Martin Sheen (born August 3, 1940) is an American actor. Sheen was born Ramon Estevez in Dayton, Ohio. A Roman Catholic, he adopted the stage name Sheen in honor of priest and theologian Fulton J. Sheen. Martin Sheen is of Irish and Spanish extraction.
Sheen had wanted to act since he was very young, but his father disapproved. He purposely flunked out of the University of Dayton so that he could pursue his goal. His first major role was on Broadway, in The Subject Was Roses, which he recreated in the 1968 film of the same name. But he did not receive another important part until 1973, when he starred with Sissy Spacek in the crime drama Badlands. It was his 1979 starring role in Apocalypse Now which gained him fame. He received much critical acclaim for his starring role as Private Eddie Slovik in the motion-picture story of the last American soldier to be sentenced to execution at a court-martial.
Sheen married fellow actor Janet Templeton in 1961, and the two have four children, all actors:
Sheen has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, at 1500 Vine Street.