Martin Sheen laments changing his name from Ramon Estévez: 'That's one of my regrets'

Although Martin Sheen’s birth name is listed on his legal documents, the star regrets not professionally going by Ramon Estévez.

"The West Wing" actor, 81, said in an interview with Closer Weekly published Saturday that although he has not legally changed his name, he laments replacing it when he began his career.

"That’s one of my regrets. I never changed my name officially. It’s still Ramon Estévez on my birth certificate. It’s on my marriage license, my passport, driver’s license,” Sheen told the magazine. “Sometimes you get persuaded 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 continued: "But, of course, I’m only speaking for myself."

Sheen, whose mother was from Ireland and his father from Spain, struggled to convince his father to support his career. Sheen said his father was a “very practical” factory worker who wanted him to make “a better living than he did.”

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“We had some very, very painful confrontations about it,” Sheen said regarding his father’s hesitancy about show business.

Sheen’s father came around one night while they were watching Westerns. The “Apocalypse Now” actor told his father about his aspirations to move to New York to pursue entertainment, to which his father responded that he didn’t know how to sing or dance.

“I said, ‘Pop, you sit here every night watching Westerns — do you see anyone singing or dancing?’ He said, ‘No, but you don’t ride a horse either,' " Sheen said. “He finally saw that I was committed and realized it would be a life and death struggle with me if I didn’t pursue it. When I got ready to go, he blessed me, and he continued to bless me the rest of his life. I adored him.”

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The “Grace and Frankie” actor went on to have great success after his breakthrough role in the 1968 adaptation of “Hamlet” in New York City.

Sheen didn’t object when his own children — Emilio Estévez, 60, Ramon Estévez, 58, Charlie Sheen, 56, and Renée Estévez, 55 — decided to go into acting.

Sheen said that in fact, due to his own self-involved nature, he had become unaware of their ambitions.

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However, he did give one piece of advice to his oldest son, Emilio, regarding his acting career.

“I was doing a show one time, and Emilio showed up. I thought he was there to visit me, but he’d gotten a part in the same show. The only influence I had on Emilio was to keep his name,” Sheen said. “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.”

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Martin Sheen wishes he hadn't changed his name from Ramon Estévez