Carlos Irwin Estevez (born September 3, 1965), better known by his stage name Charlie Sheen, is an American film and television actor. He is the youngest son of actor Martin Sheen. His character roles in films have included Chris Taylor in the 1986 Vietnam War drama Platoon, Jake Kesey in the 1986 film The Wraith, and Bud Fox in the 1987 film Wall Street. His career has also included more comedic films such as Major League, the Hot Shots! films, and Scary Movie 3 and Scary Movie 4. On television, Sheen is known for his roles on two sitcoms: as Charlie Crawford on Spin City and as Charlie Harper on Two and a Half Men. In 2010, Sheen was the highest paid actor on television, earning US$1.8 million per episode of Two and a Half Men. Sheen's personal life has also made headlines, including reports about alcohol and drug abuse and marital problems as well as allegations of domestic violence. He was fired from his role on Two and a Half Men by CBS and Warner Bros. on March 7, 2011. Sheen subsequently announced a nationwide tour. Sheen was born Carlos Irwin Estevez in New York City, the youngest son and third of four children of actor Martin Sheen and artist Janet Templeton. Sheen has two older brothers, Emilio Estevez and Ramon Estevez, and a younger sister, Renée Estevez, all actors. His parents moved to Malibu, California, after Martin Sheen's Broadway turn in The Subject Was Roses. His first movie appearance was at age nine in his father’s 1974 film The Execution of Private Slovik. Sheen attended Santa Monica High School in Santa Monica, California, where he was a star pitcher and shortstop for the baseball team. During his days at Santa Monica High School he showed an early interest in acting, making amateur Super-8 films with his brother Emilio and school friends Rob Lowe and Sean Penn, at the time still using his birth name. A few weeks before graduation, Sheen was expelled from the school for poor grades and attendance. Deciding to become an actor, he took the same stage name as his father, who had adopted it in honor of the Catholic archbishop and theologian Fulton J. Sheen.

Sheen's film career began in 1984 with a role in the Cold War teen drama Red Dawn with Patrick Swayze, C. Thomas Howell, Lea Thompson, and Jennifer Grey. Sheen and Grey reunited in a small scene in Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986), where he portrayed a drug dealer. He also appeared in an episode of the anthology series Amazing Stories. Sheen had his first major role in the Vietnam War drama Platoon (1986). In 1987, he starred with his father in Wall Street. Both Wall Street and Platoon were directed by Oliver Stone. In 1988, Stone asked Sheen to star in his new film Born on the Fourth of July (1989), but later cast Tom Cruise in place of Sheen. Sheen was never notified by Stone, and only found out when he heard the news from his brother Emilio. Sheen did not take a lead role in Stone's subsequent films, although he does have a cameo role in Money Never Sleeps, Stone's sequel to Wall Street. In 1987, Sheen was cast to portray Ron in the unreleased Grizzly II: The Predator, the sequel to the 1976 low budget horror movie Grizzly. In 1988, he starred in the baseball film Eight Men Out as outfielder Happy Felsch. Also in 1988, he appeared opposite his brother Emilio Estevez in Young Guns and again in 1990 in Men at Work. In 1989, Sheen, and John Fusco, Christopher Cain, Lou Diamond Phillips, brother Emilio Estevez, and Kiefer Sutherland, were honored with a Bronze Wrangler for their work on the film Young Guns. In 1990, he starred alongside his father Martin Sheen in Cadence as a rebellious inmate in a military stockade and Clint Eastwood in the buddy cop action film The Rookie. The films were directed by Martin Sheen and Eastwood, respectively. In 1992, he starred in Beyond the Law with Linda Fiorentino and Michael Madsen. In 1994, Sheen was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. In 1997, Sheen wrote his first movie, Discovery Mars, a direct-to-video documentary revolving around the question, "Is There Life on Mars?" The next year, Sheen wrote, produced and starred in the action movie No Code of Conduct. Sheen appeared in several comedy roles, including the Major League films, Money Talks, and the spoof Hot Shots! films. In 1999, Sheen appeared in a pilot for A&E Network, called Sugar Hill, which wasn't picked up. In 1999, Sheen played himself in Being John Malkovich. He also appeared in the spoof series Scary Movie 3 and follow up Scary Movie 4. In 2000, Sheen jumped to the small screen when he replaced Michael J. Fox for the last two seasons of the sitcom Spin City. For his work on Spin City, Sheen was nominated for two ALMA Awards and won his first Golden Globe for Best Performance by an Actor In A Television Series – Musical Or Comedy. The series ended in 2002. In 2003, Sheen was cast as Charlie Harper in the CBS sitcom Two and a Half Men, which followed the popular Monday night time slot of Everybody Loves Raymond. Sheen's role on Two and a Half Men was loosely based on Sheen's bad boy image.


