Fele Martínez was born in Alicante (Spain) as Rafael Martínez on February 22nd, 1975. Trained at the Escuela Superior de Arte Dramático in Madrid, he began to act and direct theatre at young age. His first acting parts were with the Sexpeare Teatro theatre company.

His major breakthrough came at the hand of Alejandro Amenábar, who offered him a role in his 'opera prima' Tesis. It was for this work that Fele received his Goya Award for Best New Actor in 1996. Among his films are the notable Abre Los Ojos (Amenábar, 1997), Los amantes del círculo polar (Julio Médem, 1998), El arte de morir (Álvaro Fernández Armero, 1999), Capitanes de Abril (María de Medeiros, 1999), Tuno negro (Pedro L. Barbero y Vicente J. Martín, 2000), and La Mala Educación (Pedro Almodóvar, 2004).

He has also participated in several independent film projects including the short films Pasaia (1996), for which he won Best Actor at the Elche Film Festival, Amigos (1997), La cartera (2000), and El castigo del ángel (2002) which he also directed.