American actor Martin Sheen was born in Dayton, Ohio as Ramon Antonio Gerardo Estevez on 3rd August 1940, is married and has 4 children who, like him, are all actors as well.
Martin lost his mother when he was 11 years old and since he had 9 more siblings, they feared that they might end up in an a foster home or orphanage, however, they found help from the local Catholic church and remained together as a family.
Sheen graduated from high school and later was supposed to attend university, but since he had started showing interest in acting, he purposely failed the admission exam to pursue an acting career, albeit against his father’s disapproval. He went on to borrow some money from a priest and travelled to New York where he joined a theatre company and became a social justice activist.
Martin’s acting career took off in the beginning of the 60s when he starred in various episodes of the TV series ‘Insight’ which aired until 1983. During that decade, he mainly appeared in then-popular TV series like ‘Route 66’, ‘The Outer Limits’, ‘My Three Sons’, ‘Flipper’, ‘The F.B.I.’, ‘NYPD’ and ‘Lancer’, amongst others.
This continued also during the 70s, and in addition, Martin interpreted roles in several TV films and big screen movies. To name a few: ‘Badlands’, ‘That Certain Summer’, ‘Sweet Hostage’, ‘Apocalypse Now’, ‘Cannon’, ‘Colombo’ and ‘The Streets of San Francisco’.
By the beginning of the 80s, Sheen had become an established actor and was offered more significant roles, both on the small and the big screen. On many occasions, he also worked alongside his sons and daughter in movies and TV series. In 1990, Martin directed the film ‘Cadence’ in which he stars together with two of his sons, Charlie and Ramon.
In the last 2 decades, Sheen starred in over 30 movies, was the narrator of more than 40 documentaries, voiced several film animated/video game characters, and appeared in about 10 TV series. Probably his best-known role will remain the character of U.S. President Josiah Bartlet in the political series ‘The West Wing’.
Martin is also an avid philanthropist and supports numerous charitable organisations. During his long career, he received a total of 23 awards, including a Golden Globe and an Emmy Award.
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