Born and raised in the United States by a Spanish father and an Irish mother, he adopted the stage name Martin Sheen to help him gain acting parts.[3] He is the father of four children, all of whom are actors. Sheen has directed one film,Cadence (1990), in which he appears alongside his sonsCharlie andRamón. He has narrated, produced, and directed documentary projects and has been active inliberal politics.
Sheen was born inDayton, Ohio, on August 3, 1940, to Mary-Ann (née Phelan) (1903–1951) and Francisco Estévez Martínez (1898–1974).[4][5] During birth, Sheen's left arm was crushed byforceps, giving him limited lateral movement of that arm (Erb's palsy) and resulting in the arm being three inches (8 cm) shorter than his right arm.[6] Both of Sheen's parents were immigrants; his mother was Irish, fromBorrisokane,County Tipperary, and his father, who was Spanish, was born inSalceda de Caselas,Galicia.[7][8] After moving to Dayton in the 1930s, his father was a factory worker/machinery inspector at theNational Cash Register Company.[9] Sheen's maternal uncle, Michael Phelan, fought in theIrish Civil War as a volunteer in theAnti-Treaty Irish Republican Army, and was imprisoned inKilmainham Gaol,Dublin.[10] Sheen grew up on Brown Street in theSouth Park neighborhood, the seventh of ten children (nine boys and a girl).[8] Due to his father's work, the family lived on the island ofBermuda on St. John's Road,Pembroke Parish, where five of his brothers were born. Martin was the first child to be born in Dayton, Ohio, after the family returned from Bermuda.[11][citation needed] Sheen contractedpolio as a child and had to remain bedridden for a year. His doctor's treatment usingSister Kenny's method helped him regain use of his legs.[8]
When Sheen was ten years old, his mother died, and the children faced the possibility of living in anorphanage orfoster homes. The family was able to remain together with the assistance of the Holy Trinity Catholic Church in Dayton.[12] Raised as aCatholic, he graduated fromChaminade High School (now Chaminade Julienne Catholic High School).[8][13] At fourteen years old he organized a strike of golf caddies while working at a private golf club in Dayton, Ohio. He complained about the golfers, saying: "They often used obscene language in front of us... we were little boys and they were abusive... anti-Semitic.... And they, for the most part, were upstanding members of the community."[14]
Sheen was drawn to acting at a young age, but his father disapproved of his interest in the field. Despite his father's opposition, Sheen borrowed money from a Catholic priest and moved to New York City in his early twenties, hoping to make it as an actor.[9] He spent two years in theLiving Theatre company. It was in New York that he met Catholic activistDorothy Day. Working with herCatholic Worker Movement, he began his commitment tosocial justice,[8][15] and would one day go on to playPeter Maurin, cofounder of theCatholic Worker Movement, inEntertaining Angels: The Dorothy Day Story. Sheen deliberately failed the entrance examination for theUniversity of Dayton so that he could pursue his acting career.[16]
He adopted hisstage name, Martin Sheen, from a combination of theCBS casting director, Robert Dale Martin, who gave him his first big break, and Catholic archbishop and broadcaster,Fulton J. Sheen.[17] In a 2003Inside the Actors Studio interview, Sheen explained,
Whenever I would call for an appointment, whether it was a job or an apartment, and I would give my name, there was always that hesitation and when I'd get there, it was always gone. So I thought, I got enough problems trying to get an acting job, so I invented Martin Sheen. It's still Estevez officially. I never changed it officially. I never will. It's on my driver's license and passport and everything. I started using Sheen, I thought I'd give it a try, and before I knew it, I started making a living with it and then it was too late. In fact, one of my great regrets is that I didn't keep my name as it was given to me. I knew it bothered my dad.[8][9][17][18]
