Martin Sheen Regrets Not Using His Real Name For His Acting Career

June 22, 2022 / Posted by:

On August 3, 1940, Ramón Antonio Gerardo Estévez was born to Mary-Ann (from Ireland) and Francisco Estévez Martínez (from Galicia, Spain). That young boy would grow up to be actor Martin Sheen. Ramón became Martin near the beginning of his acting career, and, in a recent interview with Closer, the 81-year-old admits that anglicizing his name is “one of his regrets.” The other ones are all Charlie Sheen-related.

Closer asked Martin if he was sorry he changed his name, and this was his answer:

“That’s one of my regrets. I never changed my name officially. It’s still Ramon Estévez on my birth certificate. It’s on my marriage license, my passport, driver’s license. Sometimes you get persuaded when you don’t have enough insight or even enough courage to stand up for what you believe in, and you pay for it later. But, of course, I’m only speaking for myself.”

Martin got “Martin” from CBS casting director Robert Dale Martin, who gave him his first big break, and “Sheen” from Catholic televangelist Bishop Fulton J. Sheen. In Martin’s Inside the Actor’s Studio episode from 2003, he got into the reasons why he made the change. Spoiler alert: people were racist!:

Whenever I would call for an appointment, whether it was a job or an apartment, and I would give my name, there was always that hesitation and when I’d get there, it was always gone. So I thought, I got enough problems trying to get an acting job, so I invented Martin Sheen.

It’s still Estévez officially. I never changed it officially. I never will. It’s on my driver’s license and passport and everything. I started using Sheen, I thought I’d give it a try, and before I knew it, I started making a living with it and then it was too late. In fact, one of my great regrets is that I didn’t keep my name as it was given to me. I knew it bothered my dad.

The Closer interviewer asks Martin if he objected to his kids becoming actors, and he admits that he was too “self-involved and trying to be a provider” to even notice they were interested in show biz:

I was doing a show one time, and Emilio showed up. I thought he was there to visit me, but he’d gotten a part in the same show. The only influence I had on Emilio was to keep his name. When he started out, his agent was advising him to change his name to Sheen and he wouldn’t do it. And I thank God he didn’t.

So Emilio Estévez kept his name, but Charlie Sheen (born Carlos Estévez) switched to his father’s stage name. Charlie also passed down the Sheen name to his kids, including 18-year-old daughter Sami Sheen (who recently joined OnlyFans). Here’s a retro clip of Charlie talking about the name change:

I was curious to see what Martin’s parents looked like, and holy moly, check out daddy Francisco! The spitting image of Martin, Charlie, and Emilio:

Did Charlie ever try snorting his own genes? Cuz that shit is strong.

Pic: Lionel Hahn/AbacaUSA/Instarimages.com

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