Emilio Estevez says dad Martin Sheen’s biggest mistake was changing his name
Emilio Estevez has spoken about his dad’s deep regret at changing his name from Ramón Estévez to Martin Sheen and says his famous father even warned him against changing his own.
The 82-year-old actor changed his name back in the late 1950s as he attempted to break into Hollywood.
The West Wing star has said previously that he struggled to land roles due to his Hispanic name so decided to change it to Martin Sheen.
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Speaking in 2003, Sheen explained why he felt compelled to change his name, but admitted that it was a source of ‘great regret’.
He told Inside the Actors Studio: “Whenever I would call for an appointment, whether it was a job or an apartment, and I would give my name, there was always that hesitation and when I'd get there, it was always gone.
"So I thought, I got enough problems trying to get an acting job, so I invented Martin Sheen.
“It's still Estevez officially. I never changed it officially. I never will. It's on my driver's license and passport and everything.
"I started using Sheen, I thought I'd give it a try, and before I knew it, I started making a living with it and then it was too late.
“In fact, one of my great regrets is that I didn't keep my name as it was given to me. I knew it bothered my dad.”
His son Emilio - who was once saved from drowning by Laurence Fishburne - has now spoken out about his dad’s regret over switching his name, revealing that his father once said: “Don’t make the same mistake that I did.”
Recalling one occasion when his dad was particularly hard hit with regret, Estevez said that in 1967 his Spanish-born grandfather Francisco went to see Sheen perform in The Subject Was Roses on Broadway.
But when he saw his son’s ‘new name’, Francisco was seen by Sheen ‘shaking his head in disappointment’ and that moment stuck with him.
“He never got over that,” Estevez said. “So, when it was time for me to start making those moves and doing auditions he said, ‘Man, if I had one thing to do over, I never would have changed my name.’”
In an interview last year, Sheen spoke about how grateful he was that his son hadn’t followed suit and changed his name.
He said: “The only influence I had on Emilio was to keep his name.
"When he started out, his agent was advising him to change his name to Sheen and he wouldn’t do it. And I thank God he didn’t.”
Topics: Celebrity, Film and TV
Claire Reid