Martin Sheen may be a household name, but the actor himself wants you to know him by his real name.
Sheen, the son of a Spanish immigrant father and an Irish immigrant mother, was born Ramón Estévez. In an interview with Closer Weekly posted Monday, the “Apocalypse Now” star said he wishes he had used his real name when he was starting out as an actor.
“That’s one of my regrets,” he told the magazine. “I never officially changed my name. It’s still Ramón Estévez on my birth certificate. He is on my marriage license, my passport, driver’s license.”
He attributed the decision to being naive when he started in show business.
“Sometimes you get convinced when you don’t have enough insight or even enough courage to stand up for what you believe in, and you pay for it later,” he said. “But of course I’m just speaking for myself.”
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He added that when his son, Emilio Estévez, began acting professionally, he advised him to stay true to his name.
“The only influence I had on Emilio was keeping his name,” Sheen told Closer. “When he started, his agent advised him to change his name to Sheen and he didn’t. And I thank God he didn’t.”
Sheen’s other famous son, Charlie Sheen, didn’t initially follow the same advice.
In 2013, he was credited in the Robert Rodriguez film “Machete Kills” under his real name, Carlos Estevez, on the title cards.
But in 2017’s “Mad Families,” Charlie Sheen was credited by his professional name.