Sheen was greatly influenced by the actorJames Dean.[8] Speaking of the impact Dean had on him, Sheen stated, "All of his movies had a profound effect on my life, in my work and all of my generation. He transcended cinema acting. It was no longer acting, it was human behavior."[19] Sheen developed a theatre company with other actors in hopes that a production would earn him recognition. In 1963, he made an appearance in "Nightmare", an episode of the television science fiction seriesThe Outer Limits. In 1964, he co-starred in theBroadway playThe Subject Was Roses; he later reprised his role in the 1968film of the same name, and was nominated for aGolden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor.[20] Sheen also starred in the television productionTen Blocks on the Camino Real (1966), an adaptation ofTennessee Williams' playCamino Real directed byJack Landau and presented byNET, a PBS predecessor. In 1968, he played the titular role inHamlet, directed byJoseph Papp atThe Public Theater, with dialogue mostly in English and some in Spanish as Hamlet's alter ego.[21]
His next important feature film role was in 1973 when he starred withSissy Spacek in thecrime dramaBadlands, playing an antisocial multiple murderer. Sheen has stated that his role inBadlands was one of his two favorites, the other being his role as a U.S. Army special operations officer inApocalypse Now.[8][23] Also in 1973, Sheen appeared oppositeDavid Janssen in "Such Dust As Dreams Are Made On", the first pilot for the television seriesHarry O. In 1974, Sheen portrayed ahot rod driver in thetelevision filmThe California Kid[24] and that same year received anEmmy Award[25] nomination for Best Actor in a television drama for his portrayal ofPvt. Eddie Slovik in the television filmThe Execution of Private Slovik.[8] Based on an incident that occurred duringWorld War II, the film told the story of the only U.S. soldier to be executed for desertion since theAmerican Civil War.
Sheen's performance led toFrancis Ford Coppola's casting him in a lead role as U.S. Army CaptainBenjamin L. Willard in 1979'sApocalypse Now, gaining him wide recognition. Filming in thePhilippine jungle in thetyphoon season of 1976, Sheen later said that he was not in good physical condition and was drinking heavily.[8] For the film's opening sequence in aSaigon hotel room, Sheen's portrayal of Willard as heavily intoxicated was aided by Sheen's celebrating his 36th birthday on-set that day, and being actually drunk.[26] Twelve months into filming, Sheen suffered a minorheart attack and had to crawl out to a road for help.[8] While he was recovering, his younger brotherJoe Estevez stood in for him in a number of long shots and in some of the voice-overs.[27] Sheen was able to resume filming a few weeks later.[26]In 1976, he participated inThe Little Girl Who Lives Down the Lane as Frank Hallet, theantagonist with bad intentions towards teenagerprotagonist Rynn Jacobs (Jodie Foster). Frank was the son of landlady Cora Hallet (Alexis Smith). In 1979, Sheen acted inThe Final Countdown withKirk Douglas, another actor with family connections to Bermuda (Diana Dill, Douglas's first wife and the mother of their sonsMichael Douglas andJoel Douglas was a Bermudian).
Other roles include the sinister would-be presidentGreg Stillson inThe Dead Zone, the President in theLori Loughlin-Chris Noth television mini-series,Medusa's Child, the president in the short filmFamily Attraction. In 1993, Sheen's sympathetic portrayal of General Robert E. Lee in the Ronald Maxwell filmGettysburg (1993) met with acclaim.Sheen has performed voice-over work as the narrator for theEyewitness series in the US for the first and second seasons and as the "real"Seymour Skinner in the controversialSimpsons episode "The Principal and the Pauper".
Sheen played the role of theIllusive Man in the video gameMass Effect 2, and the sequel,Mass Effect 3. In addition, he voiced the role of Emilio in the English language version of the 2011 animated filmArrugas(Wrinkles).
In 2010 the company releasedThe Way, written and directed by Sheen's sonEmilio Estevez, who also stars in the film. (Martin's daughterRenée also has a part in the film.) Martin plays an American doctor, whose son, played by Estevez, dies while hiking theCamino de Santiago. Driven by sadness, Martin's character leaves his Californian life and embarks on the 800 km (500 mi) pilgrimage from theFrench Pyrenees to Spain'sSantiago de Compostela, taking his son's ashes with him.The Way premiered at the2010 Toronto International Film Festival.
