About Thaliya Martinez

Thaliya Martinez is an incoming MFA candidate at the University of Southern California School of Cinematic Arts and who honors heritage, culture, and faith. She is an American. Her family is Spanish, Indigenous Puerto Rican, and Afro-Indo-Trinidadian. Drawing from her background in sports and the military, she specializes in exploring these themes within those fields-not only telling her own story but also digging deep into the legacies of others to reveal the roots of their identity. Throughout 2024 and 2025, she used her time on the sets of Chicago Med, Chicago Fire, Chicago P.D., Dark Matter, and The Chi as an immersive study of production rhythm, working as both a stand-in and background actor to sharpen her technical understanding of high-level industry environments.