Martin Sheen

Martin Sheen
Sheen on the set of The West Wing, May 2004
Born	Ramón Gerardo Antonio Estévez
Years active	1961-present
Spouse	Janet Templeton (1961-)
Awards	Saturn Award for Best Actor (film) 1978 The Little Girl Who Lives Down the Lane Hollywood Walk of Fame 1500 Vine Street

Martin Sheen (born Ramón Gerardo Antonio Estévez on August 3, 1940) is a Golden Globe and Emmy Award winning American actor who earned recognition for his performances as Captain Willard in the film Apocalypse Now and President Josiah Bartlet on the long-running NBC political drama series The West Wing. Apart from the recognition he earned as an actor, he has gained visibility as an activist whose political views are closely intertwined with his personal religious convictions.

Biography

Early life

Sheen was born Ramón Gerardo Antonio Estévez in Dayton, Ohio, the son of Mary Ann (née Phelan), an immigrant from County Tipperary, Ireland, and Francisco Estévez, a Spanish (more concretely, Galician) factory worker/machinery inspector from Parderrubias, Galicia, Spain. Sheen's mother had fled from Ireland during the Irish War of Independence due to her family's connections to the Irish Republican Army. Sheen adopted his stage name in honor of the Catholic archbishop and theologian, Fulton J. Sheen. Sheen lived on Brown Street in the South Park neighborhood, and was one of 10 siblings (nine boys and one girl). One of his brothers is actor Joe Estévez. He attended Chaminade High School (now Chaminade-Julienne High School) and was raised as a Roman Catholic.

During the 1930s, his family lived in Bermuda, where Sheen's father was a representative of IBM. Among others, the elder Estevez sold cash registers and early computing and copying equipment to businesses and to the U.S. Air Force. The family lived on St. John's Road, Pembroke, just outside Hamilton and attended the Mount Saint Agnes school, an institution operated by the Sisters Of Charity, a religious order of the Roman Catholic Church. Sheen was the first of the ten Estevez children who was not born in Bermuda.

Career

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 headed to New York City. It was there that he met the legendary Catholic activist Dorothy Day. It was working with her Catholic Worker movement that began his commitment to social justice. While Sheen claims he deliberately failed 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. He also has a great affinity for the University of Notre Dame and was awarded the Laetare Medal, the highest honor bestowed on American Catholics, in May 2008 at the school's commencement. Sheen has said that he was greatly influenced by the actor James Dean. He 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 of the television 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.

In 1974, Sheen portrayed a hot rod driver in the TV movie The California Kid, and that same year received an Emmy Award nomination for Best Actor in a television drama for his portrayal of Pvt. Eddie Slovik in the made-for-television film, The Execution of Private Slovik. Based on an incident that occurred during World War II, the film told the story of the only U.S. soldier to be executed for desertion since the American Civil War. It was Sheen's performance in this film that ultimately led to Francis Ford Coppola choosing him for a starring role in 1979's Apocalypse Now, a film that gained him wide recognition. Sheen admitted that during filming, he was not in the greatest shape and was drinking heavily. On location, he had a heart attack and crawled out to a road for help. After his heart attack, his younger brother Joe Estevez stood in for him in a number of long shots and in some of the voice-overs.

Sheen has performed voice-over work as the narrator for the Eyewitness Movie series.

NUI Galway

After the end of filming of The West Wing, Sheen announced plans to further his education: "My plan is to read English literature, philosophy and theology in Galway, Republic of Ireland, where my late mother came from and where I'm also a citizen". 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 the National 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 NUIG, he attended lectures like everyone else. Speaking the week after filming his last episode of The 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!" On 1 September 2006, Sheen was among the first to register as a student at NUI Galway. He left the University after completing a semester.

Political activism

Martin Sheen at an anti-war protest in October 2007.

Martin Sheen is no stranger to politics, both as an actor and in real life. He has played U.S. President John F. Kennedy (in the miniseries Kennedy — The Presidential Years), Attorney General Robert Kennedy in the television special The Missiles of October, White House Chief of Staff A.J. McInnerney in The American President, sinister future president Greg Stillson in The Dead Zone, and fictional Democratic president Josiah Bartlet in the acclaimed television drama The West Wing.

Although he did not 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.

He supported the 1965 farm worker movement with Cesar Chavez in Delano, California. He has also supported causes for PETA and is a proponent of the Consistent Life ethic, which advocates against abortion, capital punishment and war. He also supports the Democrats for Life of America's Pregnant Women Support Act. In 2004, along with fellow actor Rob Reiner, Sheen campaigned for Democratic presidential candidate Howard Dean. He later campaigned for nominee John Kerry.

