Charlie Sheen’s roles in Oliver Stone’s gritty Vietnam War drama “Platoon” (1986) and Stone’s bleak portrait of Reagan-era greed, “Wall Street” (1987), gave the actor his big break in Hollywood, but those films proved to be anomalies in a career characterized by laughs — both on- and off-screen. During the nineties, Sheen found a niche in light comedies that banked on his good looks and flair for deadpan comedy, though even blockbuster spoofs like “Hot Shots” (1991) were overshadowed by Sheen’s real-life penchant for prostitutes, cocaine and loquacious bravado. The notorious bad boy finally hit on a successful formula after a decade of being the butt of Hollywood jokes, when he began laughing at himself and his clichéd image. His own genuinely funny brand of comedy emerged and he went on to enjoy primetime acclaim; first with a Golden Globe-winning run on the sitcom “Spin City” (ABC, 1996-2002), where his character’s shady past resonated for laughs, followed by a multiple Emmy and Golden Globe-nominated role as an unapologetic, swinging bachelor on “Two and a Half Men” (CBS, 2003- ). Sheen may never have recovered his early promise as a dramatic actor, but he miraculously overcame a negative public image and left a solid legacy as a charming and well-regarded sitcom actor.
Sheen was born Carlos Irwin Estevez on Sept. 3, 1965, the third son of actor Martin Sheen. Growing up in Malibu with brothers Emilio and Ramon and sister Renee, he made countless Super-8 movies and videos with childhood friends Sean and Chris Penn and Rob and Chad Lowe; his sights firmly set on following in his father's acting footsteps. He made his professional debut as an extra in the TV movie "The Execution of Private Slovik" (NBC, 1974), starring his father and also appeared as an extra in Francis Ford Coppola's landmark "Apocalypse Now" (1979), which also featured a landmark performance from the senior Sheen. But the troublemaking side of Sheen also surfaced early on, with arrests for marijuana possession and credit card forgery coming prior to his unceremonious expulsion from high school. Sheen did not look back, however, appearing in nine films in three years. He displayed some screen presence in John Milius' teens vs. Communists actioner "Red Dawn" (1984), and appeared in the TV movie "Silence of the Heart" (CBS, 1984) as the guilt-ridden friend of a suicide victim. He starred as a bored California teenager who embarks on a violent rampage in Penelope Spheeris' "The Boys Next Door" (1985), and attracted attention for his role as a sensitive high school jock in "Lucas" (1986) before his next role put him over the top.
In “Platoon,” Sheen gave a powerhouse performance as a young recruit shocked not only by the realities of Vietnam combat, but by the animalistic behavior of his fellow servicemen. The film earned an Academy Award for Best Picture, and the following year, Stone tapped Sheen again to play another eager young talent disenchanted by his senior role models in “Wall Street,” set in the cutthroat world of the 1980s stock market. Sheen’s street cred as a serious actor quickly dipped, though he proved effective in lighter male ensembles like the hip Western "Young Guns" (1988) and John Sayles' period baseball film, "Eight Men Out" (1988). Once known as a baseball star at Santa Monica High School, Sheen further demonstrated his aptitude for sports in the comedy "Major League" (1989) and fared well in buddy adventures like Clint Eastwood's "The Rookie" (1990) and "Navy SEALS" (1990). The same year, he teamed onscreen with first-time director and brother Emilio in "Men at Work" (1990), a popular low-brow comedy about a pair of garbage men who dream of owning a surfing shop. Sheen made the gossip pages that same year for his short-lived engagement with actress Kelly Preston, whom he accidentally shot in the arm prior to their break-up.
Sheen’s starring turn in parody king Jim Abrahams’ hit "Hot Shots!" (1991), a wacky spoof of "Top Gun" (1986) and its ilk, represented Sheen’s his best work of the 1990s and led to the inevitable "Rambo" send-up "Hot Shots! Part Deux" (1993). Both showed Sheen's unsuspected talent as a deadpan comic and increased his reputation as a sex symbol, which was further enhanced by his dashing Aramis in the umpteenth remake of "The Three Musketeers" (1993), as well as his off-screen randiness which included relationships with at least two adult screen stars. His hedonistic lifestyle extended to a penchant for call girls, and during the investigation into notorious Hollywood Madame Heidi Fleiss, Sheen revealed under oath that he had spent more than $50,000 for trysts with her employees during a 15-month period. Displaying a remarkable ability to fit a lot into a day, Sheen’s film releases continued unabated, with the actioner “Terminal Velocity” (1994) and his executive-producing debut “The Chase” (1994), where he gave a good show as a charming career criminal on the run.
