Martinez appeared as Tranquilino Marquez in three episodes of the mini-series Centennial in 1979. In 1979 episode of Quincy, episode " Walk Softly Through the Night" Parts 1 and 2 he played a pre-med student. Air date 2/1/79 In 1979, Martínez made an appearance on Barney Miller, playing Claudio Ortiz in the sixth-season episode, "The DNA Story". He returned in 1981 to enact Joseph Montoya in the episode "The Doll". Martinez played a grape picker in 1982 on CBS's Falcon Crest, Native American 'Low Wolf' on the short-lived Born to the Wind, and a police detective in the 1983–1984 series Whiz Kids. In 1983 he had a guest role in a Season 5 episode of Hart to Hart as Jose. From 1984-1992 he played the role of Cruz Castillo on the daytime soap opera Santa Barbara. Martinez has also worked on prime time television, including starring roles in series such as Profiler and L.A. Law. In September 2008, Martinez joined the cast of the ABC daytime drama One Life to Live in the role of Ray Montez and was written out in June 2009. In February 2011, Martinez appeared in several episodes of the CBS daytime drama The Bold and the Beautiful as Dr. Ramon Montgomery. He returned in January 2012 for a few additional episodes. In 2012, he landed the recurring role of Jacob Nighthorse in the television series Longmire. In April 2014, it was rumored he was joining The Young and the Restless. In July 2014, he appeared on the NBC television show The Night Shift as Dr. Landry, de la Cruz's father. In late 2014, he also appeared in Othello on stage at the Odyssey Theatre in west Los Angeles. From September 2015 to 2017, Martinez appeared on the NBC daytime drama Days of Our Lives as Eduardo "Eddie" Hernandez. He returned to the show in 2020. Martinez played Sheriff Mayo in the third season of the television series Queen of the South. In June 2022, Martinez was cast as Master Pakku in the Netflix live-action series Avatar: The Last Airbender. Awards Over the years, Martinez has been nominated for numerous awards, and received some, including a Daytime Emmy Award, a Red Nation Film Award of Excellence, an award as Best Supporting Actor at the Red Dirt International Film Festival (for his own written short film called "Four Winds), and three from the Soap Opera Digest Awards.