Sheen has been active in numerous nonviolent acts of civil disobedience, and has been arrested 66 times demonstrating for numerous liberal causes.[36] Although he did not attend college in his youth, Sheen credited theMarianists atUniversity of Dayton as a major influence on his public activism, as well asArchbishop Desmond Tutu.[37] Sheen is known for his outspoken support ofliberal political causes, such as opposition to United States military actions and a hazardous-waste incinerator inEast Liverpool, Ohio. Sheen has dismissed calls for him to run for office, saying: "There's no way that I could be the President. You can't have apacifist in theWhite House.... I'm an actor. This is what I do for a living."[38] Sheen is an honorarytrustee of theDayton International Peace Museum.
He supported the 1965 farm worker movement withCesar Chavez inDelano, California.[39] Sheen endorsed marches and walkouts called by the activist groupBy Any Means Necessary (BAMN) to force the State ofCalifornia to introduce a holiday in memory of Cesar Chavez. On the day of the protests (March 30), thousands of students, primarily Latino ones from California and elsewhere, walked out of school in support of the demand. Sheen has said he also participated in the large-scale immigration marches inLos Angeles in 2006 and 2007.[40][41][citation needed]
Sheen starred inJakov Sedlar's religious dramaGospa in 1995. He also narrated several movies for the Croatian director during the 1990s.[44][45]
In 1988, he was arrested outside theIsraeli Defense Ministry offices in New York during a 30-minute rally protesting America’s military alliance with Israel and condemning "the Israeli government’s policies in theWest Bank andGaza Strip."[46]
In 1997, Sheen volunteered his time to narrate the documentary filmAn Act of Conscience, which followswar tax resistersRandy Kehler and Betsy Corner, who, as a protest against war and military spending, openly refused to pay their federal income taxes, prompting theInternal Revenue Service (IRS) to seize their house.[50][51]
Sheen at an anti-war protest in October 2007
In early 2003, Sheen signed the "Not in My Name" declaration opposing the invasion of Iraq (along with prominent figures such asNoam Chomsky andSusan Sarandon); the declaration appeared in themagazineThe Nation. Sheen visitedCamp Casey on August 28, 2005, to pray with anti-Iraq War activistCindy Sheehan, who had demanded a second meeting with U.S. PresidentGeorge W. Bush.[52] Addressing Sheehan's supporters, Sheen said: "At least you've got the acting president of the United States", referring to his role as presidentJosiah Bartlet onThe West Wing.[53]
In 2006, when Sheen was living in Ireland as a result of his enrollment inNUI Galway, he criticized Irish mushroom farmers for exploiting foreign workers by paying them as little as €2.50 an hour—way below the country'sminimum wage of €7.65.[59]
From 2008 to 2013, Sheen's activism included attendance at meetings of theenvironmentalist groupEarth First![60] and speaking appearances at youth empowerment events calledWe Day on behalf ofFree the Children, an international charity and educational partner.[61] Sheen has been named an ambassador of Free The Children and has supported such initiatives as the We are Silent campaign, a 24-hour pledge of silence.[62] Speaking about his work with Free The Children, Sheen has said, "I'm hooked! I told them whenever I could offer some insight or energy or whatever I had, I'd be delighted if they would call on me, and they have."[63] Sheen championed Help Darfur Now, a student-run organization to help aid victims of the genocide inDarfur, the western region inSudan. He also appeared in the 2009 anti-fur documentarySkin Trade.[64]
Also in 2009, while walking theCamino de Santiago while filming the 2010 movieThe Way, Sheen met Gary and Elizabeth Jewson, a married couple from Australia who had lost their 18-year-old daughter Melanie in a car accident in 2004.[65][66] Inspired by the touching story of Melanie's ambitions prior to her untimely death, Sheen became a patron of the foundation when it launched in 2012, and it has since raised more thanA$250,000 for helping serveVanuatu's under-resourced health and education systems.[66]
Sheen appeared in television and radio ads urging Washington state residents to vote "no" onInitiative 1000, a proposedassisted suicide law before voters in the 2008 election.[67]
