Who Do You Think You Are? Episode 3.01 Martin Sheen

With a career spanning more than a half century, actor Martin Sheen is one of Hollywood's most versatile icons. Known for roles in "Apocalypse Now" and "The West Wing," Martin often lets his passion for political activism guide the roles he chooses. Born Ramon Estevez to Spanish and Irish immigrants, Martin and his wife for 50 years, Janet, live in Malibu, California and have four children together: Emilio, Ramon, Carlos (Charlie) and Renee.

Martin meets up with his son Emilio, who owns a private winery in Malibu. Emilio shows his father the latest vintage that he's made. On the bottle's label is a photograph Martin took of his father's vineyard in Galicia, Spain in 1969. Martin explains he knows less about his father's Spanish roots then his mother's Irish heritage, and he is looking forward to finding out more. His mother's name was Mary Ann Phelan, and she came from Borrisokane in County Tipperary, Ireland. She died very young at 48 when Martin was just turning 11. Martin is very interested to learn about his mother's brother, Michael, who was a volunteer with the Irish Republican Army in the war of independence from Great Britain. Martin wonders if his own political spirit, which has found him arrested numerous times for protesting causes he believes in, comes from this uncle. Martin begins his search for answers on ancestry.com. He finds Michael's death record on the site and learns his uncle died in Tipperary in 1953, but no more details were listed. In his search for answers, Martin travels to Dublin, Ireland.

Martin begins his search in Ireland at the military archives to see if there are any records of his uncle's involvement in the civil war. The Irish Civil War began in 1922 when Ireland tried to gain freedom from Great Britain by signing the Anglo-Irish Peace Treaty. The controversial treaty split Ireland into two territories, Northern Ireland and the Irish Free State, which was deemed a dominion under the British Crown. Many Irish felt betrayed by the agreement and fought against the treaty. An archivist brings Martin a form from 1934 that Michael filled out in order to receive a pension for service in the IRA. Also found is a letter from Michael listing the acts of violence he perpetrated against the Irish Free State that led to his imprisonment in Maryborough and his eventual help in burning down that prison. After reading the file, Martin is excited to learn more about his activist uncle.

Martin meets with Dr. Edward Madigan from the Centre for War Studies to better understand his uncle and his fight for a fully independent Ireland. Madigan explains that the IRA was adamantly against the treaty because they were brought up to fight for a complete Irish independence and to never back down from their entrenched ideals. Martin visits Kilmainham Jail in Dublin to see the types of conditions his ancestor had to face. He is astonished at the size of the jail as Martin learns Kilmainham is considered the most iconic prison of the revolutionary period. Dr. Murphy, a prison historian, shows Martin the possible cell where Michael was held during one of his jail terms. The room is small and cold, not a pleasant place even today. Martin is enormously proud of his uncle and can relate to how one's core beliefs can drive someone to fight for justice, no matter what the consequences.

Next stop in Martin's ancestral quest is learning about his father's side of the family in Spain. Martin arrives in Madrid and visits his sister Carmen who has a better understanding of the Estevez family history. Martin and his sister view old photo albums of their youth. She shows one particular photo of the family where a toddler Martin stands off to the side, already trying to separate himself from the family. Martin's grandparents, Manuel and Dolores, had seven children, and Carmen has interesting news on their father's youngest brother, Matias. During the Spanish Civil War, Matias was arrested as a communist and jailed in Tui. Later in life when Matias drove past his former prison, he would say, "They had me in there, and they were going to kill me. Now they're all dead and I'm still alive!" Martin laughs at the anecdote and admits he didn't know much about Matias' background.

The Spanish Civil War began in 1936 when General Francisco Franco and his rebel forces launched a violent coup d'etat against the democratically elected Spanish Republic. Anyone who opposed Franco's regime and fought to restore the republic, like Matias Estevez, was thrown in jail. The civil war lasted three years until Franco emerged victorious. Franco's brutal fascist dictatorship remained in power for nearly 40 years until his death in 1975. Martin finds it interesting that both of his parents were raised during civil wars in their respective countries, and he never fully understood the suffering they must've endured during those times. Political activism runs deep in both sides of his family, as Martin relishes the fact that both of his uncles fought for what they believed in. He now finds himself greatly interested in Matias and decides to delve into his background.

