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Martin Sheen is one of the busiest, most conscientious actors in Hollywood, putting together a Herculean body of work. He became established playing youths run amok, and though the resume boasts its share of villains, he has grown over the years into a patriarchal figure, whose rectitude and social responsibility are in keeping with his liberal Catholic activism.

Born Ramon Estevez to immigrant parents, Sheen left his Dayton, Ohio home for the bright lights of NYC, apprenticing at Judith Malina and Julian Beck's Living Theater. In 1964 he grabbed attention in Frank Gilroy's The Subject was Roses with a Tony-nominated turn, later reprising his role in the film version. Sheen's feature debut came as a delinquent terrorizing a subway car in The Incident, but his real breakthrough came as the amoral yet charismatic killer on the run with Sissy Spacek in Terrence Malick's Badlands.

In the 70s Sheen embarked on a series of critically-acclaimed projects for the small screen, earning an Emmy nomination for his sensitive portrayal of a deserter in The Execution of Private Slovik, and he showing the gangster's human side in The Story of Pretty Boy Floyd. Also during that time, The Missiles of October saw him slip into the skin of Attorney General Robert Kennedy, his first of many fictional forays into political life. Sheen's turn as the military assassin sent to terminate Marlon Brando in Francis Ford Coppola's Apocalypse Now remains one of his signature roles.

Despite the time devoted to social justice, his amazing output of film and TV roles has never slowed. He donated his salary for his work on Gandhi to various charities and he portrayed a union official father at odds with the insider trading world of his financier son (Charlie) in Oliver Stone's Wall Street. He executive produced and starred in two features, playing Barnard Hughes' son in DA and a trial judge in Leo Penn's Judgment in Berlin, and he also executive produced and starred in the TNT movie Nightbreaker in which son Emilio essayed his character at an earlier stage.

One of his most prominent recent feature roles came as an advisor of The American President which introduced him to screenwriter Aaron Sorkin. So it perhaps came as no surprise when he surfaced as US President Josiah Bartlet on the critically-acclaimed The West Wing. Finishing up seven years on The West Wing, Sheen will have three new movies in 2006. In addition toBobby, he will ber seen in The Departed, directed by Martin Scorsese, with Leonardo DiCaprio, Jack Nicholson and Matt Damon, and Bordertown, directed by Gregory Nava, with Jennifer Lopez and Antonio Banderas.