Sheen, Martin (1940– )

US actor. Known for his prolific output on stage, television, and film, he established his career in the early 1960s and went on to perform in a variety of roles in a career spanning nearly half a century. He is best known for his starring role in Francis Ford Coppola's cult classic Vietnam film Apocalypse Now (1979). In the late 1990s he won acclaim for his role as the US president in the popular television drama series The West Wing.

After appearing on stage and television, he made his feature film debut in The Incident (1967). Other major films include US director Terrence Malick's Badlands (1973), the biopic Ghandi (1982), the drama Wall Street (1987), and the comedy The American President (1995). He is the father of actors Emilio Estevez and Charlie Sheen.

He was born and grew up in Dayton, Ohio, the seventh of ten children to a Spanish father and Irish mother. He moved to New York City in 1959 to pursue an acting career, changed his name to avoid ethnic typecasting, and earned his first stage roles at the Living Theater, where he worked backstage alongside fellow aspiring actor Al Pacino. He made his Broadway debut in Never Live Over a Pretzel Factory (1964), and landed a long-term role 1965–70 on the popular soap opera As the World Turns. He moved to Hollywood, California, in 1970 to pursue his film career. He has been active for a variety of social and political causes, especially homelessness.