Martin Sheen

Ramon Gerardo Antonio Esteves was born on 3rd August, in the year 1940. Today he is popularly known as Martin Sheen.

Childhood

Born to immigrant parents, Martin Sheen was one of the ten children in the family. Sheen father was from Vigo, in Galicia, Spain. His mother was of Irish origin, from Borrisocane of county Tipperary. After moving to Dayton, Martin Sheen's father worked with National Cash Register Company. Martin Sheen's early days were in Brown Street in the South Park neighbourhood. He also spent a time of his childhood in Pembroke, due to his father's job there.

Adversity struck him in the bud and due to his mother's forceps delivery; he couldn't move his left arm laterally. Till present that arm is a few inches short. He graduated from Chaminade High School and is Catholic.
At a tender age of 14 he began working in a golf club in Dayton. There he made a mark by arranging for a strike, for the golf caddies, because the golfers very often used foul language in front of them. He was raised humbly by his machine operator father and never had more than the bare necessities.

Making of Martin Sheen

Well, Ramon Gerardo was interested in acting since his childhood but his father did not approve of his decision. Nevertheless Ramon borrowed money from the Catholic priest and went to New York in his quest for fame. He deliberately failed at the University Of Dayton so that he could pursue his acting career. But the city of New York was not that easy for him. It was here that he took the name of Martin Sheen, borrowed from Robert Dale Martin and Fulton J Sheen. Both these two personalities had an influence in his life. Robert dale Martin gave him his first big break.

Martin Sheen now began producing plays by grouping a small group of actors. Television first opened the doors for him, and he had a small appearance in the episode Nightmare of the science fiction series The Outer Limits. Things got better even when he got a chance in one of Broadway plays called The Subject was Roses. His talent was showing itself and a few years later he bagged the movie adaptation of the same play.

The Peak

Offers kept creeping in and his career graph kept getting steeper and steeper. Apocalypse Now is one of his best movies. Here Martin Sheen plays the role of an assassin in the backdrop of the Vietnam War. From being the responsible leader in Apocalypse Now to the insane killer in Badlands, all Characters were faithfully served with his natural flair for acting. His Strong Character performances are also seen in the award winning movies such as Gandhi and Catch Me If You Can.

But his most acclaimed television serial was The West Wing, in which his Character was of the president Josiah Bartlet.

In spite of his humble background and bad habits of alcoholism, he kept soaring high. The septuagenarian actor has created his strong mark in Hollywood.