Sheen first spoke to 18,000 young student activists atFree The Children's 2010We Day. "While acting is what I do for a living, activism is what I do to stay alive," he said.[68]
On December 5, 2011, atSing Sing Correctional Facility, Sheen met withJon-Adrian Velazquez,[69] now a legal reform activist who was wrongfully convicted for a 1998 murder of a retired police officer in Harlem. Velazquez was serving 25 years to a life prison sentence. Later that day, Sheen held a press conference at a Manhattan courthouse for Velazquez, advocating for his release. Sheen stated that the case "cries out for justice".[69] After meeting Velazquez, Sheen said that it "confirmed my belief thatJon-Adrian Velazquez is an innocent man".[70]
Sheen reunited with the cast ofThe West Wing in September 2012 to produce a video explainingMichigan's ballot and its partisan and nonpartisan sections. The video doubled as a campaign ad forBridget McCormack, who was running as a nonpartisan candidate forMichigan's Supreme Court. McCormack's sister, actressMary McCormack, co-starred with Sheen onThe West Wing in its final three seasons.[76]
Sheen wrote a foreword toMark Lane's autobiography,Citizen Lane (2012).[77] He has credited Lane's bookRush to Judgment (1966) with having "inspired my own thoughts of activism and thus changed my life".[78] When the filmBhopal: A Prayer for Rain premiered in 2014, Sheen advocated forAmnesty International's campaignJustice for Bhopal.[79]
Sheen narrated the trailer for a proposed documentary film about the prosecution of formerAlabama governorDon Siegelman in 2015.[80]
Sheen narrated the feature-length documentary film based on thePeter Navarro bookDeath by China, released in 2012. The documentary was financed byNucor steel corporation, and has been endorsed byDonald Trump.
Sheen donated $1000 to Irish political partySinn Féin.[81]
In a speech atOxford University in 2009, Sheen stated that he had been arrested 66 times for protesting and acts of civil disobedience.[82] He was described by human rights activistCraig Kielburger as having "a rap sheet almost as long as his list of film credits."[83]
In a 2011 interview withRTÉ, Sheen stated that his wife was conceived throughrape, and if her mother had aborted her, or dumped her in theOhio River as she had considered, his wife would not exist. He also noted that three of his grandchildren were conceived out of wedlock, saying his sons "were not happy at the time but they came to love these children. We have three grown grandchildren, two of them are married, they're some of the greatest source [sic] of joy in our lives."[85]
Sheen marriedJanet Templeton on December 23, 1961, and they had three sons and a daughter, all of whom are now actors:Emilio,Ramón,Carlos, andRenée. Carlos, however, decided to change his name when he began acting, calling himself Charlie Sheen[8] after making the decision to anglicize his first name and take his surname from his father's stage name, although he was already known only as Charlie throughout his elementary school years.
Charlie and his father parodied their roles in the 1993 movieHot Shots! Part Deux; when their river patrol boats pass, each shouts, "I loved you inWall Street!" a film they starred in as father and son in 1987.
He has played the father of sons Emilio and Charlie in various projects: he played Emilio's father inThe War at Home,In the Custody of Strangers andThe Way, and Charlie's father inWall Street,No Code of Conduct, two episodes ofSpin City, andAnger Management. He also appeared as a guest star in one episode ofTwo and a Half Men playing the father of Charlie's neighbor Rose (Melanie Lynskey), and another as guest starDenise Richards' father; at the time that episode aired, Richards was married to Charlie. Martin also played a "future" version of Charlie in a Visa commercial. Martin has played other characters with his children. He starred in the filmBobby, which was directed by Emilio, who also starred in the movie alongside his father. Renée had a supporting role inThe West Wing, as aWhite House staff secretary. Emilio also appeared, uncredited, inan episode ofThe West Wing portraying his father's character, President Bartlet, in home-movie footage.[90]
Sheen became a grandfather at age 43 when Emilio had a son with his girlfriend, Carey Salley. Sheen has a total of ten grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.[91][92][93][94][95][96][97][98][99]
In 2012, Sheen was a guest on the American version ofWho Do You Think You Are?, tracing his Irish and Galician ancestry.
