Before he became the beloved actor known as Martin Sheen, he was Ramon Estévez.. And he actually still is legally!
The Emmy-winning actor says the name on his passport and birth certificate has never changed. But when he arrived in New York in 1959 to pursue acting, he faced a painful reality: anti-Hispanic prejudice could make a Spanish last name a barrier to getting work.
So, as he tried to find his place in the industry, Ramon Estévez became “Martin Sheen.”
The name was not chosen at random. It was a tribute to two men who had profoundly shaped him: an encouraging CBS casting director named Robert Dale Martin and the celebrated Catholic bishop, television evangelist and now Blessed Fulton J. Sheen.
And years later, the actor had a chance to meet the holy man whose name he had borrowed… an encounter that ended with an archbishop on his hands and knees, helping collect Juicy Fruit candy from the floor for a screaming five year old.
Commanding an Audience: Growing Up Watching Fulton Sheen
As a boy, Martin Sheen watched Fulton J. Sheen’s groundbreaking Catholic television broadcasts. The future bishop was a familiar face in American homes, delivering talks on faith, morality and Catholic teaching with a striking presence that captured the young actor’s imagination.
“He was a TV star. Go figure,” Martin Sheen recalled. “He had prime time, half hour every Tuesday night on one of the major networks.”
The actor admitted he did not always grasp every theological point in the archbishop’s presentations. But he understood that Fulton Sheen had something rare: the ability to command an audience.
“His manner, his whole person — he was like a Shakespearean actor,” Martin Sheen said. “He was very powerful. These eyes, you know, just burned through the camera.”
For Sheen, Bl. Fulton J. Sheen was proof that conviction and communication could go together, that a man speaking about God could also be captivating.
“I didn’t always understand what he was saying, but I loved hearing him and watching him do it,” he said. “I thought that I’ll just grab that name as an inspiration.”
The Name That Opened a Door
There was, of course, one practical problem.
After booking a job as “Martin Sheen,” the young actor received a check but could not cash it. His legal identification still said Ramon Estévez.
So he wrote to the Social Security office and explained that he was beginning to work under a professional name. He said the agency ultimately issued him a Social Security card under the name Martin Sheen, using the same number as his Ramon Estévez card.
“I have two Social Security cards,” Sheen said. “So I work as an actor under Sheen, and any other job I do, I go as Estévez.”
The stage name helped him navigate an industry that was too often hostile to Hispanic performers. Yet he never surrendered the name given to him by his family.
The Day He Met Archbishop Sheen
Years later, while appearing in a Broadway play, Martin Sheen received a message from an unexpected visitor backstage: Fulton Sheen’s secretary.
She had heard that the actor had taken the archbishop’s last name.
“She said, ‘I understand you took his name. Would you like to meet him?’” Sheen recalled.
His answer was immediate.
“I said, ‘I would.’”
Sheen went to meet Archbishop Sheen at his office in the Empire State Building. Feeling nervous, he brought along his young son, Emilio, about 5 years old at the time.
But Emilio was not a fan of the noisy New York subway. To make the trip easier, his father bought him a little box of Juicy Fruit gum.
That small gesture created a moment Martin Sheen never forgot.
During the visit, Emilio dropped the box. The gum scattered across the floor, and the young boy became upset.
Martin Sheen tried to reassure his son. Then Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen joined in.
“The bishop and I are down on our hands and knees,” Sheen said. “It’s all right. We’re picking up the Juicy Fruits.”
For a young father who had admired Fulton Sheen from afar, the moment revealed the humility behind the famous television presence. The man whose eyes had seemed to “burn through the camera” was willing to get down on the floor to comfort a frightened child.
“That’s my first image of Fulton Sheen,” Martin Sheen said. “I said, ‘I think I made a good choice taking this guy’s name.’”
A Name, an Influence, and a Witness
Bl. Fulton J. Sheen’s influence extended far beyond the thousands (and eventually millions) who watched him preach through the new medium of television. For one young aspiring actor, he represented something unforgettable: faith spoken with clarity, confidence and a compelling sense of mission.
Martin Sheen’s story offers a warm reminder of why the archbishop’s legacy endures and was shared at Fulton J. Sheen’s beatification in St. Louis on September 24th to those in attendance.
The newly Blessed’s words drew people in. His television presence inspired an actor. And in a quiet office in the Empire State Building, his kindness was shown not in a homily or a broadcast, but in the simple act of picking up pieces of candy beside a nervous young father and his son.
This is the amazing story of how one Catholic Emmy winning “TV star” inspired the life of yet another Catholic Emmy winning TV star, and a reminder that when we follow the calling and vocation God places before us, we never know the extraordinary things He may have in store.