Jorge Martínez Castillo

Jorge Martínez is undoubtedly one of the greats of the Cuban scene, having worked in radio, film, and television. A graduate of the National School of Art. He has participated in the hosting of shows and television programs.

Since childhood in school he performed theatrical works and enjoyed it, but never thought about taking it seriously. Jorgito Martínez's father never learned to play guitar. That's why he bought one for his 7-year-old son and took him by force to the Casa de Cultura de Guanabacoa, so he would learn and become a musician.

But he began to study music (cello) to please his father at the Guillermo Tomás school in Guanabacoa and later at the Amadeo Roldán, and from that time on he was doing small theatrical performances.

Upon finishing his studies at the Amadeo Roldán, the future offered him two options: merchant marine or acting at the National School of Art, and between the sea and the stage he chose the latter.

He had the privilege of receiving acting classes from—in the opinion of many—the best professor that actors in Cuba have ever had: Raúl Eguren Cuesta.

He did his first television work as a second-year student at the ENA in the television novel Pasos hacia la montaña, directed by Juan Vilar, where he played the role of a literacy campaign volunteer.

A graduate of the National School of Art (ENA) in 1982, in the specialty of acting. He completed his social service in the children's theater group El Galpón and later answered the call of the Revolutionary Armed Forces (FAR) to fulfill Military Service first in Villa Clara and later in Pinar del Río as commander of a war tank. Here he received the Order 18 to study at the University.

While he was in his preparation year at a military school to enter dramaturgy at the Higher Institute of Art (ISA), he was called to participate in his first adventure: Orden de ataque, and it was with this work that the Cuban public began to know him.

Since 1980 he began in television as part of the cast of television novels and dubbing, as well as in radio. Television has been the medium where he has developed most of his artistic career and which has allowed him to interpret diverse characters throughout his career.

Pasos hacia la montaña
Orden de ataque
La séptima familia
La hora de las brujas
Polvo en el viento
Salir de noche
Tras la huella
Vivir del cuento
Entrega
La otra guerra

In addition to his work as an actor, he has worked in hosting shows and television programs.

He hosted "A moverse," a program directed by Gloria Torres
El expreso
Sonando en Cuba
He directed a variety show in the Cayman Islands for one year.

In radio
Radio has been a school for Jorge Martínez as he recognizes that it is the voice, the sound, but above all it allowed him to perfect some defects with which he arrived at his professional life, not so much in the acting part but in diction, and thanks to this medium he was able to overcome them.

In theater
It has been difficult for the actor to do theater since television takes up much of his time, but he has participated in important works such as:

Andoba with the Plaza Vieja theater group
El hombre más codiciado del mundo, by Nicolás Dorr
Santa Camila de La Habana Vieja.

In film
1989 La bella del Alhambra (LM Ficc.). Dir. Enrique Pineda Barnet
1990 Mujer Transparente (Cuento Julia). Dir. Mayra Vilasís.
Alicia en el pueblo de Maravillas (LM Ficc.). Dir. Daniel Díaz Torres.
1996 Historias clandestinas en La Habana (LM Ficc.). Dir. Musiac (Argentina).
Bicicletas en el Trópico o Cuba Libre (LM Ficc.). Dir. David Riondino (Italy).
1999 Operación Fangio (LM Ficc.). Dir. Alberto Lecchi (Argentina).
2004 El loco soñador (LM Ficc.). Dir. Angelo Rizzo (Italy).
2008 El viajero inmóvil (LM Ficc.). Dir. Tomás Piard.
2016 "Últimos días en La Habana. Dir. Fernando Pérez Valdés

He enjoys moments when his person and his art have served to do some good, but he acknowledges with satisfaction: the trip to Angola; the battle for Elián's return, and his incorporation into the Gertrudis Gómez de Avellaneda artistic brigade to work in areas affected by hurricanes Ike and Gustav.

When he is not acting, he is an avid reader of all kinds of literature, enjoys scientific documentaries, historical topics, and declares himself an admirer of Eusebio Leal, of whom he says he would have liked to be an assistant if he were not an actor, since he is a hunter of programs that have to do with those topics.

Another of his preferences is animals. A great lover of nature, cleanliness, and the beauty of the countryside.

Awards and recognitions
Special mention at the Caricatos Awards of the Union of Writers and Artists of Cuba (UNEAC), 1994.
Caricatos Award from the Union of Writers and Artists of Cuba (UNEAC) for best male performance in television dramatizations. Havana, 2009 for Polvo en el viento.
Best male performance along with Patricio Wood for their performances in the film "Últimos días en La Habana." Awarded at the Closing of the Gibara International Film Festival.

Now he faces an important part of his life: "Pulmonologists usually say that I am like that character I played in Día y Noche, the Cat, because I have seven lives, there aren't that many, but for now I made fun of the scythe," commented with his ever-present smile the popular Cuban actor Jorge Martínez on one occasion in Havana to local journalists.

The tough guy of Cuban serials like Tras la Huella, roles in which, among others, it's truly enjoyable to see him, reaffirms in an interview with Cuban television how that part of his life led him to the Institute of Oncology and Radiobiology of Cuba, in order to achieve the most truthful and courageous performance of his young existence: defeating lung cancer despite having been given a death sentence, as he himself stated with the greatest naturalness in the world.

The actor of the controversial film Alicia en el pueblo de las maravillas or La Bella del Alhambra remembered that prior to the illness his nights were atypical. He would sleep for a stretch and in the early morning he would wake up, take a cigarette between his fingers and after inhaling it eagerly, throw it away and return to that sleep that could not be said to be so deep. A few hours later he would repeat the action and go back to bed. This continued until finally reaching his dawn, which anyone could imagine was not so peaceful.

The great friend and good disciple of the well-known actor Julito Martínez, of whom many believed he was the son and he did not deny it despite the jealousy of his true father, learned one day that he was ill and the announcement was a persistent and unpleasant cough. It was thought it might be metastasis because it also appeared in the adrenal glands, he explained to singer and host Amaury Pérez on his usual television program "Con dos que se quieran," and later detailed his chemotherapy process and surgery. "They removed a lung, I live like this now, I feel good although always undergoing checkups at the Oncology Institute and with numerous injections of the Cuban vaccine in my arms. For life." He owes much to the dedication of his wife in caring for him, he said, and to the team of specialists who still care for him.