Martin Sheen Role : President Jed Bartlet
Birthday               : August 3-1940
Birthplace            : Dayton, Ohio, USA
Birth Name           : Ramón Gerard Antonio Estévez
Recent Role          : Himself - Presenter on The Primetime Emmy Awards
Height                 : 5′ 7″ (1.70 m)
Gender                : Male

Martin Sheen was born to Mary Ann an immigrant from County Tipperary, Ireland and Francisco Estévez, a factory worker/machinery inspector from Parderrubias, Galicia, Spain in Dayton, Ohio. His maternal side of family has some connections with Irish Republican Army and her mother had taken part in the Irish War of Independence. He took his name, Sheen, after the archbishop and theologian, Fulton J. Sheen. He has 9 siblings, 1 sister and 8 brothers. One of his brothers is the famous actor Joe Estevez. He enrolled Chaminade Julienne Catholic High School. His father had been a representative of IBM and that’s why their family stayed in Bermuda during the 1930s.

He started developing interest in acting at a very young age. But, making his way tough was his father’s orders not to take interest in such a field. Not listening to his father, he borrowed some money from a Catholic priest and moved to New York City. Sheen himself confessed that he deliberately failed the entrance exam for the University of Dayton in order to pursue his acting career. In May 2008, Sheen was awarded the Laetare Medal, the highest honor bestowed on American Catholics. James Dean has a very great impact on his personality.

In 1963, Martin Sheen appeared in an episode of ‘The Outer Limits’ entitled ‘Nightmare’. In the very next year, he was seen in ‘The Subject Was Roses’, a Broadway play. He was next seen in the 1972 TV movie ‘That Certain Summer’. In the crime drama ‘Badlands’, he appeared along with Sissy Spacek. In the 1974 TV movie, Martin Sheen appeared as a hot rod driver. And, in the same year he received an Emmy Award nomination for Best Actor in a television drama for his role of Pvt. Eddie Slovik in ‘The Execution of Private Slovik’. His splendid performance in this movie forced Francis Ford Coppola to choose him for an important role on ‘Apocalypse Now’. He has also given his voice to Eyewitness Movie series. After he finished shooting the episodes of ‘The West Wing’, he announced that he wanted to further his studies. Finally, he started his full time studies at the National University of Ireland in 2006. He dropped out the university after the first semester.

He has been related to politics both in his real life and reel life. In the miniseries Kennedy, Martin Sheen portrayed the US President John F. Kennedy. In the TV special The Missiles of October, he portrayed Attorney General Robert Kennedy, in the ‘The American President’, Sheen appeared as White House Chief of Staff AJ McInnerney; in ‘The Dead Zone’ we saw him portraying the creepy future president Greg Stillson; in the very acclaimed TV drama, Sheen appeared as fictional president Josiah Bartlet. He credits the University of Dayton as the one which has major impact on his public activism. The man has a very long political career.

Martin Sheen married Janet Templeton, an art student on December 23, 1961. the couple has four children and they all are well known actors. He has five grandchildren as well. In 1989, he became the Honorary Mayor of Malibu, California. The most astonishing fact about his personality is that his left arm is three inches shorter than the right. Sheen has been appeared as the father of sons Emilio and Charlie in various projects. In the very popular drama ‘Two and a Half men’, he made guest appearance as the father of Rose, Charlie’s neighbor.

He has received six Emmy nominations as the Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series for his brilliant performance on ‘The West Wing’. For the very same role, he won a Golden Globe and two Sag awards for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series. Throughout his acting career, he has been nominated for over 10 Emmy Awards and has won one. No. of his total nominations for Golden Globe is eight.

Role on ‘The West Wing’
On ‘The West Wing’, Martin Sheen appeared as Josiah Edward ‘Jed’ Bartlet, the president of United States. He remained at his position till the end of the series when his successor was inaugurated.