Trivia

Suffered a severe heart attack while filming Apocalypse Now (1979).

Never officially changed his real name to his stage one. He is still Ramon Estevez on all identifications and legal documents, and all his children were born under that name. He answers to both names with friends, but his wife first met him as Martin (he did not tell her his real name until weeks later) and as a result she still calls him that.

Was arrested more than 70 times, mainly for liberal protests.

He can only put his jacket on by flipping it over his head (like Bartlet in The West Wing (1999)). His left arm was crushed by forceps when he was born and he has limited lateral movement.

Father of Charlie Sheen, Emilio Estevez, Renée Estevez and Ramon Estevez (full birth name: Ramon Antonio Gerard Luis Estevez, Junior).

His left arm is 3" shorter than his right due to complications during his birth.

Considers his late The West Wing (1999) co-star John Spencer his best friend. Like Spencer, Sheen successfully recovered from drug and alcohol addictions.

According to friends and family, he is closer to son Charlie than anyone else. Indeed, he and Charlie often appear together on the screen, and Martin has even played Charlie's on-screen father twice. He also appeared as an older "Charlie" in a credit-card commercial.

Has memorized and can sing every single Frank Sinatra song.

Publicly credited Carroll O'Connor for helping his son Charlie to get off drugs and back on the right track. He read one of the scriptures at Carroll's funeral.

Pursuing a three-year Bachelor of Arts degree in English literature, philosophy, and oceanography at the National University of Ireland (NUIG), Galway, Ireland. (October 2006)

President Bartlet's habit of forgetting the names of staff is a reference to the fact that Sheen is known to be terrible at remembering the names of cast and crew members.

On Who Do You Think You Are? (2010), he found some interesting things about his family. He traced some of his fathers ancestors in Spain and found out his fourth great-grandfather was a Don who had an extramarital affair with Martin's fourth great-grandmother and had six kids with her. After doing some more digging, they found out he was a judge and found a court case he tried about a girl who had an affair with a cleric and had an abortion. Unbelievably, while doing the genealogy, this turned out that the girl was also his fourth great-grandmother. 150 years after the court case, their second great-grandchildren married each other and became Martin's grandparents.

His mother, Mary Ann Phelan, was an Irish emigrant with IRA connections, from Borrisokane, County Tipperary. His father, Francisco Estevez, was a Spaniard who came to the United States by way of Cuba, from Parderrubias, Galicia.

His admiration for the Reverend Fulton J. Sheen prompted him to adopt the bishop's name for his acting career.

His father, Francisco Estevez, died shortly before the premiere of Blind Ambition (1979). As he was unable to attend the funeral, Martin mourned his father in the scene in which John Dean cries in his jail cell.

Purposely flunked his college entrance exam to the University of Dayton so that he could pursue an acting career instead. His father wholeheartedly disapproved until he had gained popular success, not even seeing Martin act until he saw him on the screen at a drive-in in his hometown of Dayton, Ohio.

Auditioned for the role of Michael Corleone in The Godfather (1972). He was also considered for Tom Hagen.

Is the seventh of ten children; his parents met at citizenship school in Dayton.

Is a strong advocate for the closing of the School of the Americas, a military base that trains Latin American soldiers (allegedly teaching techniques of torture and political terror). Has been involved in a large protest every year since 1998.

He has never been nominated for an Academy Award.

Pleaded guilty and was sentenced to three years probation for trespassing at an Air Force base during a protest against the United States building a missile defense system. (June 27, 2001)

An opponent of euthanasia, he taped an ad in 2008 urging residents of Washington State to vote no on Initiative 1000, which would allow doctor assisted suicide of terminally ill patients. The initiative passed.

Has played American presidents four times; Jed Bartlet on TV series The West Wing (1999), in the TV movie Medusa's Child (1997), as John F. Kennedy in the miniseries Kennedy (1983), and as the "future" president (in a premonition) Greg Stilson in The Dead Zone (1983).

