Salem's Jason Armani Martinez, here during his stellar football career facing Lawrence High, is now making major waves as an actor. The magnitude of the moment truly hit Salem, N.H.'s Jason Armani Martinez as he sat in the AMC Theater in Boston recently, surrounded by 30 family members. Suddenly, there Martinez was, larger than life on the big screen -- just as he had dreamed -- acting in a scene with Emmy and Golden Globe Award winner Jeffrey Wright. "It was a truly surreal feeling," said Martinez. "I can't lie, it was pretty crazy, and a little overwhelming. It's hard to process at first. It's a blur. 'Yup, that's my voice. Yup, that's my face.' It was very strange. I was going through a lot of emotions. It still hits me now and then." The emerging actor and former Eagle-Tribune All-Star Salem High running back officially hit the silver screen, nation-wide, in a major motion picture. Martinez is featured in a supporting role in the highly-acclaimed film "American Fiction" -- starring Wright, Tracee Ellis Ross and Sterling K. Brown -- which hits theaters across the nation this weekend after an initial limited release and is a contender for the Academy Award for best picture, according to many media outlets. This marks the first role in a theatrically-released film for the 28-year-old Martinez, the latest major step in a blossoming acting career. "I'm grinding and doing everything I can," said Martinez. "I know there's a trajectory for me. There's a path laid out to what I dream of in the film business, and I'm just trying to put my best foot forward every day. I love acting and have wanted to pursue this since I was a kid. I feel like I'm exactly where I'm supposed to be right now." Martinez credits his experience on the football field with Salem -- he rushed for 1,362 yards, scored 16 TDs and was and Eagle-Tribune All-Star as a senior in 2013 -- and at the University of New Hampshire with refining the mentality he takes into his acting career. "I see football and acting as very similar," said Martinez. "Acting's a very competitive industry. It's an industry were you really have to battle and hustle. You have to have intense dedication and work ethic -- just like in football. You need a community, just like you need your team. You have to have relationships with people around you that will put you in the right spot. You have to come together for one goal, whether on the football field or on the set. I learned so much from football." Acting start Acting grew from an interest into a passion for Martinez while at UNH (class of 2018), where he began to study the art and perform in plays. Martinez received his first big break in 2020, a role in the Netflix film "Spenser Confidential" opposite two-time Oscar nominee and Boston royalty Mark Wahlberg. The remake of the 1980's TV series "Spenser: For Hire" was filmed in Boston and was streamed over 85 million times in its first two months. He moved to New York in September of 2020, to study and pursue acting full-time. American Fiction breakthrough After a few roles in smaller projects, Martinez earned his major breakthrough, when he was offered the chance to audition for "American Fiction," which the Washington Post has touted as the best picture of the year. "I'm very blessed to have a great relationship with 'Boston Casting,'" he said. "They reached out to me with the opportunity to audition for American Fiction. They really brought me the audition. I sent in a self-taped audition, and within a week they contacted me and said I had the part. It was a real whirlwind. "Originally, I only had one scene in the film. But the director (Emmy winner Cord Jefferson) really liked what he saw from my tape. So he combined two smaller parts to give me more screen time. That really meant a lot to me." American Fiction, which was filmed in Boston, "follows a frustrated novelist-professor who jokingly writes an outlandishly stereotypical book out of spite, only for the book to be published and receive widespread fame and acclaim," according to IMDB.com. Martinez plays an nursing home orderly that helps care for one of the characters. "One of my scenes was with Jeffery Wright, who I've loved since I was a kid, and Leslie Uggams, who is a legendary old-school performer who worked with people like Frank Sinatra," said Martinez. "Then, in my other scene, I worked with Jeffrey and Sterling K. Brown, the first black man to win the Golden Globe for best actor in a drama series (in 2018 for 'This is Us.') "Just to be there, on set watching them work was amazing. I'm a younger guy, but they all made me feel very comfortable and wanted to let me make contributions. Jeffrey talked to me about my character's backstory. It was a real honor working with legends like that." Upcoming projects With American Fiction now in theaters, Martinez has more exciting work on the horizon. He has major role as "Foxtrot" in the upcoming action film "Aftermath," which features Jurassic World star Dichen Lachman, Mason Gooding -- star of the recent "Scream" films and son of Oscar winner Cuba Gooding, Jr. -- and former child star Dylan Sprouse. Martinez also plays a love interest in "Pedacito De Carne," a highly-anticipated upcoming short film. "I would describe Aftermath as 'Diehard' on a bridge," he said. "It's my biggest role yet. I play a military contractor with an amazing cast and director (Nathan Graham Davis). We shot for a month in Boston, and it was a blast. We don't have a release date yet, but I'm so excited. "Pedacito De Carne has been submitted so some big film festivals. They are talking about possibly making it into a feature film. It's really exciting. I also have some awesome stuff in development, I can't talk about yet. I'm just trying to work hard in a competitive industry, and I credit football for a lot of my dedication, drive and ambition." TWITTER: DWillisET