The Bay is created by showrunner Gregori J. Martin, and now it has moved to Popstar! TV. “That feels really good. Popstar has a really good reputation and following,” he said.
The show will be celebrating its 10th anniversary this fall. “Working with Gregori J. Martin has been remarkable. He has been such a devotee of Santa Barbara. It is amazing that he had a dream to do this series and he executed it. I think Gregori is amazing,” he said.
He plays the on-screen grandfather of Lianna Ramos, portrayed by Jade Harlow, who took home the 2020 Daytime Emmy Award for “Outstanding Lead Actress in a Digital Drama Series.” “One of the best things about this gig for me is working with Jade Harlow. She is a really extraordinary actor. It is easy to connect when we are honest in the work and that’s really unique. Jade is just amazing,” he said.
“It was also great to work with Lilly Melgar, who played my daughter Janice,” he said. “That scene when I came in with the urn and how I interrupted the family squabbling was really beautiful.”
Martinez also shared scenes with such actors as Vivica Fox (Dr. Angela Foster) and Erik Fellows (Damian Blackwell). “Vivica is a force of nature,” he said. Erik Fellows is great. He is a wonderful actor and a really cool guy. We have some really nice people work on The Bay.”
He was the 2020 Indie Series Award winner for “Best Guest Actor in a Drama” for his acting work in The Bay. “That felt great. I was really surprised that I won that,” he said. “At the end of the day, we are all just acting.”
In 1990, he won the Daytime Emmy Award for “Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series.” “That was a really good feeling. It was an extraordinary thing,” he said. “I need to give a shoutout to then-executive producer Jill Farren Phelps, and Rob Schiller for directing it. They allowed me to go to places where very few actors get to go. It tapped into the mystical side of indigenous culture. I was thankful to Jill for that effort.”
For young and aspiring actors, he encouraged them to “do the work.” “When you are starting, get yourself on stage or in a class. Make sure you spend as much time as you can in the process of doing the work. Try to become as good as it as you can possibly get,” he said.
Most recently, Martinez returned on NBC’s Days of Our Lives, where he reprised his role as Eduardo Hernandez and starred opposite Rafe Hernandez (played by Galen Gering). “Working with Galen is so amazing. We were so in those scenes and we were so lit up. It was deep,” he exclaimed. “I still have hopes of them reconstituting that family.”
He defined the word success as “my kids being good, kind people.” “My kids read, they are active and they are brave. I feel that my wife, Leslie, and I did a good job in delivering people into the world that are really good citizens. I feel a lot of gratification from that. I am very proud of that,” he said.
For his fans and supporters, Martinez concluded, “I am really grateful to the fans. I couldn’t have imagined this journey.”
