Early Life
Estevez was born in Staten Island, New York, the oldest child of actor Martin Sheen (born Ramón Estévez) and artist Janet Templeton. His siblings are Ramon Estevez, Charlie Sheen (born Carlos Estevez), and Renée Estevez. Estevez initially attended school in the New York public school system but transferred to a prestigious private academy once his father's career took off. He lived on Manhattan's Upper West Side until his family moved West in 1968 when Sheen was cast in Catch-22. Growing up in Malibu, California, he rejected the local private school (it was "for parents who have everything except a relationship with their children") in favor of Santa Monica High School. When Estevez was 11 years old, his father bought the family a portable movie camera. Estevez, his brother Charlie, and their high school friends, Sean Penn, Chris Penn, Chad Lowe and Rob Lowe used the camera to make short films, which Estevez would often write. Estevez also appeared in a short anti-nuclear power film produced at his high school, entitled "Meet Mr. Bomb." Emilio was 14 when he accompanied his father to the Philippines, where Sheen was shooting Apocalypse Now. Estevez appeared as an extra in Apocalypse Now, but the scenes were deleted. When they returned to Los Angeles, Estevez co-wrote and starred in a high-school play about Vietnam veterans called Echoes of an Era and invited his parents to watch it. Sheen recalls being astonished by his son's performance, and "began to realise: my God, he’s one of us." After graduating Santa Monica High in 1980, he refused to go to college and instead went into acting. Unlike his brother Charlie, Emilio and his other siblings did not adopt their father's stage name. Emilio reportedly liked the alliteration of the double ‘E’ initials, and "didn't want to ride into the business as 'Martin Sheen's son'."
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