Emilio Estevez was the original 80’s heart throb. What he lacked in height he more than made up for in cuteness and charisma. He was part of the legendary Breakfast Club and he also starred as the slightly annoying but very memorable Kirby in St Elmo’s Fire. His career had a bit more longevity than some of his fellow Brat Packers with hits in the 90’s including the two Young Guns films as well as a short but very important role in Mission Impossible.
Emilio Estevez Biography
Emilio Estevez was born on May 12, 1962 in New York, is the eldest son of Martin Sheen and Janet Sheen and brother of Charlie Sheen.
Even before finishing high school in 1980, Emilio had already acted as his famous father’s stand-in on the set of Apocalypse Now (1979), and also had a small role as a messenger boy that was ultimately cut from the film.
By the 80’s, Emilio got much more involved with acting, and made the decision to use his father’s real name, Estevez, rather than his stage name of Sheen.
Movie Career
The 1982 movie Tex was Estevez’s first main feature film where he starred opposite Matt Dillon. He followed this up with The Outsiders, which, like Tex, was adapted from a novel by S.E. Hinton. Dillon was also a star of The Outsiders. Emilio drew critical acclaim for his next role in the Movie Repo Man. He played a punk rocker named Otto and was schooled in the ways of car repossession by Harry Dean Stanton.
Emilio was due to play the lead role in Platoon in 1986 but financing fell through on the film and his brother Charlie Sheen ended up playing the role five years later.
Bender was going to be Emilio’s role in The Breakfast Club but when John Hughes couldn’t find anyone to play Andrew, Estevez switched parts with Bender being taken over by Judd Nelson.
St Elmo’s Fire saw Estevez play a slightly older character, alongside fellow Brat Packer’s Rob Lowe, Demi Moore, Judd Nelson and Andrew McCarthy. This was probably ‘the’ Brat Pack movie and chronicled the troubles of a group of friends having recently finished college.
After the less than successful Maximum Overdrive, Emilio went behind the camera for the 1986 movie Wisdom. This made him the the youngest Hollywood star to ever direct and write a film that he also top-billed.
Stakeout, followed by the smash hit Young Guns, saw Estevez right back to his best. Both films spurned slightly less successful singles. Emilio used his hot streak to push his second attempt behind the camera, Men At Work. Not a huge smash at the time, Men At Work is now a cult classic.
Out of the Spotlight
From 1992, Emilio Estevez seemed to take his foot off the gas gradually with his acting career up until 1996 when he took time out to find new projects to direct.
A minor role in Mission Impossible was followed by Rated X, a biopic of the porn producing Mitchell Brothers. The film also co starred brother Charlie Sheen.
In recent times, he directed episodes of series television, including the shows Cold Case and CSI.
Emilio has just completed work on a movie he wrote and directed called Bobby. It’s the story of the assassination of U.S. Senator Robert F. Kennedy, on June 6th, 1968, which centers around 22 people who were at the Ambassador Hotel where he was killed. It features and all star cast including Anthony Hopkins and Sharon Stone.
Emilio Estevez Quotes
“What’s the level of compromise for making that kind of money? How far do I have to sell my soul? What’s the price of that? And I don’t know if I want to make those kind of compromises any more. I think I’m a different person. I think I’ve matured to a great extent. I think that I want different things now. That it’s not about the celebrity status that you receive because you’re doing the next hot movie. It’s about doing good work.”
“Writing is a lonely job, unless you’re a drinker, in which case you always have a friend within reach.”
“People come up to me on the street and say, ‘Men at Work (1990) is the funniest movie I ever saw in my life’. But, you know, I do have to question how many movies these people have seen.”
Emilio Estevez Links
AIMSTERS – A celebration of Emilio Estevez and his work in both television and cinema.
Emilio on Wiki – A detailed bio for Emilio Estevez on Wikipedia.
😀 wow thats pretty cool. My uncle is pretty awesome 🙂 nice to know what he did in his life all this time.