In 1992, Sheen and several others were unsuccessful in their attempt to convince a judge to impose no jail or prison time for those who were convicted of pulling innocent motorists from their vehicles and beating them during the 1992 Los Angeles Riots, including the four young men seen on video footage around the world tossing a brick at truck driver Reginald Denny's head, crushing his skull and causing him permanent damage.

On May 16, 1995, Martin Sheen and Paul Watson from the non-profit environmental organization, 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 the hospital. On August 28, 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, again.

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 of school in support of the demand. Sheen also stated that he participated in the massive immigration marches in Los Angeles in 2006 and 2007.

On April 10, 2006, the New York Times reported that members of the Democratic Party in Ohio had contacted Sheen, attempting to persuade him to run for the U.S. Senate in Ohio. Sheen declined the offer, stating that "I'm just not qualified," he said. "You're mistaking celebrity for credibility." On November 26, 2006, the Sunday Times in the Republic of Ireland, where Sheen was then living due to his enrolment in NUI Galway, reported on him speaking out against mushroom farmers exploiting foreign workers by paying them as little as €2.50 an hour in a country where the minimum wage was €7.65.

On April 1, 2007, Sheen was arrested, with 38 other activists, for trespassing at the Nevada Test Site at a Nevada Desert Experience event protesting the Nevada Test Site.

On October 27, 2007, Martin Sheen echoed his son Charlie Sheen's doubts about the public account of the September 11, 2001 attacks. He stated: "Up until last year, I was very dubious, I did not want to believe that my government could possibly be involved in such a thing, I could not live in a country that I thought could do that - that would be the ultimate betrayal. However, there have been so many revelations that now I have my doubts, and chief among them is Building 7 - how did they rig that building so that it came down on the evening of the day?"

His latest activism includes several attendances at meetings of the environmentalist group Earth First!. Sheen has also endorsed and supported Help Darfur Now, a student run organization to help aid the victims of the genocide in Darfur, the western region in Sudan.

Sheen initially endorsed New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson in the 2008 US Presidential Election, and helped raise funds for his campaign. After Richardson had dropped out of the campaign, Sheen stated in a BBC Two interview that he was supporting Barack Obama.

Personal life

Sheen married art student Janet Templeton on December 23, 1961, and they have four children, three sons and a daughter, all of whom are actors: Emilio, Ramón, Carlos (better known as Charlie Sheen) and Renée.Sheen become a grandfather at age 43 when his son, Emilio, had a son named Taylor Levi with his girlfriend, Carey Salley. Other than Taylor Levi, Sheen has four other grandchildren

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 as father and son 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 his 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 its being crushed by forceps during his birth. This restricts him from putting on a coat in the typical manner; instead, he flips it up and over his head from the front, as clearly demonstrated throughout the run of The West Wing.

Over the years, he has played the father of sons Emilio Estevez and Charlie Sheen in various projects: he played Emilio's father in The War at Home and In the Custody of Strangers, and Charlie's father in Wall Street, No Code of Conduct, and two episodes of Spin City. He also appeared as a guest star in one episode of Two and a Half Men playing the father of Charlie's neighbor Rose (Melanie Lynskey), and another as guest star Denise Richards' father; at the time that episode aired, Richards was still married to Charlie. Martin also played a "future" version of Charlie in a VISA TV commercial. Martin has played other characters with his sons and his daughter.

Awards

Sheen received six Emmy nominations for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series for his performance on The West Wing, for which he won a Golden Globe for Best Performance by an Actor in TV-Drama, as well as two SAG 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 his acting career, Sheen has been nominated for ten Emmy Awards, winning one. He has also earned eight nominations for Golden Globe Awards. Sheen has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, at 1500 Vine Street.

Sheen was the 2008 recipient of the Laetare Medal, an annual award given by the University of Notre Dame for outstanding service to the Roman Catholic Church and society.

