Martin Sheen

Ramon Gerardo Antonio Estevez was born to Mary Ann Phelan and Francisco Esteves in Ohio. He was one of their ten children and had a humble starting. Bad luck struck him early; his arm was crushed during birth, limiting the movement. Yet he was not deterred. Inspite of his father's reproaches he chose acting as a career. Today we know him by the name of Martin Sheen.

The prelude

Theatre was the first step to Martin Sheen's acting career. He gathered a group of actors and began his plays. In 1963 he appeared first on the small screen with Nightmare, an episode of the science fiction The Outer Limits. Since then there has been no looking back. The following year he starred in The Subject Was Roses, a Broadway production, and was noticed and in a few years he also bagged the movie with the same name. 1969 was also an important year in Sheen's life for this year he acted in a TV serial named Live Bait as Albert, the assistant to an interrogating officer. Talent will show itself, however small the role might be and so was the case with Sheen. In 1972 he performed in a television movie called That Certain Summer. This movie was notable because it was the first effort in the history of television to portray homosexuality on softer notes.

The acts

Offers kept flowing in and so was the diversity of his skills exhibited. He could handle any Character, with equal ease. If in the California Kid he can be an arrogant driver, he can also play the role of a responsible soldier in the Execution Of Private Slovik. As the soldier he is portrayed as Eddie slovik in the backdrop of the American Civil War. The finesse in his acting was such that he was offered Apocalypse soon after. The movie did well and he was universally acclaimed as a talented artist.

His stature, his countenance, his artistry very often gave him roles of presidents! He had all that a man in a president's stature can have- looks, personality; and of course the talent to make the audience believe that he is indeed the president. He has played John F Kennedy in Kennedy –The Presidential Years, Attorney general Robert Kennedy in the Missiles 'of October, Sinister future president in The Dead Zone.
But The West Wing was the serial that sealed him as the most talented actor. In this serial he played the Character of President Josiah Bartlet, and won a million hearts of TV viewers. The artistry in performing the role was so intense that people were led in a utopia that Sheen was the president. The series has also won him an award.

There have been many upheavals in his life. He was addicted to alcohol for a certain phase of his life and was narrowly saved from a minor heart attack. Yet he has emerged as one of the finest actors in the history of television.