Charlie Sheen changed his name to Estevez, his family name, for the credits for the new Robert Rodriguez movie “Machete Kills.”

According to the screen credits on the upcoming “Machete Kills,” Charlie Sheen changed name to Carlos Estevez. Martin Sheen, Charlie’s father, started using the name Sheen for acting after supposedly seeing a televangelist who was a great actor. Emelio Estevez kept his family name when he moved into acting.

Charlie Sheen probably won’t continue using the Estevez after “Machete Kills” hits the big screen in September, but he has mentioned several times that he regrets changing the name and was afraid it was too late to go back to his birth name because the Charlie Sheen name was already making money.

Sheen said: “I started using Sheen, I thought I’d give it a try, and before I knew it, I started making a living with it and then it was too late. In fact, one of my great regrets is that I didn’t keep my name as it was given to me. I knew it bothered my dad.”

When Carlos Irwin Estévez started making movies he figured he needed a more American name, something like Charlie Sheen, for credits and to get him more work. He said he was having a hard time landing acting jobs with the moniker. Sheen never legally changed his name, he just used it as his professional moniker. Now that he’s in Robert Rodriguez’ new movie “Machete Kills,” Carlos Irwin Estévez feels it’s time to embrace the name he was born with.

Martin Sheen was born Ramon Estévez, his father was born in Spain and was named Francisco Estevez Martinez. In an interview ten years ago, Martin Sheen said he also had trouble getting acting jobs with a Spanish name. Martin Sheen says he took the name from a Catholic televangelist Fulton J. Sheen, who Martin said was a "a magnificent actor." He also never changed his name legally, which meant all his children had the Estevez family name. Emelio Estevez and his brother, Ramon, and sister, Renee, kept the family name.

Charlie Sheen didn’t say whether the name change is just for this one movie or if he will continue to use his real name for future roles

 by Tony Sokol