Filmography

Year	Title	Role	Director(s)
1967	The Incident	Artie Connors	Larry Peerce
1968	The Subject Was Roses	Timmy Cleary	Ulu Grosbard
1970	Catch-22	1st Lt. Dobbs	Mike Nichols
1972	No Drums, No Bugles	Ashby Gatrell	Clyde Ware
	Pickup on 101	Les	John Florea
	Rage	Maj. Holliford	George C. Scott
1973	When the Line Goes Through	Bluff Jackson	Clyde Ware
	Badlands	Kit Carruthers	Terrence Malick
	Catholics	Father Kinsella	Jack Gold
1974	The Legend of Earl Durand	Luther Sykes	John Patterson
	The California Kid	Michael McCord	Richard T. Heffron
1976	The Cassandra Crossing	Robby Navarro	George P. Cosmatos
	The Little Girl Who Lives Down the Lane	Frank Hallet	Nicolas Gessner
1977	The Execution of Private Slovik	Eddie Slovik	Lamont Johnson
1979	Apocalypse Now	Captain Benjamin L. Willard	Francis Ford Coppola
	Eagle's Wing	Pike	Anthony Harvey
1980	The Final Countdown	Warren Lasky	Don Taylor
1981	Loophole	Stephen Booker	John Quested
1982	Gandhi	Vince Walker	Richard Attenborough
	That Championship Season	Tom Daley	Jason Miller
1983	Enigma	Alex Holbeck	Jeannot Szwarc
	In the King of Prussia	Judge Samuel Salus II	Emile de Antonio
	Man, Woman and Child	Robert Beckwith	Dick Richards
	The Dead Zone	Greg Stillson	David Cronenberg
1984	Firestarter	Captain Hollister	Mark L. Lester
1985	The Fourth Wise Man	Artaban	Michael Ray Rhodes
1986	A State of Emergency	Dr. Alex Carmody	Richard C. Bennett
1987	The Believers	Cal Jamison	John Schlesinger
	Siesta	Del	Mary Lambert
	Wall Street	Carl Fox	Oliver Stone
1988	Da	Charlie	Matt Clark
	Judgment in Berlin	Herbert J. Stern	Leo Penn
1989	Marked for Murder	Man in park	Rick Sloane
	Cold Front	John Hyde	Allan A. Goldstein
	Beverly Hills Brats	Dr. Jeffrey Miller	Jim Sotos
	Nightbreaker	Dr. Alexander Brown	Peter Markle
	Beyond the Stars	Paul Andrews	David Saperstein
1990	Cadence	MSgt. Otis V. McKinney	Martin Sheen
1991	Touch and Die	Frank	Piernico Solinas
	The Maid	Anthony Wayne	Ian Toynton
	JFK	Narrator	Oliver Stone
1992	Running Wild	Dan Walker	Duncan McLachlan
	Original Intent	Joe	Robert Marcarelli
1993	When the Bough Breaks	Captain Swaggert	Michael Cohn
	My Home, My Prison	Narrator	Susana Blaustein Muñoz
	Ghost Brigade (aka The Killing Box)	Gen. Haworth	George Hickenlooper
	Fortunes of War	Francis Labeck	Thierry Notz
	Hear No Evil	Lt. Brock	Robert Greenwald
	Hot Shots! Part Deux	Capt. Benjamin L. Willard	Jim Abrahams
	Gettysburg	Robert E. Lee	Ronald F. Maxwell
1994	Guns of Honor	Jackson Baines Hardin	David Lister
	Hits!	Kelly	William R. Greenblatt
	Boca	Jesse James Montgomery	Walter Avancini, Zalman King
	The American President	Chief of Staff A.J. McInnerney	Rob Reiner
1995	Sacred Cargo	Father Andrew Kanvesky	Aleksandr Buravsky
	Dillinger and Capone	John Dillinger	Jon Purdy
	Captain Nuke and the Bomber Boys	Jeff Snyder	Charles Gale
	A Hundred and One Nights of Simon Cinema	Himself	Agnès Varda
	The Break	Gil Robbins	Lee H. Katzin
	Dead Presidents	The Judge	Albert Hughes, Allen Hughes
	Gospa	father Jozo Zovko	Jakov Sedlar
1996	The War at Home	Bob Collier	Emilio Estevez
	Entertaining Angels: The Dorothy Day Story	Peter Maurin	Michael Ray Rhodes
1997	Truth or Consequences, N.M	Sir	Kiefer Sutherland
	An Act of Conscience	Narrator	Robbie Leppzer
	Spawn	Jason Wynn	Mark A.Z. Dippé
1998	Family Attraction	President	Brian Hecker
	Stranger in the Kingdom	Sigurd Moulton	Jay Craven
	Gunfighter	The Stranger	Christopher Coppola
	Monument Ave. (aka Snitch)	Hanlon	Ted Demme
	Shadrach	Narrator	Susanna Styron
	A Letter from Death Row	Michael´s Father	Marvin Baker, Bret Michaels
	Free Money	New Warden	Yves Simoneau
	No Code of Conduct	Bill Peterson	Bret Michaels
1999	Ninth Street	Father Frank	Tim Rebman, Kevin Willmott
	Lost & Found	Millstone	Jeff Pollack
	Storm	General James Roberts	Harris Done
	A Texas Funeral	Grandpa Sparta	W. Blake Herron
2001	O	Coach Duke Goulding	Tim Blake Nelson
2002	Catch Me if You Can	Roger Strong	Steven Spielberg
2003	Mercy of the Sea	Frederik	Dominik Sedlar, Jakov Sedlar
	The Commission	Dep. Atty. Gen. Nicholas Katzenbach	Mark Sobel
2004	Jerusalemski sindrom		Dominik Sedlar, Jakov Sedlar
2006	The Departed	Capt. Oliver “Charlie” Queenan	Martin Scorsese
	Bobby	Jack Stevens	Emilio Estevez
2007	Talk To Me	E.G. Sonderling	Kasi Lemmons
	Bordertown	George Morgan	Gregory Nava
	Flatland: The Movie	Arthur Square	Dano Johnson, Jeffrey Travis
2008	A Single Woman	voice	Kamala Lopez
	Traveling	TBA	Brandon Camp

