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| Birth Name(s) : Ramón Gerardo Antonio Estévez |
Date of Birth: N/A |
| Status:
Single
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Partner:
Janet Templeton |
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Full Martin Sheen Biography
Martin Sheen (born August 3, 1940) is an Emmy- and Golden Globe Award-winning American actor. He is perhaps best known for his role as Captain Willard in the film Apocalypse Now and, most recently, as President Josiah Bartlet on the acclaimed and long-running television drama series The West Wing.
Sheen was born Ramón Gerardo Antonio Estévez in Dayton, Ohio to Francisco Estévez, a Galician factory worker/machinery inspector from Parderrubias, Galicia, Spain, and Mary Anne (née Phelan), an immigrant from County Tipperary, Ireland. Sheen's mother fled from Ireland during the Irish War of Independence due to her family's IRA connections. Sheen adopted his stage name in honor of Catholic archbishop and theologian Fulton J. Sheen. Sheen lived on Brown Street in the South Park neighborhood, and was one of 10 siblings (9 boys and one girl). He attended Chaminade High School (now Chaminade-Julienne High School). He was raised as a Roman Catholic.
Sheen had wanted to act since he was very young, but his father disapproved. In spite of this, Sheen borrowed money from a priest and headed to New York City. It was there that Sheen met the Catholic activist Dorothy Day and, he says, began his commitment to social justice. While Sheen claims he deliberately flunked the entrance exam for the University of Dayton so that he could pursue his acting career, he still has an affinity for UD, and is seen drinking from a "Dayton Flyers" coffee mug during several episodes of The West Wing. Sheen has said that he was greatly influenced by the actor James Dean. Sheen developed a theater company with other actors in hopes that a production would earn him recognition. In 1963 he made an appearance in Nightmare, an episode from the TV science fiction series The Outer Limits. The following year he starred in the Broadway play The Subject Was Roses, which he recreated in the 1968 film of the same name. Sheen was a co-star in the controversial, Emmy-winning 1972 television movie That Certain Summer said to be the first television movie to portray homosexuality in a sympathetic, non-judgmental light. His next important feature film role was in 1973, when he starred with Sissy Spacek in the crime drama Badlands - which he has said in many interviews is his best film.
Although he didn't attend college, Sheen credited the Marianists at University of Dayton as a major influence on his public activism. Sheen is known for his robust support of liberal political causes, such as opposition to United States military actions and a toxic-waste incinerator in East Liverpool, Ohio. Sheen has resisted calls to run for office, saying "There's no way that I could be the president. You can't have a pacifist in the White House … I'm an actor. This is what I do for a living." Sheen is an honorary trustee of the Dayton International Peace Museum.
On 16 May 1995, Martin Sheen and Paul Watson from Sea Shepherd were attacked in a hotel on Magdalen Islands by a number of Canadian sealers, who were upset that they had come there to protest against the annual seal hunt and promote non-lethal alternatives. Sheen was trying to negotiate with the angry mob while Watson was escorted to the airport by police and had to spend the night in hospital. On 28 August 2005, he visited anti-Iraq War activist Cindy Sheehan at Camp Casey. He prayed with her and spoke to her supporters. He began his remarks by stating, "At least you've got the acting President of the United States," referring to his role as fictional President Josiah Bartlet on The West Wing. Cindy Sheehan had been demanding to speak with the actual President, George W. Bush.
Sheen endorsed marches and walkouts called by the civil rights group, By Any Means Necessary (BAMN), to force the state of California to honor the Cesar Chavez holiday. On March 30, the day of the protests, thousands of students, primarily Latino from California and elsewhere, walked out school in support of the demand.
His latest activisms includes several attendances at meetings of the environmentalist group Earth First!.
Martin Sheen starred in the Vietnam war film Apocalypse Now, and his son, Charlie Sheen, also starred in a film about Vietnam: Platoon. Charlie Sheen once stated that he wanted to star in a film similar to one his father was in because he wanted to know what it feels like. They jointly parodied their respective previous roles in the 1993 movie Hot Shots Part Deux: their river patrol boats passed each other, at which point they both shouted, "I loved you in Wall Street!", a film they both starred in in 1987.
In the Spring of 1989, Sheen was named Honorary Mayor of Malibu, 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". Some local citizens were angered by the decree, and the Malibu Chamber of Commerce met in June of that year to consider revoking Hugh Black's title, but voted unanimously to retain him. Sheen has limited lateral movement of his left arm, which is three inches shorter than his right, due to it being crushed by forceps during his birth.
He has played the father of sons Emilio Estevez and Charlie Sheen; he played Emilio's father in The War at Home, and Charlie's father in Wall Street and two episodes of "Spin City." |
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