Martin Sheen
(Captain Hollister)

Martin Sheen is said to have purposefully flunked a college entrance exam to the University of Dayton just so that he could get on with his pursuit of an acting career. He began that career primarily on the New York stage, gaining attention for his leading role in the 1964 Broadway production The Subject Was Roses. He also worked on the small screen as early as 1961 and may have -- on balance -- a more significant legacy in his television work. Sheen was acclaimed for his performance in the 1974 docudrama The Execution of Private Slovik, as well as for characterizations of notable political figures, including Attorney General Robert Kennedy in The Missiles of October (ABC, 1974), Watergate conspirator John Dean in Blind Ambition (CBS, 1979) and President John Kennedy in the 1983 NBC miniseries, Kennedy. His directorial debut, a well-regarded installment of CBS Schoolbreak Special entitled Babies Having Babies (1986), won him a Daytime Emmy. Sheen began appearing in films in 1967 and turned in memorable performances in several landmark '70s features, including Terrence Malick's Badlands (1973) -- as an alienated, amoral yet charismatic killer on the run -- and Francis Ford Coppola's Apocalypse Now (1979), as the military assassin sent to terminate the command of lunatic Marlon Brando. That film's long, laborious shoot in the Philippines took its toll on Sheen, and he suffered a serious heart attack before the film was completed. His busy film career since then has included frequent villainous roles in films like The Dead Zone (1983), Firestarter (1984) and Hear No Evil (1993). He played a victim of dark forces in the urban supernatural thriller The Believers (1987). Sheen's three sons -- Emilio and Ramon Estevez and Charlie Sheen -- are all actors, as is his daughter, Renee Estevez. Sheen turned in a powerful performance as the father of Charlie Sheen in Oliver Stone's Wall Street (1987). Father and son collaborated again on (Martin) Sheen's feature directorial and screenwriting debut, Cadence (1991), which also included son Ramon (Estevez) in the cast. More recently, adding to his small screen resume of political roles, Sheen appears in the top 20 show The West Wing as liberal President Josiah Bartlet. The series premiered in September of 1999 on NBC and recently brought him his third Emmy nomination in a row. Sheen's recent work in films includes We the People, The Making of Bert Michaels, Catch Me If You Can and The Confidence Game (all 2002).