On March 7, 2011, CBS and Warner Bros. fired Sheen from Two and a Half Men. The official statement read: “After careful consideration, Warner Bros. Television has terminated Charlie Sheen's services on Two and a Half Men effective immediately.” In the aftermath of his dismissal, Sheen remained vocally critical of the show's creator, Chuck Lorre, and repeatedly attacked him in an eight minute Ustream video. Below is a timeline of events which, according to the Warner Bros. dismissal letter, led up to Sheen being fired from the sitcom: In February 2010, Sheen announced that he would take a break from Two and a Half Men to enter a rehab facility voluntarily. In March, Sheen's press representatives announced that he was preparing to leave rehab and return to work on the popular sitcom. On May 18, Sheen signed an agreement to return to the sitcom for another two years for a reported $1.8 million per episode. On October 26, 2010, the police removed Sheen from his suite at the Plaza Hotel after he reportedly caused $7,000 in damage. According to the NYPD, Sheen admitted to drinking and using cocaine the night of the incident. He was taken to a hospital for observation and released. On January 27, 2011, Sheen was taken to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center by paramedics. Sheen's representative said the actor was suffering from "severe abdominal pains." On January 28, Sheen began undergoing a substance rehabilitation program in his home and CBS announced that Two and a Half Men would go on hiatus. The network subsequently announced that the current season, already under way and due to shoot its last four episodes, had been canceled after Sheen made derogatory comments about Chuck Lorre on the February 24 edition of a radio broadcast hosted by Alex Jones. On February 28 it was reported that Warner Bros. officially banned Sheen from entering the Warner Bros. production lot. Sheen was accused of anti-Semitism for referring to Lorre by his Hebrew name. In an interview with TMZ, Sheen denied being anti-Semitic, saying, "I wanted to address the man, not the bullshit TV persona. So you're telling me, anytime someone calls me Carlos Estevez, I can claim they are anti-Latino?" Later in March, Sheen went on Access Hollywood Live and said that because his mother is Jewish, he is also Jewish and therefore not anti-Semitic. On February 28, 2011, during a national television interview in his home, Sheen publicly demanded a 50% raise for the show Two and a Half Men. Already the highest-paid actor on television, Sheen demanded $3 million per episode, claiming that in comparison to the amount that the series is making, he is "underpaid." He later retracted that demand. A March 3, 2011, telephone survey of 1,000 people found that 71% of them had an unfavorable impression of Sheen and 16% had a positive opinion of him.

The role garnered him an ALMA Award and he gained three Emmy Award nominations and two Golden Globe award nominations. Sheen appears as Dex Dogtective in the unreleased Lionsgate animated comedy Foodfight. Sheen also launched a clothing line for kids, called Sheen Kidz, in 2006. In 2011, Charlie Sheen set a new Guinness World Record for Twitter as the "Fastest Time to Reach 1 Million Followers" (adding an average of 129,000 new followers per day) as well as the Guinness record for "Highest Paid TV Actor Per Episode – Current" at $1.25 million while he was a part of the cast of Two and a Half Men sitcom. On March 3, 2011, Charlie Sheen signed with Ad.ly marketing agency specializing in Twitter and Facebook promotions. On March 10, 2011, Sheen announced a nationwide tour, "My Violent Torpedo of Truth/Defeat is Not An Option", which began in Detroit on April 2. The tour sold out in 18 minutes, a Ticketmaster record. However, on April 1, 2011 the Detroit Free Press featured an article that stated as of March 30 that there were over 1000 tickets available from a third-party reseller, some at 15% less than the cheapest seats sold at the Fox Theater, suggesting a softening demand for Charlie Sheen. The Huffington Post reports Sheen will earn $1 million this year from Twitter endorsements and $7 million from the North American tour. Many of those attending the April 2 performance in Detroit found it disappointing; the subsequent performance in Chicago, which featured some adjustments, received a more positive reception.