Charlie Sheen is one of the leading actors in Hollywood. He was born in New York on 3 September, 1965. His love for acting was encouraged from early childhood when he would accompany his actor father Martin Sheen to the sets. As a child, he even played a small part in The Execution of Private Slovik.
Finding studies too boring, Sheen focused his attention to his two talents: films and baseball. Along with his friends, he made and acted in amateur Super-8 films; the rest of his time was spent playing baseball. Due to poor attendance, he was expelled from his college a few days before graduation.
Sheen pursued his ambition of being an actor and landed the role of a student in Red Dawn (1984). He continued doing small roles in television and film, waiting for a bigger opportunity. It came from none other than Oliver Stone who offered him a lead in Platoon (1986). The film won an Oscar and Sheen was critically acclaimed for was his part.
The film’s success led to Stone offering Sheen a part in the film Wall Street (1987) in which he starred with his father Martin. This film too was a huge success and Sheen had finally arrived as an actor.
Though Stone offered Sheen a third film Born on the Fourth of July , Tom Cruise eventually took the part and Sheen didn’t work with Stone again. But that didn’t stop good roles coming his way. He went on to star in Young Guns (1988), Major League (1989) and Hot Shots! (1991), and all of these went on to be huge successes at the box office.
Soon Sheen’s bad boy image caught up with him and he was in the news for scandals that rocked his personal life. He had to be admitted to a rehabilitation centre for drug and alcohol abuse. At the same time he was called to testify at the trial of Heidi Fleiss who ran an escort service where Sheen admitted to being a client.
His marriage broke up and his then girlfriend filed charges against him, accusing him of physical abuse. He was also hospitalized for a drug overdose. Sheen, in one his interviews, admitted to drinking all night and still managing to work through the day. All this affected his career and his films began flopping.
Sheen finally decided to clean up and become sober. His efforts were not wasted and he bounced back with a great performance in ABC’s sitcom Spin City and the CBS sitcom Two and a Half Men . Spin City won him a Golden Globe for Best Actor in a television series. He has been nominated several times for an Emmy for his part in Two and a Half Men .
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