Underwent quadruple heart bypass surgery in December 2015.

Martin was one of 22 people arrested for crossing over a line established by the Air Force in an anti-militarization protest at California's Vandenberg Air Force base. He was charged with trespassing. (October 7, 2000)

As an admirer and supporter of actor James Dean and his legacy, he worked to preserve the high school in Fairmount, IN that Dean attended. In addition, he has visited Fairmount for Dean-related events.

He has appeared in six films that have been nominated for the Best Picture Oscar: Apocalypse Now (1979), Gandhi (1982), JFK (1991) The Departed (2006), Selma (2014) and Judas and the Black Messiah (2021). Gandhi and The Departed won in the category.

From 1962-1964 he lived at 30 Daniel Low Terrace in St. George, Staten Island, New York; the same building Paul Newman lived in 10 years earlier. His son Emilio was born on the floor of the kitchen.

Of all the U.S. presidents, he admires Jimmy Carter the most.

Has played both Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy in The Missiles of October (1974) and President John F. Kennedy in the miniseries Kennedy (1983), and is one of only three actors to portray both brothers. The other two are Cliff De Young and Kevin Anderson.

He was awarded a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1500 Vine Street in Hollywood, California on August 22, 1989.

He has appeared in two films that have been selected for the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically or aesthetically" significant: Badlands (1973) and Apocalypse Now (1979).

Due to his commitment to The West Wing (1999), was unable to reprise the role of Robert E. Lee in the Gettysburg (1993) prequel, Gods and Generals (2003). The role was instead played by Lee descendant Robert Duvall, who starred with Sheen in the popular Vietnam War film Apocalypse Now (1979).

Older brother of actor Joe Estevez.

Along with Steve McQueen and James Dean, is mentioned in the song "Electrolite" by the rock band R.E.M.

He was considered for the role of Sgt. Max Greevey on Law & Order (1990), which went to George Dzundza.

One of his earliest successes as an actor was playing the role of Timmy Cleary in the Pulitzer Prize-winning play "The Subject Was Roses" on Broadway, for which he was nominated for the 1965 Tony Award for Supporting or Featured Actor in a Drama. He also played the same role in the 1968 film version. Forty-six years later, in 2010, he again appeared in a production of "The Subject Was Roses", but this time playing the role of John Cleary, Timmy's father (and this time in Los Angeles instead of New York).

Currenty resides in Malibu, California.

He has two roles in common with Cliff Robertson: (1) Robertson played John F. Kennedy in PT 109 (1963) while Sheen played him in Kennedy (1983) and (2) Robertson played Ben Parker in Spider-Man (2002), Spider-Man 2 (2004) and Spider-Man 3 (2007) while Sheen played him in The Amazing Spider-Man (2012) and The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014).

He was considered for the recurring role of Luther Sloan on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1993), which went to William Sadler.

Stumped in Florida for Democratic gubernatorial candidate Janet Reno in her unsuccessful campaign against sitting Governor Jeb Bush, June 2002. Reno also drew major support from Rosie O'Donnell and Elton John.

Alumnus of Stella Adler Studio of Acting.

Ranked #5 on Tropopkin's Top 25 Most Intriguing People [Issue #100]

Grandfather of Taylor Estevez, Paloma Estevez, Lola Rose Sheen, Bob Sheen, Max Sheen and Cassandra Sheen.

Former father-in-law of Donna Peele, Denise Richards, Paula Abdul and Brooke Mueller.

Dubbed John Ratzenberger's voice in Gandhi (1982).

Received an honorary degree (Doctor of Letters) from Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin (2003), during the dedication of the school's new library (according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel website).

He has 9 hobbies: golfing, hiking, jogging, fishing, sailing, politics, poetry, reading and spending time with family.

Was nominated for Broadway's 1965 Tony Award as Best Supporting or Featured Actor (Dramatic) for "The Subject Was Roses", a role that he recreated in the film version of the same name, The Subject Was Roses (1968).