Martin Sheen

Martin Sheen
Sheen in 2008
Born
Ramón Gerard Antonio Estévez

(1940-08-03) August 3, 1940 (age 84)
Dayton, Ohio, U.S.
Citizenship
  • United States
  • Ireland[1]
Occupations
  • Actor
  • activist
Years active1961–present
Political partyDemocratic
Spouse
​
(m. 1961)​
Children
RelativesJoe Estevez (brother)
FamilyEstevez
Martin Sheen's voice
from the BBC programme Desert Island Discs, April 3, 2011[2]
Signature

Ramón Gerard Antonio Estévez (born August 3, 1940), known professionally as Martin Sheen, is an American actor. In a career spanning six decades he has received numerous accolades including three Emmy Awards, a Golden Globe Award, and four Screen Actors Guild Awards.

Sheen rose to prominence in his breakthrough roles in Terrence Malick's crime drama Badlands (1973) and Francis Ford Coppola's Vietnam War drama Apocalypse Now (1979). Sheen is also known for such notable films as The Subject Was Roses (1968), Catch-22 (1970), The California Kid (1974), Gandhi (1982), Wall Street (1987), Gettysburg (1993), The American President (1995), Catch Me If You Can (2002), The Departed, Bobby (both 2006), and Judas and the Black Messiah (2021). He also portrayed Uncle Ben in The Amazing Spider-Man (2012).

He is also known for portraying Robert F. Kennedy in The Missiles of October (1974), Eddie Slovik in The Execution of Private Slovik (1974), John Dean in Blind Ambition (1979), and John F. Kennedy in Kennedy (1983). He received the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series for his role in Murphy Brown (1994). He played President Jed Bartlet in The West Wing, for which he received six Emmy nominations. He played Robert Hanson in the Netflix series Grace and Frankie (2015–2022).

Born and raised in the United States by a Galician 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 sons Charlie and Ramón. He has narrated, produced, and directed documentary projects and has been active in liberal politics.

  1. ^ Hogan, Eugene (May 21, 2003). "President Sheen returns to his 'holy land'". Irish Independent. Retrieved February 14, 2018.
  2. ^ "Martin Sheen". Desert Island Discs. April 3, 2011. BBC Radio 4. Retrieved January 18, 2014.
  3. ^ Belcher, David (February 22, 2010). "Sheen's Circle, From Son to Father". The New York Times. Retrieved April 14, 2011.