How Much Money Does Martina Ortiz Luis Make

Martina Ortiz-Luis still gets goosebumps thinking about the first time she sang the Canadian anthem at a Maple Leafs game.

"They flew me out to Halifax for the first pre-season game (in September 2016)," Ortiz-Luis recalled in a telephone interview. "I remember stepping out on the ice and I was like, 'Wow, this is crazy.' This was Halifax, in a much smaller arena. And I kind of got emotional too, afterwards, because I couldn't believe I did that. That was so crazy."

She was just 15, wore braces and was attending Cardinal Carter Academy for the Arts in North York. She'd heard through a relative over the summer that the Leafs were looking for an anthem singer for their centennial season, someone who would grow along with the team that was about to be loaded with young talent such as Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner.

And while they've become stars on the ice, Ortiz-Luis is on her way to a different kind of stardom — one that may mean fans at Scotiabank Arena will see less of her when hockey resumes.

She missed the final few home games before the COVID-19 pandemic paused the NHL season because she'd landed a role on "Wynonna Earp," a Syfy TV series filming its fourth season in Calgary.

"Everything happened so quickly," said Ortiz-Luis, who studied classical voice performance at the University of Toronto. "I auditioned for the role in December. In January, I was sitting in a lecture and I got an email notification that I was being considered for the role, and I was asked to go in for a callback.

"It was so funny because I was sitting in this lecture, everyone's silent, and I'm trying so hard not to squeal."

Within a couple of days, she landed the part.

"Right after I got the call, I called the Maple Leafs because I was so concerned, but thankfully they were all so supportive."

She's been performing in public since she was five, though like everyone else her career is on pause for now. Instead, she's at the family home in Woodbridge, where she says the big moment of the day is cooking breakfast. Then it's off to work on songs and dance routines, some of which are on her TikTok account.

In many NHL cities, anthem singers are synonymous with the team. Lauren Hart in Philadelphia. Lyndon Slewidge in Ottawa from 1994-2016. Rene Rancourt recently retired from his Bruins gig after 42 years. The Leafs, however, had a rotating cast prior to 2016. Now Ortiz-Luis is making the role her own.

Her version of "O Canada" includes a key change toward the end — a popular trait when American singers perform "The Star-Spangled Banner" but not as common in Canada.

"God keep our land," she sang over the phone. "I feel like that's the part that really gets the crowd going because (it's) kind of like that rah-rah moment. You want to get everyone singing with you to the end. I just like that little inflection that I usually do at the end. I call that the Scotiabank Arena Special."

It dates back to her first sound check in Halifax.

"I was talking to the people who take care of the sound there, and I said I'm going to try something and you tell me if you like it. It stuck … that line is so powerful, and (it's) kind of just my artistic take on it."

The crowd gets loud at that point. She says she can barely hear herself in those moments.

"She's awesome," said Leafs forward Zach Hyman. "It's really cool that we've had her since we've been there. She kind of grew up with us, in a sense, and we watched her grow up. She's got real spunk, and she's got a great voice and gets everybody going right before the game. Happy to have her."

Even as her acting and singing careers take off, she promises to keep performing at Leafs games whenever possible.

"The plan was to sing at the games whenever I was back in Toronto," said Ortiz-Luis. "Stepping out onto the ice every night is still, almost four years later, one of my favourite feelings in the whole entire world. Hearing the people is crazy. I love how Canadians are so proud, and like how they love to sing along with 'O Canada.'"

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