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.
His left arm is 3" shorter than his right due to complications during his birth.
His mother, Mary Ann Phelan, was an Irish immigrant with IRA connections, and his father, Francisco Estevez, was a Spaniard who came to the U.S. by way of Cuba.
His parents met at citizenship school in Dayton
In 2004, he was listed as an endorser of March for Women's Lives. After learning about this, Feminists for Life, an organization that named him as a "Remarkable Pro-Life Man" in 2001, brought this to his attention, informing him that March for Women's Lives was a pro-choice group. At his request, March for Women's Lives removed his name from their list.
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.
Is portrayed by James Hayden in The Patricia Neal Story (1981) (TV)
Is the seventh of ten children
Lives in Malibu, California.
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. [7 October 2000]
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.
Of all the U.S. presidents, he admires Jimmy Carter the most.
Older brother of actor Joe Estevez.
On the TV Show Who do you think you are? Martin Sheen 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 Martins 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, it 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 Martins grandparents.
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).
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. [27 June 2001]
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.
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.
Ranked #5 on Tropopkin's Top 25 Most Intriguing People [Issue #100]
Received an honorary doctor of letters degree from Marquette University (2003) in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, during the dedication of the school's new library (according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel web site).