Ah, Martinez?

A Guy We Want to Come Home To

Latina, Feb/March 1997

by Leila Cobo-Hanlon

    This ruggedly handsome actor, whose sexy eyes have charmed millions of television viewers worldwide, is also a family man.  He still romances his wife of 14 years and spends much of his time with her and their three kids in their Malibu home.  In fact, actor A Martinez doesn't see himself as a matinee idol at all.  An actor's actor who studied theater arts at UCLA, he is as unassuming about his looks as he is about his name.  Just A, no period.  Not Adolfo, like his Mexican abuelo and namesake, and not AD, like his dad.  Just plain A, like his five brothers and sisters used to call him when they were growing up in Los Angeles (he is now in his forties).

   For years, he was detective  Cruz Castillo on Santa Barbara.  then he was single dad and lawyer Daniel Morales on L.A. Law.  Now he's Coop, a guy who diffuses bombs in the prime-time show Profiler.

   As an Emmy award winner, he has the luxury of pursuing his other love: music.  He is a lyricist-singer and even plays guitar and piano.  His first record, "Fragrance and Thorn, is, in Martinez's words, a collection of "eclectic tunes, rock-and-roll, and story-telling."  The album is available through the Internet.  Martinez is already at work on his second record.  "That's my fantasy, to have my albums do well," he says.  "But I'm not going to abandon my family to push my music."

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