Documentaries

Year	Title	Role	Director(s)
1968	Pat Neal Is Back	Himself	Edward Beyer
1985	Broken Rainbow	Narrator	Maria Florio, Victoria Mudd
	In the Name of the People	Narrator	Frank Christopher
	Spaceflight	Narrator	Blaine Baggett
1988	Walking After Midnight	Himself	Jonathon Kay
1991	Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse	Himself	Fax Bahr, George Hickenlooper
1997	187: Documented	Narrator	Timothy Fong
	Tudjman	Narrator	Jakov Sedlar, Joe Tripician
1998	Taylor's Campaign	Narrator	Richard Cohen
	Holes in Heaven	Narrator	Wendy Robbins
2001	The Papp Project	Himself	Tracie Holder, Karen Thorsen
	SOA: Guns and Greed	Himself	Robert Richter
	Stockpile	Narrator	Stephen Trombley
2002	The Making of Bret Michaels	Himself
	Tibet: Cry of the Snow Lion	Narrator	Tom Piozet
	Straight Up: Helicopters in Action	Narrator	David Douglas
2003	Hidden in Plain Sight	Narrator	John Smihula
2004	Learning to Sea	Narrator	Ziggy Livnat
	Winning New Hampshire	Himself	Aram Fischer, Mark Lynch, William Rabbe
	Tell Them Who You Are	Narrator	Mark Wexler
2005	On the Line: Dissent in an Age of Terrorism	Himself	Peter Glenn, Jason A. Schmidt
	James Dean: Forever Young	Narrator	Michael J. Sheridan
2006	Who Killed the Electric Car?	Narrator	Chris Paine
	Between Iraq and a Hard Place	Narrator	Rex J. Pratt
2008	Flower in the Gun Barrel	Narrator	Gabriel Cowan

Television and Video

Year	Title	Role	Director(s)
1996	The Crystal Cave: Lessons from The Teachings of Merlin (Video)	King Arthur	(Created by Deepak Chopra)
	Alchemy: The Art of Spiritual Transformation (Video)	King Arthur	(Created by Deepak Chopra)
1998	Babylon 5: The River of Souls (TV film)	A Soul Hunter	Janet Greek
1999	Total Recall 2070 (Episode 21 - Virtual Justice)	Praxis	Mark Sobel
1999 - 2006	The West Wing (Seasons 1–7)	President Josiah Bartlet	Aaron Sorkin

External links

• Martin Sheen at IMDb
• Martin Sheen at the TCM Movie Database
• Martin Sheen at MartinSheen.Net Actor's Photo Gallery focusing on over 100 film and television roles and Library of articles and interviews.
• The Progressive magazine interview including Sheen's views on faith, civil disobedience, abortion and pacifism.
• Martin Sheen: Catholic President on Prime Time article at AmericanCatholic.org
• PBS interview with audio clips: Martin Sheen on Poverty, Faith and Social Activism
• 2001 NPR Interview about his experiences filming Apocalypse Now
• Video and audio of Sheen reading "My Country Awake" by Rabindranath Tagore
• QuickTime video of Sheen in the "confessional" on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, February 14 2005
• World Can't Wait website
• 39 peace activists arrested at the Nevada Test Site