Charlie Sheen does not go by Estevez professionally because he chose to follow in the footsteps of his father, Martin Sheen, who adopted the stage name "Sheen" to avoid ethnic typecasting in Hollywood. Born Carlos Irwin Estevez, Charlie Sheen decided to use the surname "Sheen" as a fresh start and to honor his father. He said that while he was not ashamed of the name Estevez, adopting Sheen allowed him to distance himself from academic and athletic struggles associated with Estevez and sounded different for his acting career. His father had changed his name in 1958 partly due to industry prejudices against ethnic names. In contrast, Charlie's brother Emilio Estevez kept the family name Estevez because their father regretted changing his name and advised Emilio not to make the same mistake. Emilio respected their family's heritage and did not want to give up the Estevez name, even though he also initially considered using Sheen for career reasons.
