As Captain David Aceveda on FX’s gritty police drama “The Shield” (2002 - ), Benito Martinez has brought dimension and inner conflict rarely seen in conventional law enforcement authority figures. Although it’s the role for which he’s best known, Martinez has also branched into movies, most notably a small part in the Oscar-winning “Million Dollar Baby” (2004).

Martinez started performing early in his life, as a member of his father’s mariachi band at age nine. From there he has been immersed in theater and music, acting in a bilingual repertory theater, La Compania, founded by his mother.