People

Martin Sheen

Acting · follow into films and chains

Biography

Ramón Antonio Gerardo Estévez (born August 3, 1940), known professionally as Martin Sheen, is an American actor. He first became known for his roles in the films The Subject Was Roses (1968) and Badlands (1973), and later achieved wide recognition for his leading role as Captain Benjamin Willard in Apocalypse Now (1979), as U.S. President Josiah Bartlet in the television series The West Wing (1999–2006), and as Robert Hanson in the Netflix television series Grace and Frankie (2015–2022). In film, Sheen has won the Best Actor award at the San Sebastián International Film Festival for his performance as Kit Carruthers in Badlands. Sheen's portrayal of Capt. Willard in Apocalypse Now earned a nomination for the BAFTA Award for Best Actor. Sheen has worked with a wide variety of film directors, including Richard Attenborough, Francis Ford Coppola, Terrence Malick, David Cronenberg, Mike Nichols, Martin Scorsese, Steven Spielberg, and Oliver Stone. Sheen received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1989. In television, Sheen has won a Golden Globe and two Screen Actors Guild awards for playing the role of President Josiah Bartlet in The West Wing, and an Emmy for guest starring in the sitcom Murphy Brown. In 2012, he portrayed Uncle Ben in The Amazing Spider-Man directed by Marc Webb. Born and raised in the United States by a Spanish father and an Irish mother, he adopted the stage name Martin Sheen to help him gain acting parts. He is the father of four children, all of whom are actors. Sheen has directed one film, Cadence (1990), in which he appears alongside his sons Charlie and Ramón. He has narrated, produced, and directed documentary television, earning two Daytime Emmy awards in the 1980s, and has been active in liberal politics.

Notable films

Where to start

Highlights from credits and KinoChain journeys.

The Departed

Appears in a KinoChain journey

The Amazing Spider-Man

As Uncle Ben

Appears in a KinoChain journey

Catch Me If You Can

As Roger Strong

Apocalypse Now

As Captain Benjamin Willard

Wall Street

As Carl Fox

Gandhi

As Vince Walker

Judas and the Black Messiah

As J. Edgar Hoover

Chains

KinoChain journeys

Public chains that pass through their films — or name them as a bridge.

Browse all chains

Remakes That Missed but Matter

From Neil LaBute's Wicker Man to Luca Guadagnino's Suspiria, a journey through remakes that stumbled yet reveal why we keep returning to the classics.

8 films

When the Camera Refuses to Blink

A chain of films about people who have crossed a line, and the directors who hold the lens steady. No absolution, no easy exits, only the long look at what we a...

7 films

Topics