We recently connected with Martin Renteria and have shared our conversation below.

Martin, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. If you could go back in time do you wish you had started your creative career sooner or later?

I started this career path at the age of 27, there had been a lot of people throughout my day jobs that told me, “you should be an actor or stand up comedian because this job isn’t the right fit for you, you have to do something with what you have.” I would just nod, smile and say “yeah maybe one day.” Then one Christmas my girlfriend Wanda handed me a small envelope: she had bought me classes at a theater in Santa Monica for stand up comedy. She smiled at me and said “I really think you can do this.” it’s been 3 years since I started and in that time I also started taking acting classes and to my surprise I landed a few roles!

I wholeheartedly believe I was meant to start after experiencing a lot of things throughout my early and mid twenties, its fed and fueled a lot of my stand up comedy and acting. Had I started this path when I was say, 18, I think I would have given up very easily.

Martin, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I have been making people laugh since I was a kid, I am pretty sure I got bitten by a radioactive funny spider as a kid…. there’s also both sides of my family… they’re both funny in their own way. As I got older I learned different styles of comedy and LOVED story telling of all kinds, particularly the funny ones sure, but I am a sucker for any kind of story. After the stand up comedy showcase I wanted to keep making people laugh from the stage, my experiences, stories, and jokes made people laugh, people of different ethnicities, social backgrounds, and ages. It’s always felt great to put a smile on other peoples faces but to do it on a grander scale always feels both nerve wracking and extremely rewarding.

I am proud of how far I’ve come in stand up comedy, I gotta tell ya some of these jokes…. one time during a 6 minute set, I made a joke at the top of the first minute and one table couldn’t stop laughing at the first joke throughout the rest of the 5 minutes remaining! I felt untouchable… and even more proud of how far I’ve grown as an actor, when I started that journey I could not for the life of me stop making everything into a comedy, my teacher (Hi Frances!) pulled no punches in those talk backs.Every homework assignment assigned I basically skipped out of class ready to work on because I knew it would make me a better actor.

If there’s one main thing I want the people to know it’s this: despite being slightly lactose intolerant, I am very hirable.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

OH man where to begin, as a stand up comedian it’s writing something new every single time and then getting that laugh. It is horrifying like the moment before the big drop on a roller coaster, but then I drop the punchline on the joke and then I get that laugh….. my goodness there’s nothing like it. Making the masses laugh because I took the time to be witty….. ah it tickles my fancy.

As an actor, its for sure being able to access the deepest parts of myself and bring it to life, listen its been a journey, the first day I thought to myself “what am I doing here, I have no idea what I am doing, I should just go home and get a job at the department of motor vehicles.” being able to show up and showing what I can do is rewarding in itself because for a very long time, I doubted that I could even do it. I sure showed me!

Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?

Well that story really starts on Snapchat…. I had been posting way too much, way too many stories…. I was unhinged a little bit at the time but hey people got a laugh out of it and seemed to really enjoy it, then instagram added “stories” to their app and I just moved on over, people followed and I just kept posting stories, people loved those, showed it to their friends and family and people started following me.

I think (looking back) what people valued most besides the jokes was the authenticity, I would share my wins and woes and people responded well to it.

My advice would be: keep it simple, keep it real, be authentic and engage with your audience. thank you for coming to my ted talk.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @goformarty