In 1995, Sheen married Donna Peele, a model he met while filming a cigarette commercial in Japan, saying "She's an angel sent from Heaven to take me through the rest of the journey." When the marriage ended six months later, the always quotable Sheen then let slip the analogy, "You buy a car, it breaks down." His biggest cross to bear, however, was substance abuse, and that – plus a 1996 arrest for battery of girlfriend Brittany Ashland – was responsible for removing him from the Hollywood A-list. He attempted to alter his image in 1996, announcing he had "found God.” He made a well-received guest appearance as a Naval officer romantically involved with Phoebe (Lisa Kudrow) on the NBC sitcom "Friends" (NBC, 1994-2004), but also headlined box office bombs "The Arrival” (1996), a sci-fi epic about an astronomer obsessed with finding extra-terrestrials, and "Shadow Conspiracy” (1997) as a presidential aide who becomes targeted for assassination. Finally, he had a box-office hit when teamed with rising comic Chris Tucker in the comedy "Money Talks" (1997), where his stiff tabloid TV reporter contrasted well with Tucker's loose street con in a pairing deemed comparable to that of Gene Wilder and Richard Pryor.
On the heels of a Hollywood high came a new low – a cocaine overdose landed Sheen in the hospital in May 1998. He was subsequently sentenced to a detox clinic but emerged to form a production company with unlikely partner Bret Michaels, the former lead singer of Poison. Sheen branched out into screenwriting and he and Michaels’ cop drama "No Code of Conduct,” starring Sheen and his father Martin, was released to home video. Sticking close to family, he next co-starred with brother Emilio as real-life brothers Jim and Artie Mitchell, porn producers of "Behind the Green Door" (1972), in the Showtime biopic "Rated X" (2000). His career was further jump-started when he took over the lead from retiring Michael J. Fox in the politically themed sitcom "Spin City" in the fall of 2000. While there were naysayers who were not sure the unpredictable actor could pull off working in a weekly comedy series, he more than proved them wrong, developing a nice rapport with the cast, particularly Heather Locklear. In a case of life imitating art, it did not hurt that his character was something of a dissolute with a shady past who was trying hard to rehabilitate himself, and his invigorating performance earned the actor a Golden Globe award.
Having experienced positive reviews for shifting towards characters that played off his real life reputation, Sheen played a cocky, wealthy bachelor in the mildly amusing comedy "Good Advice" (2001), which led to a whirlwind courtship with co-star Denise Richards. The pair were married the following year, and after Richards took a recurring role alongside her hubby in "Spin City," the two appeared together in the horror spoof sequel "Scary Movie 3" (2003), playing a farmer and his wife in a parody of the lugubrious Mel Gibson crop circle thriller, "Signs" (2002). The same year marked the debut of the sitcom "Two and a Half Men" (CBS, 2003- ), where Sheen was well-cast as a hedonistic bachelor who takes in his newly divorced super-square brother (Jon Cryer) and 10-year-old nephew (Angus T. Jones). The show was an instant success, scoring among the top 15 rated series due to Sheen and Cryer’s great comic repartee and the sometimes bawdy, sometimes dark bent to the humor. An extremely popular fixture within CBS’s powerful comedy line-up, Sheen received three consecutive Emmy nominations for Best Lead Actor in a Comedy Series for his role on “Two and a Half Men” in 2006, 2007 and 2008 and Golden Globe nominations in 2005 and 2006.
Sheen returned to the big screen in 2004, playing the enforcer for a Hawaiian development baron (Gary Sinise) in the meandering, Elmore Leonard-derived caper film "The Big Bounce.” His off-screen life surfaced in the tabloid headlines the following year when Richards filed for divorce from Sheen while pregnant with the couple’s second child. They reunited once more before she filed for divorce again (and a restraining order) the following spring, after which their acrimonious custody battle was made very public. Despite Richards’ allegations of Sheen’s drug use and porn habits, the latest bout of trouble barely dented his armor and he adapted well to the role of primetime comic actor, giving domestic life a third try when he married real estate developer Brooke Mueller in 2008 and became the father of twins the following year. Unaffected by his personal travails, Sheen’s professional life continued to flourish when he received his fourth straight Emmy nomination for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series in 2009.