About Martin Sheen
Ramón Antonio Gerardo Estévez (born August 3, 1940), known professionally as Martin Sheen, is an American actor. His work spans more than six decades of television and film, and his accolades include three Emmy Awards, a Golden Globe Award, and four Actor Awards. In 1989, he received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. In 2025, The Independent ranked Sheen as the greatest actor never to have been nominated for an Academy Award. Sheen was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Play for his breakthrough performance in The Subject Was Roses (1964). He later starred in its 1968 film adaptation, which earned him a Golden Globe Award nomination. He achieved further recognition for his roles in Terrence Malick's crime drama Badlands (1973) and Francis Ford Coppola's Vietnam War drama Apocalypse Now (1979), the latter earning him a nomination for the BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role. His other notable films include Catch-22 (1970), The Little Girl Who Lives Down the Lane (1976), Gandhi (1982), The Dead Zone (1983), Wall Street (1987), Gettysburg (1993), The American President (1995), Catch Me If You Can (2002), The Departed, Bobby (both 2006), The Way (2010), The Amazing Spider-Man (2012), and Judas and the Black Messiah (2021). Sheen received the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series for his role in Murphy Brown (1994), and later received widespread acclaim portraying President Josiah "Jed" Bartlet in The West Wing (1999–2006), for which he received six nominations for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series tying the record for most nominations without a win in the category. His other work in television includes roles such as Eddie Slovik in The Execution of Private Slovik (1974), Robert F. Kennedy in The Missiles of October (1974), Michael McCord in The California Kid (1974), John Dean in Blind Ambition (1979), and John F. Kennedy in Kennedy (1983). He later played Robert Hanson in the Netflix series Grace and Frankie (2015–2022). Born and raised in the United States by a Spanish father and an Irish mother, he adopted the stage name Martin Sheen to help him gain acting parts. 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. He adopted his stage name, Martin Sheen, from a combination of the CBS casting director, Robert Dale Martin, who gave him his first big break, and Catholic archbishop and broadcaster, Fulton J. So I thought, I got enough problems trying to get an acting job, so I invented Martin Sheen. Also in 1973, Sheen appeared opposite David Janssen in "Such Dust As Dreams Are Made On", the first pilot for the television series Harry O. He then co-starred in the controversial Emmy Award-winning 1972 television film That Certain Summer, said to be the first television movie in America to portray homosexuality in a sympathetic light. His work spans more than six decades of television and film, and his accolades include three Emmy Awards, a Golden Globe Award, and four Screen Actors Guild Awards.
Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.