The son of immigrant parents -- his mother Irish and his father a Spaniard who reached America via Cuba -- Martin Sheen became an actor despite his father's resounding disapproval. Born Ramon Estevez in Dayton, Ohio, on Aug. 3, 1940, he took his stage surname from a man he deeply respected: the Rev. Fulton J. Sheen.The young thespian worked in daytime drama and theater before making his big-screen debut; he gained notoriety for his performance in the 1968 film The Subject Was Roses. Sheen's other impressive movie credits include Catch-22 (1970), Badlands (1973), Apocalypse Now (1979), Wall Street (1987) and The American President (1995). Along with several Emmy nods, Sheen copped a Golden Globe Award (in 2001) for his leading role as the president in the television series "The West Wing."
An activist for progressive causes, he's the father of actors Charlie Sheen and Emilio Estevez.
Apocalypse Now / Apocalypse Now ReduxFrancis Ford Coppola's timeless epic adapts Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness to the Vietnam War, where special operations Capt. Willard (Martin Sheen) must travel deep into the Cambodian jungle to locate and kill the mysterious -- and insane -- Col. Kurtz (Marlon Brando). This double feature... Read More
The BelieversMourning the accidental death of his wife and having just moved to New York with his young son, laconic police psychologist Cal Jamison (Martin Sheen) is reluctantly drawn into a series of grisly, ritualistic murders involving the immolation of two youths. Using what meager clues he has, Cal... Read More
Man, Woman and ChildWhen college professor Robert Beckwith (Martin Sheen) learns he has a 9-year-old son from an affair he had in France, the discovery shakes up his once-happy family. Although hurt, his wife, Sheila (Blythe Danner), suggests they bring the boy, Jean-Claude (Sebastian Dungan), to California for a... Read More
Nature: KokoIn the 1970s, a gorilla named Koko taught scientists much more than they'd imagined about how animals, humans included, communicate. This documentary, part of the popular Nature series and narrated by Martin Sheen, examines how Koko interacts with the doctors who studied her, including lead... Read More
Presumed GuiltyWhen troubled young Bobby (Brendan Fraser) is falsely accused and wrongfully convicted of murder, even his family has doubts about his innocence. But Bobby's father (Martin Sheen) is convinced that his son is innocent, leading to an impassioned struggle to free him from prison. A powerful indictment... Read More