He underwent a quadruple heart bypass operation in December 2015.[100]
After the end of filming ofThe West Wing, Sheen planned to further his education: "My plan is to readEnglish literature,philosophy andtheology inGalway, Ireland, where my late mother came from and where I'm also a citizen."[101] Speaking after an honorary arts doctorate was conferred on him by the National University of Ireland, Sheen joked that he would be the "oldest undergraduate" at theNational University of Ireland (NUI), Galway, when he started his full-time studies there in the autumn of 2006. Although expressing concern that he might be a "distraction" to other students at NUI Galway, he attended lectures like everyone else. Speaking the week after filming his last episode ofThe West Wing, he said, "I'm very serious about it." He once said, "I never went to college when I was young and am looking forward to giving it a try... at age 65!"[102] On September 1, 2006, Sheen was among the first to register as a student at NUI Galway, where he took classes in English literature, philosophy, andoceanography.[103]
Sheen isCatholic, having had his faith restored during conversations inParis in 1981 withTerrence Malick, director of Sheen's breakthrough film,Badlands (1973).[13][23][26] Sheen stated in a 1983 interview withThe Varsity that he is a Catholic on a "spiritual level" and that he "couldn't care less aboutreligion."[105] Sheen also stated that he believed inreincarnation.[105] In an interview in 2023, Sheen said how important is the practice of his Catholic faith in his life: " .. I loved theSacraments —Confession and theEucharist and theMass were of utmost importance to me. I reunited with that, and I found myself".[106] He is a supporter of theCatholic Worker movement.[107]
In the spring of 1989, Sheen was named honorary mayor ofMalibu, California. He promptly marked his appointment with a decree proclaiming the area "a nuclear-free zone, a sanctuary for aliens and the homeless, and a protected environment for all life, wild and tame".[108] Some local citizens were angered by the decree, and the Malibu Chamber of Commerce met in June of that year to consider revoking his title, but voted unanimously to retain him.[109]
Sheen in 1987
While Sheen claims he deliberately failed the entrance exam for theUniversity of Dayton so that he could pursue his acting career, he still has an affinity forUD, and is seen drinking from a "Dayton Flyers" coffee mug during several episodes ofThe West Wing. Sheen also developed an ongoing relationship withWright State University, where he performedLove Letters as a benefit for scholarships in the Department of Theatre, Dance and Motion Pictures, and hosted a trip of donors to the set ofThe West Wing with the department's chair, W. Stuart McDowell, in September 2001. The Sheen/Estevez & Augsburger Scholarship Fund has since attracted more than $100,000 in scholarships in the arts for students in need at WSU since its inception in 2000.[16] Sheen also has a great affinity for theUniversity of Notre Dame and in 2008 was awarded theLaetare Medal,[110] the highest honor bestowed on American Catholics, in May 2008 at the school's commencement.
Sheen received sixEmmy Award nominations for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series for his performance onThe West Wing, for which he won aGolden Globe Award for Best Performance by an Actor in TV-Drama, as well as twoSAG Awards for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series, and was part of the cast that received two SAG Awards for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series.
In 2001 Sheen won aTV Guide Award for 'Actor of the Year in a Drama Series' forThe West Wing.[112] In the animatedNickelodeon movie, TV show and TV spin-off ofThe Adventures of Jimmy Neutron, there is a character namedSheen Estevez, which is Sheen's original last name – Estévez – and working last name, Sheen.
Sheen was the 2003 recipient of theMarquette University Degree ofDoctor of Letters,honoris causa for his work on social and Catholic issues.[113] In 2011, he was awarded an honorary life membership in the Law Society ofUniversity College Dublin.[114] On May 3, 2015, Sheen received an honorary Doctor of Human Letters degree from the University of Dayton for his lifelong commitment to peace, social justice and human rights exemplifying the Catholic, Marianist university's missions.[115]On May 6, 2023, Loyola Marymount University conferred an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters, honoris causa, upon Sheen for symbolizing in an "outstanding" manner a record of "service that contributes to the public good," for his "significant contributions to igniting a brighter world," and for serving as an "exemplar" of "Catholic, Jesuit, and Marymount traditions."[116]
^Hardin, Drew (March 2011)."The California Kid".SEMA (Specialty Equipment Market Association). Archived fromthe original on November 5, 2018. RetrievedNovember 5, 2018.
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