Charlie Sheen Changes Name Update: Star 'Not Ashamed' of Latin Roots Uses Birth Name 'Carlos Estevez' in New Movie 'Machete Kills'
Actor Charlie Sheen is returning to his roots for the upcoming Robert Rodriguez film Machete Kills.
Sheen will be listed by his birth name, Carlos Estevez, in the credits for the upcoming film, as reported by TMZ.
"I don't wake up feeling Latino. My parents never infused it into our household...I'm a white guy in America," the 47-year-old actor told Univision in a July 2012 interview with the network veteran Maria Salinas.
Sheen said he was not ashamed of his background and that he was not running away from it.
"But I was born in New York and grew up in Malibu," Sheen said.
However, it seems Sheen is apparently once again ready to embrace his Latino heritage after changing his name to Charlie at the age of 4.
Born Carlos Irwin Estevez, his decision to be called Charlie was initially an attempt to avoid confusion with an uncle also named Carlos. When he became an actor, he took on the last name Sheen to follow in the footsteps of his father Martin Sheen. His brother Emilio Estevez kept his birth name.
Charlie Sheen's father, actor Martin Sheen, 70, was born Ramón Gerardo Antonio Estevez to an Irish mother (Mary Ann Phelan) and a Spanish father (Francisco Estevez). Together with wife Janet Templeton, Martin has four children: sons Emilio Estevez, 48; Ramon Estevez, 47; and Carlos Estevez (Charlie Sheen), 45; and a daughter, Renée Estevez, 43, best known for her recurring role as White House staffmember Nancy on NBC's The West Wing (1999-2006).
Martin changed his name to Martin Sheen to get acting jobs but never changed his name legally.
The name "Martin Sheen" is a combination of the CBS casting director who gave him his first big break (Robert Dale Martin) and a certain Catholic televangelist whom he considered "a magnificent actor" (Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen).
Martin said he was sorry he did not use his birth name in his acting career. In a 2003 interview with James Lipton on Inside the Actors Studio Martin said, "It was one of my regrets that I didn't keep my name as it was given to me. I knew it bothered my Dad."
Charlie portrays the U.S. president in the campy thriller about a rampaging Mexican assassin, directed by Rodriguez, whose films - such as El Mariachi and Machete - often celebrate Latino pride.
In the film, the U.S. government recruits Machete, played by Danny Trejo, to battle his way through Mexico in order to take down an arms dealer who looks to launch a weapon into space.
Cast members include Mel Gibson, Jessica Alba, Michelle Rodriguez, Vanessa Hudgens, Antonio Banderas, Cuba Gooding Jr. and Lady Gaga.
Machete Kills is scheduled to be released in the U.S. September 2013.