Martin heads to the Biblioteca Nacional Madrid to meet with historian Alejandro Quiroga to find out more details on his Spanish uncle. Quiroga explains that Matias had a very interesting yet difficult life. The first reference he found of Matias came from a Franco propaganda book that described a rebel leader named Matias Estevez as "El Rato"(the mouse). The book later describes how El Rato tried to stop the Franco coup d'etat but ultimately lost and was placed in prison under the charge of "military rebellion." The fascist government condemned Matias to life imprisonment for his actions at Franco's most notorious prison, San Cristobal in Pamplona. Franco imprisoned the majority of his detractors in order to exterminate and purify the nation. By the time Franco gained power after the civil war, around a million supporters of the old regime were imprisoned in what were de facto concentration camps. Martin heads to Pamplona to see the conditions Matias suffered first hand.

Martin meets with Spanish Civil War historian Jukius Ruiz at San Cristobal Prison. As they walk around the prison landscape, Ruiz explains the life Matias led inside. Over 2,500 political prisoners were held in San Cristobal when Matias was there. Ruiz brings Martin into the lower part of the prison that he describes as "Dante-esque." It's a dark claustrophobic dungeon atmosphere in the lower levels where 25 to 50 prisoners would've been held at the same time for punishment. The only source of light was a small sliver of a window on the high ceiling. Martin is astonished at the conditions these political prisoners had to endure; he's never seen anything like it. He reiterates the great similarities both of his uncles faced, even though they were countries apart. Although the fascists' denigrated his uncle by calling him "El Rato," he outlived them all and, in the end, proved he was really the "mouse that roared."

Martin starts to dig further back into his Spanish ancestry. He begins in Tui where he meets with genealogist Mathew Hovious to discover what secrets his father Francesco's birth certificate might contain. Hovious is able to take Martin all the way back four generations to the 1700s to learn the names of his fourth great-grandparents, Don Diego Francisco Suarez and Maria Gonzalez. Hovious was able to find an intriguing story in that generation dealing with the marriage record of Don Diego. From reading actual records from the 1700s, Hovious reveals to Martin that Don Diego and Maria Gonzalez were not actually married but had their child Paula, Martin's third great-grandmother, out of wedlock. "Whoops," Martin quips. Don Diego was actually married to a woman named Manuela, but he had a whole other family with Maria Gonzalez - six illegitimate children including Martin's third great-grandmother Paula, to be exact. During that time period, it was a scandalous event to have someone like Don Diego, who was a prominent judge, have such a large illegitimate family with a local girl such as Maria Gonzalez.

Martin heads to La Coruna to learn more about his Don Juan-esque fourth great-grandfather, Don Diego. Martin meets with Professor Edward Behrend-Martinez to help with the discovery. The professor details how Judge Don Diego was the highest legal authority in the local Spanish community at the time. One specific law and edict Don Diego made was to punish a young woman named Antonia Pereira who had an affair with a local cleric in the community and became pregnant with his child. Antonia then went to a midwife to have the cleric's baby aborted. Don Diego vigorously pursued punishment of Antonia for such an action, even having wanted posters put up all over the area. Martin finds the double standard that Don Diego found himself in interesting; Even though he was having an illicit affair with Maria Gonzalez, he went after Antonia for the same charge. In essence, Martin says, Don Diego was above the law. The Professor corrects Martin; he WAS the law.

The professor rolls out a printed family tree for Martin that he has prepared. Martin is exhilarated as he looks at his whole family lineage written out in front of him. As he looks at his grandfather's side of the tree, he follows it up four generations to see a Ramon Martinez married to an Antonia Pereira. The very same Antonia Pereira his grandmother's ancestor, Don Diego, tried to hunt down and punish. Nearly 150 years after Don Diego attempted the prosecution of Antonia Pereira, two lines on the family tree converged when Martin's grandfather, Manuel Estevez, married Martin's grandmother, Dolores Martinez. Which means, it was Martin's fourth great-grandmother that was being relentlessly pursued by his fourth great-grandfather. Martin is astonished by the coincidence. "It's astonishing that the connection is so far back and so intimate and yet so spread apart over two centuries."

Martin heads to the Spanish city where his father was born, Parderrubias, to meet his sister Carmen and son Ramon. He can't wait to share with them the ancestral discoveries he's made. He tells them about his two uncles from different sides of the family who both stood up for their core ideals and were imprisoned for them. Knowing their stories encourages Martin to keep up his protest work for peace and justice, and now he has a fuller sense on where his rebellious gene came from. Then he tells them about the revelation of his fourth great-grandmother being relentlessly pursued by his fourth great-grandfather, then coincidently having their family lines intersect generations later. "If you had told me at the beginning of this journey where I was going, I wouldn't have imagined such a place," Martin happily explains. "It's astonishing that the family tree has revealed what you couldn't have imagined. If you had written a novel with all these truths in it, they would say it's a bit over the top... but it actually happened."