Martin Sheen has long been known as just that, Martin Sheen, however, he has made no secret of the fact that his real name is Ramón Estévez. The The West Wing star was born in Dayton, Ohio to immigrant parents; his mother Mary-Ann Phelan was Irish, while his father Francisco Estévez Martínez was from Galicia, Spain. The Grace & Frankie star adopted his stage name — a combination of the CBS casting director Robert Dale Martin, who gave him his first big break, and Catholic archbishop and broadcaster Fulton J. Sheen — in 1958 upon venturing into acting, however when it came time for his own kids to pursue an acting career, he “begged” them not to change their name.
Martin, speaking on Josh Horowitz’s podcast Happy Sad Confused, confirmed that though he has been known and worked as Martin Sheen for close to seven decades, “officially” he “never” changed his name. “I’m still Ramón Gerard Antonio Estévez, and I love my name,” he declared.
© Getty ImagesMartin in the 1963 film Nightmare
Martin and his wife Janet Templeton, who he married in 1961, share four children together, Emilio, Ramón, Carlos (Charlie Sheen), and Renée, all of which have pursued acting to some degree, and three of which decided to keep their Spanish names and last names.
© Getty ImagesThe actor with his wife Janet in 2017
“I remember when my children started coming into the profession and they were deciding whether or not to use Estévez,” Martin recalled on the podcast, revealing that Emilio “was on the verge of changing his last name to Sheen,” but that he opted to keep Estévez when he ultimately saw Emilio Sheen written “in print.”
“It just doesn’t fit,” Martin continued, and noted: “And frankly, I begged him to keep it.” His youngest son Charlie has always gone by the name Charlie Sheen and made his fame as such, however he briefly went as his given name Carlos Estévez in the 2013 action film Machete Kills, in which the U.S. president hires an ex-Federale agent to battle his way through Mexico in order to take down an arms dealer.
© Getty ImagesWith his sons Emilio, Ramón and Charlie in 2011
Martin further shared on the podcast that to this day, he “deeply regrets” changing his name. “I arrived at a time and a place where it was hard to get a job as an actor when I started in 1959 in New York City,” he explained, adding. “To have a Hispanic surname at that time was not an advantage because unfortunately, there was great prejudice in the city against the Puerto Rican community … I realized I had to kind of step outside and be more anonymous in terms of nationality.”
© Getty ImagesWith his daughter Renée at the Golden Globes in 2002
Though Puerto Ricans moving to New York City dates back to the mid-1800s, when the island was still a Spanish colony, the post-World War II era saw a dramatic increase of Puerto Ricans moving to New York City, and subsequently anti-Puerto Rican sentiment throughout the city, which, in addition to New York state, is now home to over one million Puerto Ricans.
