Aldrich, Karel Reisz, Sydney Pollack and Tony Scott have brought him into their
productions. Bille August flew him to Europe to play Antonio Banderas' father in
The House of the Spirits (1993) and Lee Tamahori brought him back to London to participate in the
last James Bond opus, Die Another Day (2002). Joaquin plays The Postman in Castingx (2005),
thus becoming the first Mexican actor featured in a Dutch film.
Currently, he divides his time among Hollywood, Mexico and Europe in
the development of 'Solitario - The Lonely One' - through his own
company, Victoria Films International.
