Estevez's first role was in a drama produced by the
Catholic Paulist order. Soon after, he made his stage debut with his father in
Mister Roberts at
Burt Reynolds' dinner theater in
Jupiter, Florida (this was the only job his father ever placed him in). Later, father and son worked together in the 1982
ABC-TV film about juveniles in jail,
In the Custody of Strangers, in which Estevez did the casting. One of his first major roles was as Keith "Two-Bit" Mathews in
Francis Ford Coppola's 1983 cinematic adaptation of
S. E. Hinton's
novel,
The Outsiders, where he shared the screen with an ensemble cast that included
Tom Cruise,
Matt Dillon,
Leif Garrett,
C. Thomas Howell,
Diane Lane,
Rob Lowe,
Ralph Macchio and
Patrick Swayze. Besides his roles in
In the Custody of Strangers and
The Outsiders, his credits include
NBC-TV's thrillers
Nightmares and
Tex, the 1982 film version of another S.E. Hinton
story. He bought the movie rights to a third Hinton book,
That Was Then, This Is Now, and wrote the screenplay. His father predicted he would have to direct to feel the full extent of his talents, describing him as "an officer, not a soldier." He went on to lead roles in the comedy/action film
Stakeout and the westerns
Young Guns and
Young Guns II.
1990–present In the early 1990s, Estevez directed, wrote and starred with his brother Charlie in a comedy about
garbage men,
Men at Work. Estevez later stated, "People come up to me on the street and say,
Men at Work 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." Estevez appeared in an uncredited role in the feature film
Mission: Impossible. From 1998 to 1999, he appeared in three television films: the
spaghetti Western Dollar for the Dead (1998), the comedy
Late Last Night (1999) and
Rated X (2000), which he directed. In 2000, Estevez starred in the Moxie! Award-winning thriller
Sand as part of an ensemble cast that also included
Denis Leary,
Jon Lovitz,
Harry Dean Stanton and
Julie Delpy. In 2003, Estevez made his voice acting debut when he helped create the English dubbed version of
The 3 Wise Men with his father. Later, Estevez starred in
The L.A. Riot Spectacular and voiced the English version of the film
Arthur and the Invisibles. In 2008, he guest-starred on his brother's sitcom
Two and a Half Men as Andy Patterson, an old friend of Charlie Sheen's character
Charlie Harper. (His father Martin Sheen had also guest-starred in 2005.) In an interview a month after the tribute to
John Hughes at the
82nd Academy Awards, Estevez explained his absence as publicity shyness: "I've never been a guy that went out there to get publicity on myself. I never saw the value in it." In 2017, his appearance in films was found to generate the highest return on investment (ROI) on average of all Hollywood actors. Estevez reprised his role as Coach Gordon Bombay in the 2021
Disney+ TV series,
The Mighty Ducks: Game Changers. It was reported in November 2021 that Estevez would not return in the show's second season due to a contract dispute and creative differences.
Directing career Aside from acting, Estevez has also directed television shows and motion pictures. He made his directorial debut with the 1986 film
Wisdom, which made Estevez the youngest actor ever to write, direct and star in a single major motion picture. Most recently he has directed episodes of the television series
Cold Case,
Close to Home,
The Guardian,
CSI: NY and
Numb3rs. The films he has directed include
Men at Work and
The War at Home. He won a
Hollywood Film Award and received a seven-minute standing ovation at the
Venice Film Festival. In 2018, Estevez released
The Public, a film featuring Estevez himself as writer, director and cast member. The film, also starring
Alec Baldwin,
Christian Slater and
Jena Malone, premiered worldwide at the
2018 Toronto International Film Festival.
Music videos Estevez appeared in
John Parr's "
St. Elmo's Fire (Man in Motion)" music video, from the soundtrack of his film with the same name, where he played Kirby Keger. The music video featured all seven of the main cast members of the film, looking sadly through the foggy windows of a run-down and fire-damaged version of the St. Elmo's Bar set. Estevez is a close friend of
Jon Bon Jovi. He appeared in Bon Jovi's music video "
Blaze of Glory" as
Billy the Kid. In turn, Bon Jovi made a
cameo appearance in
Young Guns II. "Blaze of Glory" was in the
Young Guns II soundtrack and was nominated for an
Academy Award for Best Original Song at the
63rd Academy Awards. In 2000, Estevez made an appearance in another Bon Jovi video, "
Say It Isn't So", along with
Matt LeBlanc,
Claudia Schiffer and
Arnold Schwarzenegger. ==Personal life==