Martin Sheen 'Deeply' Regrets Changing His Name for Hollywood Career, 'Begged' Son Emilio Estevez to Keep His Jack SmartNovember 1, 2025 at 2:35 AM 1 Phillip Faraone/Getty; Jason Mendez/Getty Martin Sheen; Emilio Estevez When Martin Sheen first launched his acting career, he picked that name as a professional moniker over Ramón Gerard Antonio Estévez When Sheen was asked about that decision in a recent interview, the actor said, "I regret it deeply" He also "begged" his actor son, Emilio Estevez, to keep his real name Ramón Gerard Antonio Estévez — better known as Martin Sheen — regrets his na...
- - Martin Sheen 'Deeply' Regrets Changing His Name for Hollywood Career, 'Begged' Son Emilio Estevez to Keep His
Jack SmartNovember 1, 2025 at 2:35 AM
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Phillip Faraone/Getty; Jason Mendez/Getty
Martin Sheen; Emilio Estevez -
When Martin Sheen first launched his acting career, he picked that name as a professional moniker over Ramón Gerard Antonio Estévez
When Sheen was asked about that decision in a recent interview, the actor said, "I regret it deeply"
He also "begged" his actor son, Emilio Estevez, to keep his real name
Ramón Gerard Antonio Estévez — better known as Martin Sheen — regrets his name change.
The 85-year-old actor appeared on Josh Horowitz's Happy Sad Confused show on Friday, Oct. 31 to discuss his legendary career.
"You know, officially I've never changed my name," explained Sheen. "I'm still Ramón Gerard Antonio Estévez. And I love my name. I just arrived at a time and a place where it was hard enough to get a job as an actor. When I started in 1959 in New York City — to have a Hispanic surname at that time was not an advantage."
The Emmy winner explained that "because unfortunately there was great prejudice in the city against the Puerto Rican community" at that time, "I kept my name but I realized I had to kind of step outside and be more anonymous in terms of nationality."
Mark Sullivan/WireImage
(Left-right:) Emilio Estevez, Ramon Estevez, Martin Sheen and Charlie Sheen in 2011
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When Horowitz asked about his late father Francisco, an immigrant from Spain, the West Wing star said that changing his professional moniker name to Martin Sheen "did bother" him. "He didn't express it as such," he recalled, but upon seeing Sheen's name on the marquee for 1964 Broadway play The Subject Was Roses, "he did not recognize the name. He never said anything but I knew from the look on his face and so forth."
As for the rest of his family of entertainers, Sheen said that he "begged" his eldest son, Emilio Estevez, to stick with the clan's Spanish roots. "I remember when my children started coming into the profession and they were deciding whether or not to use Estevez or to change it, Emilio was on the verge," he said. (Of Sheen's other kids, Ramon and Renée kept the name Estevez, while Charlie Sheen opted for the Anglicized change.)
"Then he saw [Sheen] in print," recalled the Apocalypse Now star with a laugh. "It just doesn't fit. And frankly, I begged him to keep it."
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Martin Sheen and Emilio Estevez in 2011
The Breakfast Club star, 63, "made his own decision to keep Emilio. And I was very proud of him," added Sheen. "I still am."
Sheen appeared recently as a guest star on The CW's series Wild Cards, and has drama film The One among his upcoming projects.
on People
Source: "AOL Entertainment"
Source: Entertainment
Published: October 31, 2025 at 05:00PM on Source: COSMOPOLITE
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