Steph Martinez is an actor / director living and working in Los Angeles.

As an advocate for more women in the film industry, alongside Julie Phillips, Steph is one third of the female centric production company, Hot and Bothered. The fourth season of their series, BOTHERED is scheduled to be released on IndieFlix this Summer. Steph reprised the role of Tessa, Eddie and Jenn’s love interest, and has directed more than 30 episodes.

Born and raised in Tempe, AZ, Martinez started in theater at a young age; taking parts that were written for men and making them hers! She grew up watching Men in Tights and A League of Their Own. So naturally, she plays softball (Go Bat Middlers!), does swordplay, and stage combat. David Leitch started in stunts and is now one of the biggest action movie directors. Steph’s next.

Below are a few of Steph’s recent projects:

Netflix’s We Have a Ghost

Lifetime films: Sins in the Suburbs & Rooming with Danger

In The Commedia, Steph gets to play a terrifying yet beautiful Italian speaking clown. This wild and hilarious short will be making its festival debut later this year.

Sony Cine’s Get Away made its way through the film festival circuit in 2023 and won over 30 awards. One of the coolest award being the “Wes Craven Award” at the Catalina Film Festival.

Steph gets to show her bad guy side in The Aftertaste, a feature film directed by Chelsea Alden.

Bee-Man is a hilarious pilot where Steph plays Grace, Bee-Man’s co-lead and gay best friend, directed by Jon Lee Brody.

Multiple short films directed by Martinez are making the festival rounds as we speak: Fault, Sitting in Silence, and A New Era of Cowboy.

Martinez just wrapped on a fantasy drama with Co-Director Veronica Smith. The Witching Hour, features two queer vampires who fall in and out of love over a period of more than 10 centuries. When working with my Director of Photography, Neil Watson, they had to map out precise blocking and framing to mirror the past and its identical present.

As a professional actor, Martinez volunteers through Young Storytellers with local elementary schools to produce and perform original screenplays created and written by the students. It’s so fulfilling to see the joy on the children’s faces as they watch their work come to life on stage.

As an lgbtqia+ film maker and advocate, Steph sees the importance of diverse visibility in film and entertainment, as well as the power of creating more lgbtqia+ focused roles in film. When directing a queer centric peice, their main focus is giving it heart. So many shows and movies portray the stereotypes and capitalize on the traumas of queer life. Steph’s goal is to break the mold with their art. “This is any other story, they just happen to be gay”. Giving a piece “heart” means showing the world and the media that us queer folk are just like everybody else. We love, we hurt, we cry, we persevere. 

Continuing to hone their craft, Steph is enrolled at Studio 24 Seven with Mark McPherson and repped by One World Model and Talent and managed by Established Artists.